Fist of the North Star: I actually liked this despite its corniness and lame ending. Rifftrax Christmas Special (LIVE): $12.50, but was worth it. I barely had time to breathe between laughs most of the time. Some rules of anime (starting rough draft): You can spit up blood without worrying about having a deadly disease. The average human body holds six quarts of blood. The anime body holds about six gallons. When you are stabbed/attacked, you can bleed out about three gallons and still keep going. Card games (or any other shonen games/sports/obsessions) are serious bizness. Beware of old men: they are either perverts or crazy martial arts masters or both.

I felt lost and sad today.

Then we went to Target.

And the feelings came back.

Dirty Pair: Affair of Nolandia: Kei and Yuri are fun!

Appleseed: This movie was not fun.

20th Century Boys (Vols. 3 & 4): Twenty-two volumes make up this thing! Seriously?! (I love this manga...)

Honey and Clover Vol. 5: I was a little lost because I read the last volume a while ago, but it got good when Morita came back.

Evil: A Primer: Theories on evil and treatment of evil in history. Some of the information was interesting, but not something I'm going to keep around. I read the entire thing today, so I haven't done much else.

I'm supposed to be writing, but have been ignoring it.

I spent the day reading and watching some anime. I'm starting to feel useless already...

Night of the Living Dead: Not a bad movie, except the zombies were extremely slow. I don't even know why the characters bothered boarding up all the windows when they could just run out past the zombies. Even the main character points this out and even proves it towards the end. They couldn't do anything to you anyways if they didn't bite you...

Ninja Scroll: This movie had men in mind. Everyone was a ninja that had epic powers, some of which were cool, and got sliced/blown/shocked up at some point. All the women were naked at some point (okay, except one, but you could see her nipples through her shirt...) and we got some rape scenes (yah?). I didn't like Jubei, the main character. He's, like, the dude Spike was cloned from, but something about his attitude isn't right. It may be because I was expecting some serious guy as the main character and just kept expecting that throughout the movie. It actually had a plot, too. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

Video Girl Ai: The voice for Ai is one of the most annoying ones in anime I have heard. When I read the manga, I imagined she had an annoying voice, but it wasn't on the same level as the anime one. Other than Ai's voice, I guess the anime was okay. I only have two episodes to judge, but I like the manga way more.

Zenzele: A Letter to my Daughter: My literature of the week. It wasn't bad, but it's not something I'm going to keep. I did enjoy the chapters about the female freedom fighters. I also learned I know nothing about Africa. I might try and educate myself on some basics.

20th Century Boys (Volumes 1 & 2): The second volume really pulled me into this series. I'm hoping this isn't Monster length, because I think I want to collect this.

HunterXHunter (Vol. 17) : I've finally read the first twenty volumes (out of order, yes, but I have a good idea what went on where).

I had an awesome day.

The campus ended up closing for the day because everyone here acts like they've never seen snow before. At first, I was upset because I wanted to get my Chem. final done before the knowledge leaked out of my brain. Then, I was made very happy by the announcement I would not have a final. The Fall '09 semester is officially over! Wee!

Later in the day, I headed out to Arby's to apply for a job. I took the highway because even with the slow-poke drivers, it would be faster. And it was going fine until the car ahead of me suddenly pulled into the other lane and revealed a large object (still don't know what it was) in the middle of the lane. I swerved away from it on instinct and then ended up spinning into the ditch between the highway entrance and the highway. I was so thankful no one was in that other lane and I even was happy people drive slow when it snows. Any other day and that would have ended badly. So, my awesome car got out of the snow and back on the road. I got my application filled out. I did not take the highway home...I decided not to press my luck.

We went looking for a Christmas tree, but didn't get one because they were expensive. We spent the tree money at IHOP.

I finished the second chapter for my HXH story. I'll probably write something tomorrow, but not sure on that yet. Will definitely be reading.

Longest title ever. But seriously, except for some breaks to do things like watch Stephen Colbert or go pick up John (which ended up pissing me off more than it should have), all I've done is study Chemistry. It's like those poor Japanese kids in cram school who get demon bugs/ghosts because they try to keep up with the work. I cannot wait for Wednesday, when I will sleep in and read. That is all I shall do. Or hope to do, though someone can call me with a job if they'd like.

I read The Push Man in between chemistry reading. I know that Tatsumi likes the focus on the average working class man in the 70's, but do all their wives have to be bar women and/or prostitutes? Overall, I thought this was a good collection of short stories. When you read them, you can feel the depression and loneliness of the characters.

Biology is officially over! Yah! I got a 94 on the final, which means I missed between seven to twelve probelms. Out of 139, that's cool. I've spent a good chunk of the day on math and chemistry. I hate math and it's going to suck when I have to take the next level and have forgotten everything because my brain says, "I don't need this." It gets chucked when I really did need it.

Nothing else exciting except going to Taco Bell. I lead a pretty exciting life, yep yep yep.

It's over! I finished writing at 50,028 words at seven o'clock today.

Now to focus on studying...

Ring 2: It did not get better. I seem to remember the manga based off the first Ring movie was much better. This one was a confusing, jumpy mess. I still cannot stand the art style. It got tossed into the Goodwill pile. The only thing that made me happy about this book was the fact I got it for 50 cents.

Went to see Zombieland last night. That movie was awesome. It was character driven movie, which is always my favorite. It also had lots of zombie killing, which is always a plus.

Almost done with my NaNo novel, though I haven't worked on it today in order to finish the first chapter of my HxH fanfiction. It's called Beacons in the Night right now, which will surely change because that title sucks and barely has anything to do with the story.

I have to go to school tomorrow. ;_; But the good news is that I only have a week left! Biology final is Wednesday. I should be more worried, but I'm kind of ignoring it right now.

Oninbo and the Bugs from Hell 1 & 2 (Actually Vols. 3 & 4 of Hino Horror line): Typical Hino stuff. I did like it, though.

In the middle of Ring 2 manga. So far, it was forty pages of recap and people with huge heads on little necks. I'm hoping it'll get better.

Taking a break from the novel. I've got about 8,000 words to go and will probably try and finish this weekend. Marathon ending, baby. Painful, but I'll be able to say I wrote 50,000 words. That's the most I've ever written in a short period of time (or ever for any one work). I'll be happy to go back to focusing on short stories, though I'll work on editing on Finger Lickin'. Overall, I do like it. I just will need to leave it alone for a month and let it simmer in my brain.

Thanks to the break, I've gotten in some books. Mostly manga, yes, but I still read.

Death's Acres: This one is about the Body Farm in Tennessee. I liked the forensic cases, but I could have done with less about the guy. I wasn't reading for a biography, dude. Even though I sound negative there, it didn't really bother me that much. Learning about forensic anthropology makes me want to take the course more, so I'm not dropping it even if it won't count for anything.

I love wasting money. I will need a job bad real soon.

Hunter x Hunter Vols. 11-13, 18: I love HxH. Still reading out of order, though.

Museum of Terror (Tomie): Junji Ito is an awesome manga creator. The drawings in this one reveal that this was one of his earlier works (or at least, I hope it's one of his earlier things). The stories themselves always have an interesting image or element to them, even if the story is a little lackluster. The manga itself was a good deal. 300+ pages from Dark Horse for $14. Wee-hee!

Mermaid's Scar: I got two volumes of the Mermaid series by Rumiko Takahashi. I started with the one I hadn't seen the anime for. Rumiko's stuff seems good (or at least bareable) when it has a shorter length. The art was faded out for the two stories and plain, but the content was interesting enough. It must have been in a shonen anthology, though, because its not masterpiece stuff. Still like it.

Solanin: I started this months ago, but never finished it because it bored me. I decided to try it again to see if I needed to dump it or not, but it turned out I liked it this time. I think I really connected more with the characters. Like Meiko, I haven't felt like working and was so overjoyed at quitting my job. Now I have to integrate back into society and it sucks. She also had a hard time finding her place; she didn't want to grow up. Same here. I'm scared of being a responsible adult. The drama towards the end was also done very well. I almost started crying. This one gets to stay on the shelf, I have to say.

We started watching Yawara. This has been great so far and all of us enjoy it. Surprisingly, Yawara herself hasn't bothered me too much.

Grandma and grandpa have been here since Monday night. I think everyone's ready for them to go. Thanksgiving day was uneventful and I was very grateful this year for not having to eat with mom's side of the family. The weather has also been nice, though I haven't gone out much due to reading. Finals are coming up and I'll have to devote myself to them starting Sunday. After that, a whole month of no school!

Avoiding my NaNo novel right now...

Goodbye Tsugumi: Typical Banana Yoshimoto, great characters and a gentle, "slice of life" story. Too many descriptions of the sea for me though and I'm glad these aren't longer, because the description of life's simple beauty would drive me crazy. I like it, but not in huge amounts.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go: I really did not like this book for the most part. The ending makes me think the author started to hate it, too, and didn't have the energy to finish it. I think a good, resolved ending could have lessened my dislike for it, but it turned out to be the nail in the coffin. Screw you, book. I could have listened to something else worth my time.

I took my application down to the Broadmoor and had a little adventure first. I mistook the building in the picture next to the address for the employment office, even though I could have sworn it was the hotel. And it was. It had a very interesting lobby and two people to open and close the door. Shows how often I go into five star hotels. So, I got directed to the correct place and was told the dry cleaner job was gone. I put down for the housekeeping job instead. I wanted that one anyway, but shied away because it said they wanted full time people. We'll see how that goes with the only the part time box checked off.

Then, feeling like I wasn't going to get the hotel job (still feeling that way, actually), I went down to DD. They were still out of applications. Well, I can take a hint. Screw you, too. ^_^ (lolololol)

I did get something from DD though. I don't think my stomach, or anything else in my body, can take a medium sized expresso shot. I couldn't sit still while doing my homework, but that may not have been all the expresso's fault.

Mezzo (TV) is over for me. Overall, I enjoyed the series. Some episodes were aimless and a little dumb, which hurts a 13 episode series. The characters always made up for it, though. Except Asame (?)...I didn't like her very much. For taking a concept that started as a movie, this series did a good job. The theme song is also very catchy.

I also read the second volume of Anne Freaks. I'm debating whether I care enough about this series to buy the rest. The one plus is that its only four volumes long and I know I can get at least two of them half-off at the bookstore.

Officially started writing today for NaNoWriMo. I got around 2,000 words out, so I'm feeling pretty good about that so far. 

We went back to Red Rock to walk today, which meant skipping church. There's been nice weather the entire day. We used some of it to do yardwork...not so fun. 

I started reading Goodbye Tsugumi. It took me a while to finish Eater of Souls, so I'll see if this one takes any longer. Hopefully not. I was stupid and bought some more books.  

Plowed through Dragon Head (Vol. 2 &3), Black Jack (Vol. 2), and Eden (Vol. 2 & 3). I also managed to get my math homework done and most of the chemistry stuff out of the way. Go me! I'll be able to start my story tomorrow for NaNoWriMo without having to worry about much.

Halloween was pretty uneventful for me, but I expected that. I was stuck with the position of passing out candy. I've also had the position of eating candy, but I haven't gone as crazy as I used to. No stomach aches followed by a constipated feeling for me this year.  

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:  I really enjoyed this and can't wait to read more in the series. Its humor reminded me a lot of Monty Python, but it also had its own quirks going for it. I like the random things the author throws in there, his creativeness with the planets and their people, and Marvin's ablity to kill other computers. Even though I want to read more, I don't think I could do all the books in a row. It would probably be too much for me and make everything get old quick.

Eater of Souls (Lord Meren Mystery): This is about the only mystery series I have ever taken up and liked. I think its mainly the setting in Ancient Egypt that does it.

NaNoWriMo starts in two days. I wrote a brief summary and a quick character sketch. I might do a little more brainstorming, but I'm planning on just jumping in with what little I've got.

Top Five Most Annoying Anime Fans

5) Manga Cows

"Out of sight, out of mind." Sure, just the knowledge that some freeloader is enjoying a certain show for free while you've paid to view the same thing is enough to irk some, but this is nothing compared to actually being there and seeing it. Chances are, if you still buy your books from a physical store, you've seen the manga cow in its pasture. As you enter the store and begin to make your way to the comic books, you may pass some in the cafe area or the cluster of comfy chairs bookstores leave out. A momentary thought, full of loathing, may flash across your mind, but you'll forget it when you get to the comic book aisles. This is where the purebreds of the breed roam. Or rather, stand/sit reading in front of the shelves. If you're lucky, it's just one and it's sitting. If you're not, then that person(s) is blocking one or two of the shelves so they can read (and bend the cover and smudge pages and take off that protective plastic off). Could you ask them to move? Sure. But personally, this fan is one of those who avoids talking to others and feels weird having to ask someone to move when it seems obvious they should know better. Even if you do have the courage to ask them to move, it was stil pretty annoying, wasn't it?

4) The Rebel Rouser
 
Also know as the troll. These are like the squirrels of fourms - they inhabit every internet forum, just like the real thing seems to be crawling everywhere in any habitat you can wander into. And just like squirrels, they try and run into the path of your metaphorical car every chance they get. These guys and gals make a topic, just like any other fourm user, except their topics have such thought-provoking titles as "NAURTOE SUXS BALLS" or "Who hates 4kids?!". The other tactic is to go into an established topic and post opinions which will provoke the most outrage. There's no way to eliminate these people from boards, because, again, they are like the population of squirrels in your yard who refuse to die out. The good thing is they can be easily ignored and cannot detract from your enjoyment if you don't let them.

3) Teenage Girls

Teenagers are bothersome in any form (believe me, I was one once), but add them in your favorite hobby and that degree of annoyingness rises faster than Pillsbury Croissants in a commercial. Both genders of teens figure into this, but for some reason the girls are more noticeable. Probably because the boys take the form of trolls, just like in many other areas of life. They can be the rabid fan who claims a character and will bite you if you point out that character is fictional (or you can't really claim people in general). They may be packing a yaoi paddle and a strong set of vocal chords at the convention. They generate large amounts of poorly done boy-love fan fiction/art. The best thing is that most will grow up and look back and wish they hadn't done that.

2) The Know-It-All

This person is All-Knowing, Omnipresent Anime God. They spend all their free time and possibly all their money on anime and they have a large amount of anime knowledge to show for their effort. To make up for that unconscious part of their mind that tells them what they're doing may be a huge waste of time, they feel the need to lord their vast database over others whenever they can. "You had to use the translation notes for Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei every other page to get any of the jokes and references? Ha, I didn't have to use them at all. In fact, they got the reference to Black Jack (says Bulaku Jacku) wrong on page 20 in volume 40." Due to their super-fan status, they must defend any show they like against any negative opinion. Any one who doesn't love moe is a Communist.

1) Those Who Complain About Other Fans

Hypocritical? There's a slight chance. It's rare that you can't find some type of person to rant about and this prevalence actually makes complaining about the annoying people annoying. There are some people who can make their rantings entertaining, but there are many who are simply repeating the same sentiment that a hundred people have already said before them. I will make no further comment and hope I have fallen into the former category. I mean, seriously, how many times can you say trolls have been compared to squirrels?

Please don't say a lot.

I took my Biology test today and ended up getting an 88% on it. Not bad, considering I hadn't really thought to study for some of the questions that popped up. The next test coming up is math...I'm not to optimistic for this test, as I've been doing problems on and off all day and they haven't been going too well. I thought I got some of the stuff during the homework phase, but that thinking's turning out to be faulty.

But enough about schoolwork. I turned in my application for Taco Bell after about a month of holding on to it. We'll see if they call in the next few days. If not, its down to McDonald's. We also went to the library and to a used book store I hadn't been to yet. It was a lot like a library's used book sale, except the books were $2 instead of $1, but I found a few books. I've pretty much wasted the rest of the day studying (tehe) and watching TV.

NanoWrioMo's starting up in a few days and I'm not sure what my strategy will be. The main goal is to actually stick to the program and write something in 30 days. This is going to be hard. I don't seem to like sticking to personal goals, even simple ones like only snoozing for five minutes (always turns into ten-thirty minutes more no matter what I tell myself). 

Just because:

Send off change of address
Lay off internet
Write as many words as I possibly can in November

Yeah, that's about all...

Avoiding studying that needs done. Three lab reports in a row suck, but that just tells me I need to stop leaving them until the last minute.

Nothing else really happened today.

My chemistry test grade ended up being a 77% (after the curve 0_0), but I'm glad I passed. Still, I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting to get somewhere in the mid-80's to match my other two scores. I actually think that's the part that upsets me most: my scores don't match now.

Today was a lazy day. We were supposed to go to church, but most of us weren't up in time. Then, we were going to go on a walk, but it started snowing and its been doing that all day. It looks really pretty outside. I may not like being in snow, but watching it fall and accumulate on everything outside is awesome. I bet the mountains are going to covered tomorrow, if I can see them.

I wrapped up the Cowboy Bebop movie. It felt like an extended episode, which was great. Lots of action, humor, and gratuitous shots of Faye. There's talk of an American live action movie for this series and I'm actually curious to see what it's like, that is, if it happens.

I also read the first volume of Black Jack. This is my favorite Tezuka series, as well as an overall favorite manga, so I really enjoyed it. Tezuka's medical training really shows and the medical mysteries are interesting, even though some of them are surely impossible (attaching one person's arm to another and having it fully function, I don't know about that, BJ). Once again, I got treated to cameos of Astro Boy and Tezuka and probably other people I don't know of. I would rush out and buy these volumes, but they're $16 each. I can't do that right now...but I wish I could.

I'm now signed up for orientation at UCCS now, so yeah for getting that out of the way. I also tried getting Dunkin' Donuts out of the way, but both locations were out of applications. Whether this was because they didn't order them (like where I worked last) or they just don't want to hire anyone, I'm not sure. I'm hoping its the former because I'm going back next week to try again. Now that I've been denied, I want it. And I've realized I don't feel like training for anything else unless I have to.

I read the first volume of Eden. I found the character designs appealing and realistic and so far the story's not bad. I will continue getting this from the library. It's more sci-fi than I like and the author crams in a bunch of scientific terms (which are actually basic ones, so I didn't need to much help with the side notes). The plot also doesn't interest me too much so far.

We went to the cheap theater and saw Ponyo. I'd been hearing this was one of Miyazaki's best and I have to agree to a point, but this was so cute. The various fish, the magic Ponyo could do, were very relaxing. There wasn't too much of a plot and the film doesn't really have a climax, which I think is what made some people give it a lower rating than they would have. Like My Neighbor Totoro, we watch people wander around and do ordinary things (though this can get boring and it did start affecting the movie towards the end). I don't see myself watching this over again, but I know I would suggest it to others if they wanted something light and cute.