Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Duvet - Boa
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 19, 2002
Read Elizabeth A. Lynn's A Different Light last night in bed. I liked that one. ^___^ It was sad that Jimson died and didn't find a cure for his cancer, but it was a good book and I liked the author's style quite a bit. It wasn't fancy or anything, which I guess is why right now I like it so much. I mean after Cecilia Dart-Thornton's complicated prose-style in The Ill-Made Mute and The Lady of the Sorrows, and Jacqueline Carey's elegant hypnosis in Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen, it felt good to read something simple to understand. Too bad I couldn't find Watchtower or The Dancers of Arun at the central branch. Many of the books that I want to read are unavailable to me. I mean, I still can't find Shadowdance anywhere, and I can't order it because it's out of print. I might have to go visit the SF public library. Meanwhile, I guess I can go read Kirith Kirin at B&N.
Keiko drew angels at 01:30 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Alone - Shimokawa Mikuni (Saiyuki 2nd ED)
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 19, 2002
Took SAT II Writing self-assessment test. Argued loudly with mother (who majored in English) about what she deemed a run-on sentence in my 20-minute essay. It wasn't, and I knew I was right, so I typed it into Microsoft Word and proved it to her with the stupid Grammar Check, which is often too strict in its judgement. Stalked to the kitchen in a huff and consumed large amounts of Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate ice cream, while continuously arguing with mother about grammar and writing styles.
Should NOT have done that. Eating all that ice cream, I mean. It tasted sinfully good, but I swallowed too much and my mouth was numb with cold for an hour afterwards. Not to mention all those Calories! >_<; I don't regret having slaughtered my mother's argument (she keeps on saying I should be a lawyer and that I sounded like Clinton...), but damn it was a good fight! I was so furious my hands were shaking the entire time I was arguing and eating all that ice cream... *sweatdrop* Ugh... all that ice cream...
Keiko drew angels at 01:21 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: {none}
Random Thoughts: {none}
Thursday, July 18, 2002
I take it back. MZR sucks. At least Godslayer does. The author had no real understanding of the words he uses. He doesn't understand the varying degrees of a synonym. And the romance attempted in the story lacks real chemistry, and seem to place lust before love. I.e. "For his own peace, he swore he would earn Silme's love and respect and one day bed the sorceress who was sapphire Dragonrank from Forste-Mar." That's horrible! The characters aren't all that likable either. I feel sick.
Keiko drew angels at 11:07 a.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: wasurenai kara - Gackt
Random Thoughts: {none}
Thursday, July 18, 2002
Currently attempting to read and like Mickey Zucker Reichert. Not succeeding. I shouldn't judge the author by the contents of one book, though. Maybe other series will be better. But anyway, MZR is okay, an occasional bit of humor, but more often than not ungraceful. However, here was a bit of dialogue I found entertaining: "Loki brushed off the half-man with a wave and resumed his rambling gait. 'I'm a god! I've earned the right to be vague.' "
Keiko drew angels at 10:19 a.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Another Days - w-inds.
Random Thoughts: {none}
Wednesday, July 17, 2002
*swoon* Ah, the wonders of mp3s. WinMX is amazing, reminds me quite nostalgicly of Napster. There were many songs I didn't get to dl before Audiogalaxy went dead, one of which was "Another Days". It's so purty~
I started the main pic for my next layout. It features Cooro from +Anima, and just him. Why? Because he's adorable! <3 <3 <3
Keiko drew angels at 08:36 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: some L'Arc~en~Ciel song
Random Thoughts: Saw Hao [guy who looks too much like my cousin] on street today; did not say hi.
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
A while ago, Sherry (my neighbor + good friend, not the one I'm linked to) commented to me, "I don't think you were ever a child." I tripped over that thought, and thought about it for a while, because while I understood what she said, it didn't make much sense to me. Then, I was reminded of the time Maryam and I were swapping childhood embarrassing stories, and for the life of me I could only come up with one (while she had half a dozen), and I uttered to myself, "Oh..." Of course, in my mind, that one time of unabashed childish indulgence was more than enough to make up for all the other nonexistant stories. Still, I thought further, and decided that because I'd always wanted to grow up fast and be an "adult", I never gave much thought to being a kid and enjoying ignorance while I had it. Of course, most people, around this age, are looking back on their childhood and wishing they could be little again (think of the advantages - no homework!), but I feel like I'm still rushing madly forward, with no regard as to who I shove aside along the way. Sherry also has on occasion cautioned my mother not to push me too much in the matters of school and education, because "she is already doing so much. She has the motivation, you don't need to push her". To which, I replied laughingly that my motivation is laziness; I work now so that I can relax into a sinful state of indolence later on in my life. Was there ever so irreverent a reason for work as mine?
Which is exactly NOT what I wanted to say when I started this entry. How did I get on that path anyway?
Ne, Vinita, I'm quite sure I did not yet give you my new addy. O_o How in the world did you find it? Given your inclination towards searching on Google, I tried that, but nothing came up except my old addy. If I'd emailed you the addy, I'm sure I would have remembered... Am I going crazy? And rest assured, if I could prod you with a stick, I would. XP
Ivy and Maryam have both gone off to various summer school/institutions. They won't be back for a month. Ivy's gone off to a summer ballet school (>_> what else?), and Maryam has gone to a summer program at Irvine. And there goes my two ready sources of boredom alleviation and entertainment. I am now spenting my evenings playing Chinese checkers with Sherry and family. And beating them. Sherry is quite good though.
On a lighter note, I can now proudly give you one more way to escape my incessant chattering (quite inappropriate, since I never open my mouth unless I absolutely have to): White Cat's blog! Called "which way is up?" She's a very good writer, and is, in fact, the one whose fics I hold responsible for kicking my butt down the road of fanfiction writing (and story writing in general). The tale, you ask? (well maybe you don't, but I'll explain anyway, because I feel like it) Back in the summer before I entered high school, I took a vacation to a third-world country known as China. Enunciate with me: Chi-na. Which also happened to be my home country, my motherland, land of my birth, the place where I spent the first nine years of my life (sorry, been watching Monty Python). My long-not-seen cousin, in an attempt to placate my boredom, shoved a copy of Yu Yu Hakusho at me, with which I instantly fell in love. (sorry, also been studying English grammar for SATs). Back in those days, I refused to acknowledge technology, the internet, and Yahoo, and wouldn't go near a computer with a stick. (This was, what, three, four years ago?) But because YYH had already ended and I couldn't find out anything more than what was in volume 5, I took a desperate leap and went online. The first site I ever went to was Appleby_chan's Yuu Yuu Hakusho Page (nope, not White Cat's page). From there, I learned about a wonderful thing called fanfiction, and Appleby_chan happened to host a wonderful essay/rant by White Cat on her page, as well as a link. So following that link, I arrived at White Cat's site, which, at that time, had Hercules and Xena fanfictions (no longer on her site now ^_^) I gorged myself on the Death Arc stories, where I first learned the wonderfulness of Gundam Wing, the loveliness of 1x2, and the evilness of Queen-of-the-World Relena (don't hate her so much as annoyed by her presence). So White Cat's site is the second site I had ever visited online.
Keiko drew angels at 03:58 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Fukai Mori - Do As Infinity
Random Thoughts: {none}
Sunday, July 14, 2002
*sigh* I'm getting a burst of artistic creativity. I think I'll be changing layouts soon. This one's just not cutting it. I mean, I like it, and I spent hours editing the pictures to just the way I want it, but now it seems overly depressing. I miss the soothing green color I had before. If I really do make another layout, it'll probably be more simple and lighthearted, and it'll keep the same format (cos I'm really not all that saavy w/ html).
Plus, ka-chan says when we get our own domain, we should change layouts every month (O___o !!!), but we're not exactly prolific artists. Some people roll out new layouts as easy as if it were breathing, but... anyway, I'm wanting something yellow. Sunlightish.
Keiko drew angels at 03:25 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Boukensha-tachi - Do As Infinity
Random Thoughts: {none}
Sunday, July 14, 2002
Ok, I've moved everything from here to this addy. Why? If you want to know why then go back to the old addy and see. I suppose I'll have to email everyone who links me, now.
Keiko drew angels at 03:15 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: New World - Do As Infinity
Random Thoughts: Why do people let themselves be put into embarrassing ads the way they do?
Friday, July 12, 2002
XD XD XD OMG, too good! "I take batting practice | Over 450 home runs. I take infield practice | 3 Gold Gloves. I take Viagra | Let's just say it works for me", Rafael Palmeiro, posing in his baseball uniform for a Viagra ad in Newsweek. *cackle* Too funny!
Keiko drew angels at 09:17 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Fukai Mori - Do As Infinity
Random Thoughts: Fukai Mori is such an elegantly beautiful song.
Friday, July 12, 2002
Waii~ I wanna play Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem! It sounds like much fun! If only I had Nintendo.
Keiko drew angels at 09:10 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Desire - Do As Infinity
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 12, 2002
Waahhh, Silk was replaced by some weird little evil psycho girl in KKJ the anime. *falls into convulsive shudders* (^.^ I used that word in my first personal statement, "convulsive") Anyway, Silk was adorable, and Evil Psycho Girl was NOT. Tanemura Arina's series are horribly animated. So much is lost in the transition. And "Eichi" sounds like "ecchi"! "Oh Eichi-kun~", says Mitsuki, who has a DEEP voice. *cackle*
Keiko drew angels at 08:55 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: {none}
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 12, 2002
Maaa, I think Vinita's sick again, or something. She hasn't blogged in ages.
DIE YAHOO GEOCITIES!! I hate it to bits!! It needs to go to Hell and burn for eternity! Na, Ka-chan, I want that domain soon! I can't stand Yahoo Pagebuilder anymore!
Keiko drew angels at 08:44 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Point of No Return - Chemistry
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 12, 2002
Oh neverending joy... an article on insomnia in Newsweek. Just what I need, really. Bad enough I'm not sleeping well, now I get to read about all the reasons why I might not be sleeping well. I find that whenever magazines do articles like this, they tend to speculate a lot, and never give you much advice on what to do. At least, never ones that I have found particularly helpful. But, then, there are people worse off than I am. If you happen to have a mirror or something made of glass at one end of your bed, I suggest you remove it immediately. It doesn't matter if one does not believe in Fung Shui (or thinks Fung Shui is paganistic practice).
Keiko drew angels at 08:35 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Kimi wo Sagashiteta - Chemistry
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 12, 2002
I caught the tail-end of a Japanese drama the last time I watched tv and was waiting for Hey^3 (a rather disturbing episode, that one), so I watched it, and was jovially surprised when one of Chemistry's songs came on as an insert. It was quite nice to hear the entire song on tv like that. I think it was "Kimi wo Sagashiteta". Such a pretty song. I'm probably going to think of it as "the wedding song" now, because the scenes at the end of the episode were those of a wedding taking place in a field of flowers.
Keiko drew angels at 08:30 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: For Real - Tokuyama Hidenori (Saiyuki 1st op)
Random Thoughts: Why is it that I keep on getting emails about God? I'm not a Christian dammit!
Friday, July 12, 2002
There was a white rosebush in the frontyard for a long time. A while ago, our landlord cut it down. I was really upset about it, because it was the only thing that made our frontyard at all aesthetic. The rest of the so-called "garden" is a motley collection of shrubs and overgrown weeds. That one rosebush, set against the (rather ugly) backdrop of the house, shown like a beacon out of the darkness. It really was the only beautiful thing in our garden. In the summertime sourgrass grew up around it, so that the yard looked like a sea of yellow, with a spot of green and white at the corner. Anyway, the landlord cut it down (presumably to work on the rotting porch), and the garden looked gray and barren for a while. A few days ago, I noticed the rose bush was growing back, and there were many budding flowers, much more than there used to be. Today, I was sitting on the floor, my back against a coffee table, reading a book (yeah, it IS a really weird place), when my mom came in from the outside, and laid two full-blown roses on the table. I nearly blew up at her, because quite recently I developed an intense dislike for picking flowers, and I remembered that there were only a few full-blown roses on the bush. I ran outside, and there it was, the entire rose bush in bloom, with more growing buds poking out from behind fresh green leaves and pure ivory petals. Well, I guess watering it really did help... I try not to touch the bush, because I think I have quite the opposite of a green thumb. I kill almost anything plant I try to grow. >_< All I do is water the garden and pull out any weeds around the prettier plants. The landlord's relatives moved into the apartment behind our house, and the husband decided to redecorate the garden, so he hacked apart the pine shrub in the front. With a kitchen knife. *shudder* I guess he was trying to give it a hardy, mountain, growing-out-of-the-side-of-a-cliff kind of look. I think he succeeded, partially, because it does look a lot more interesting, but unfortunately now one can see just how ugly the metal fence is, not to mention all the dead grass underneath the pine shrub is out in the open (along with the box Ivy buried her dead hamsters in... ok, just kidding, she buried them deeper than that). It's true what people say about our house: it's the ugliest on on the block. There were a couple places down the block that used to give us competition, but they've all remodeled during the past few months, so... *shrug* I just hope the landlord works fast enough to restore the porch before another part of the house falls apart (like another leak in the pipes over my room...)
Keiko drew angels at 08:02 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: True Romance - Maki Ichihara
Random Thoughts: Why is Yun Kouga is evil to Chihaya?
Friday, July 12, 2002
Oh my god, this song makes me so depressed. It's not even a really sad song, just really pretty and happens to be one of the endings to Earthian, which in itself is pretty depressing. Several things spring to my mind upon hearing this song: 1)Chihaya has his wings torn off at the end of Earthian *loud sob* 2)Chihaya is banished from Eden *even louder sob* 3)I still don't know what Kagetsuya did at the end (i.e. he stays in Eden, or he leaves). I better check the next song, so I don't burst into tears (hopefully it isn't anything overbearingly beautiful like "Bokura no Digitalworld". That song just makes me want to burst into tears.)
Oh goodie, the next song on my Winamp list is "For Real", the first opening to Saiyuki. I really like this one.
Keiko drew angels at 07:54 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: {none}
Random Thoughts: {none}
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Oof, I finally changed the format on the entries. Now the opening phrase is "Will you be my sunshine?", an oblique reference to Saiyuki, while the finishing bit is referring to how I have to draw an angel for the new domain... I'm trying, really!
Keiko drew angels at 01:55 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Missing - Gackt
Random Thoughts: {none}
Thursday, July 11, 2002
I woke up this morning, bleary-eyed and more than a little tired. Got dressed in the semi-darkness, and walked to the lab. It wasn't until around noon when I discovered how mismatched my clothes were. I pleaded fatigue and started on my way home so I can perhaps take a nap and change my clothes. However, I had forgotten that summer school let out at noon, so I ended up parading through downtown in my bright orange shirt, with my equally bright red jacket, and wearing linen pants that weren't cut to fit.
Keiko drew angels at 01:27 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: death wish - Gackt
Random Thoughts: ~wasurenai~~ KA~RA~~
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
I heartily dislike "Doomsday" in the new Gackt album. It annoys me out of my mind. XP I wish I knew which album "Sayonara" and "Lapis" were in, though, cos I'd really like to buy that (uh huh, spent another $30-$40 for an imported cd...)
I'm losing so much sleep. I can't fall asleep before 1 at night, and I can't sleep past 10 in the morning. It doens't help that I have to get up everyday at 8 for work. It doesn't even constitue as work, cos I'm not getting paid for it. All volunteer work. As soon as I get my resume done, I'm going for a job at Cody's Books. At least then I won't have to beg my mom for my allowance every month. Today's volunteer work takes place at Koshland Hall at Cal. I get to help make recombinant DNA. Much fun, but there's a three hour waiting period in between the mixing and the looking, so I'm spending my time wisely (since I hardly ever get to go online at home anymore, all because my mom's taking a ONE-MONTH vacation from work). I had to read a chapter on recombinant DNA from a biology book first, though. Nearly fell asleep through the middle of it. But the lab is pretty cool to be in. There's a lot of stuff everywhere. Pipets, fume hoods, and ovens, oh my~ Anyway, Koshland Hall in is a part of Cal I'd never been to (O_o and I thought I've been all over). There's a spiraling staircase that had these extradinary photographs by someone named Michael Good. There's one particular one that I especially like, of a lonesome pine tree standing in the middle of a meadow, half-bent over yet still resisting the typhoon-like winds. There's white mist all around, through which you can faintly see more trees in the background, but nowhere near that small hardy pine.
I borrowed Archangel from the library yesterday, when I went there and spent hours reading The Far Side. I think it's only the second time I've read it. Don't remember much about the story though. It's first book in the Samaria series. I like the first and the third, The Alleluia Files, but the second one (Jovah's Angel) not as much. It's strange that I should only have the second book, though.
Aiii yahhhh, volunteer work, volunteer work... there's no end to it. I have to sit four hours in the library store this Saturday for volunteer work. The things I do for college... not to mention all the hell I have to through for writing a personal statement. I'm so sick of hearing about how it has to be original, fresh, innovative, etc. (those words all mean the same!) Or, "just be yourself!" What the hell kind of ambiguous advice is THAT?
Keiko drew angels at 12:10 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Frangrance - Gackt
Random Thoughts: {none}
Monday, July 8, 2002
Yare yare... Ka-chan wants us to get our own domain, as opposed to chillin' and sucking at Yahoo Geocities. She's got an idea for the name, which is pretty cool, albeit short. I checked, it's still untaken. We were talking about it when I was at her house, and I got a little enthuisastic and started planning the layout. The main pic will be a sad-looking girl with two pair of wings. One light, one dark. When I asked what sort of clothing she should wear, Ka-chan gave a congenial shrug and said "Gothic ones" ... ah, wonderful. I'm supposed to make the girl look innocent and dark at the same time. The project seems a little daunting, especially since the girl will have her face tilted sidways, and she's going to be holding something. What exactly it will be, I'm not yet sure of.
Keiko drew angels at 11:11 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Luna - Gackt
Random Thoughts: [none] just music
Monday, July 8, 2002
Wahh, I'm so tired... I haven't slept well at all lately! First, I go visit Ka-chan, and I can't get use to her mattress, then I come home just as I'm adjusting to her bed and I have to suffer the bumps in my futon (which was fine before). Adding to that my nocturnal tendancies (and the horrifying image on Gackt's newest album) and you get restless sleeping, and a bleary-eyed Keiko.
I went to R99 today, and spent an hour looking for Saiyuki. The books at Kingstone Bookstore is arranged so that the shoujo manga take up one and a half aisle, and the shonen manga(YYH, + miscellaneous others) take up another aisle. I was pretty sure that Saiyuki would be with the latter, but I looked and looked and couldn't find it. I was pretty upset because the whole time I was at Jean's house, I was thinking about it. I went back and forth between the two sections, trying to figure out where it could possibly be, because I knew the store had it... somewhere. Anyway, in the end I found it where I'd thought it would be, wedged in one end of a shelf, looking innocently inconspicuous. I'd forgotten tnat since there were only nine books, it would look much smaller and take up less room than the longer series like Dragonball (Z + GT), Rurouni Kenshin, and Slam Dunk. Saiyuki is one of the larger books, though, a size right in bewteen the average tankouban and Vampire Princess Miyu-sized illustration-book-typed manga, therefore, each volume costed $8.50. Expensive, but worth it, as Saiyuki is very good, and starting with volume 2 there are colored picture at the beginning of each book. I absolutely <3 it~ To my utter delight, there's is a outside series to Saiyuki, which goes back 500 Saiyuki years, and shows the events of Goku's adminttance to Tenkai, and his meeting with Nataku, and the former incarnations of his comrades. I nearly cracked up in the store when I read the part where Goku grabbed Konzen's hair, and accidentally tore some off. I'm surprised Konzen didn't kill him right then and there. I also found Naruto and Hikaru no Go. I took a sneak peek at Hikago's volume 16 (because all others between 10 and 16 were gone), and it seems as if Isumi went to China to study Go, and Sai is gone from Hikaru's mind, which caused him to stop playing Go. Isumi comes back from China, and challenges Hikaru to a game (unfinished business, after all). Quite sad really, when at the end of the volume Hikaru recognizes Sai's style of playing in Isumi's hands, and begins to cry. Almost makes me want to buy the entire Hikago series, right from volume 1. Almost.
After coming home yesterday (didn't go to church with Jean's family; couldn't stomach the preaching and the singing), Mom made me wash the car, then watched my every move and complained when I took too long. I was in a black mood after I finished, and snapped at her that the next time she wanted her car washed, she'd have to do it herself, since she didn't like the way I did it. She doesn't like the way I wash dishes, either. She doesn't even like the way I eat. Nothing wrong with the way I do any of those three things, I assure you. She just likes to nitpick when she has too much free time on her hands. We went to a barbeque afterwards. I controlled my cravings, and didn't eat too much. Of course, by midnight I was starving. Since my mom's friends' house has cable tv, I sat and watched two movies in a row: The Nutty Professor II, and Frequency. Frequency is one of my favorites. After we finished Frequency, it was pretty late, so my mom wanted to leave. Her friends gave her some roses from their garden, as a get-better-soon present (cos she was in the hospital last week; did I mention that?). I held the roses (thorns picked off) while she went to get the car, and got in when she drove it around. Of course, being the clumsy klutz I am, I mananged to stab myself in the finger with the cut end of the stem, and got a small chip of it lodged in my finger.
Okay, I know I'm rambling, but I haven't been logging when I should, so I have a lot of things to say. Bear with me.
My dad's been taking care of Mom after she got out of the hospital. He cooked and cleaned for the days that I was at Jean's house. I don't know what sorts of arguments arose while I was gone, but I know that when I came abck yesterday morning, my parents were in the kitchen, cooking and conversing like they used to do on the weekends, and everything felt so familiar, so normal, almost as if they'd never been divorced. Sure, no love lost there, but still, the nostalgia was overwhelming. The feeling went so far as to make me feel as if any moment one of my relatives would walk in and say that the table was set and everyone (my entire family) was waiting to eat, like we did on special occasions.
So, in summary of this entry, I'm a hungry klutz, I miss having my real family around me, and my newest obsession is Saiyuki, with its excessively sweet eye-candy. Isn't everything just dandy?
Keiko drew angels at 10:21 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: Rugrats theme song
Random Thoughts: {none}
Saturday, July 6, 2002
Happy birthday Ka-chan~~ ^_^ (hope you go online later to read this...)
Wahhh, I wanna read Saiyuki~~ ¬_¬ but I'm going to have to wait till I get home to go to the bookstore. Anyway, me n Ka-chan went to Japantown yesterday and we bought stuff at Kinokuniya and Ka-chan bought two mags, and I (somehow) got my dad to buy me Gackt's newest album "Moon". XD XD I love it! It has the greatest cover (and backcover).
We're watching El-Hazard The Magnificent World right now (cos I kept fussing about it). But we're waiting for Ka-chan to finish eating dinner. Ka-chan, you're such a slow eater! I've gotta find something that you can eat in a hurry.
Keiko drew angels at 08:02 p.m..
Will you be my sunshine?
Playlist: {none}
Random Thoughts: {none}
Friday, July 5, 2002
Yum~ cherries~ my favorite food in the world. =__= I'm gobbling up all of Jean's cherries cos she's got an entire trayful of it (is trayful a word?). Ok, going to update the left side.
Keiko drew angels at 12:29 a.m..
