Bad · Taste · Aquarium

The lengthy room hung in suspended animation, the smallest movement out of place, and Stanfelt was very out of place as be cut through the stillness to the end of the corridor. He tapped the elevator button, a little harder than it needed. He rocked gently to cool himself, his hands, on automatic, fixing the fringes of his jacket. His lids closed, blanketing him in a warm uncertainty as he counted the seconds for the elevator. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. The numbers grew hazy but he tightened his focus, propping himself against the wall. Please. Please let it be sunny. Even a little bit. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. The elevator hadn't taken this long on the way up.

( Read more... )

But I'm so good at it.

I deftly tossed mine in the bucket they set up for wasted food.  I should have grabbed a whole fistful of them.

After lunch I went to present my terrible paper on how we should never trust Austria-Hungary again because they sent Franz Ferdinand out to die for his country and Germany was innocent in starting WWI you guys.  Surprisingly, it was well received (considering I was backing the bad guys), despite the fact that I have the most atrocious footnotes known to man.  Our professor even actually let me off the hook for not really introducing my thesis until The End of my paper because I somehow managed to  handle it so swimmingly, something unheard of in all of local academia.  So Eric, just so you know, I have indeed screwed the rules.  With a fedora.

Also, I understand my CAA posting habits lately have apparently inspired some confusion among the staff.  Rest assured, I mean exactly what you think I mean, which might not be much by this point, but that a subject for another entry I'll probably never write.

In conclusion, Peanut, I have found a perfectly free recording device, and it is called CamStudio.  I know we are on the same page on this.

Most people I know using signatures sparingly, like an actual signature, something to suitably accompany their posts.  Other people write their entire life biographies in them.  Some people have photos of turtles.  Either way, most people don't take much more than a second, if even.  I started thinking about that (just casually mind you, I didn't put actual manhours into this), and figured I could do one better.  Something that would actually be worth reading.

For the next month, or however long it ultimately takes, I will be posting a story in my signature on boards I still frequent, tenatively titled A Five Act Play In A Signature.  By me, Fish.  Each Act will have a couple scenes, each restricted to three lines or roughly 150 characters.  Every night, or perhaps every other night, I'm not sure yet, I will remove the previous part and update with the next one.

I am only allowing myself to plan one day ahead of myself.  Yes, I am planning on backing these up somewhere.

The reason I'm posting this is because while I'd like to think something like this could be spread by word of mouth alone, like I said, people usually just scroll past them without a second thought.  So I guess in my tiny bid for attention I'm trying to sow a seed, hopefully which will bloom on the forums I post into a quiet following.  After all, it doesn't take that long to read three lines.  It takes me longer to write them than it does you to read them.

Also I now have Twitter.  I have no idea why I have Twitter, but I have it all the same.   Feel free to follow me, if you're into that sort of thing.

To Do List:

1. Haircut
2. Change religions
3. Beat the gratuitous sewer levels of Dark Cloud 2

And yes I have the first printing volumes of 20th Century Boys and Pluto.  Goes without saying really.

Lastly, the new FullMetal Alchemist season looks absolutely amazing.  You can find the OP and ED here.  I'm especially fond of the ED, though the OP is suitably epic.  I'm really pumped for this, I haven't been this excited for an Anime in a long time.  Just as the Manga's wrapping up too, so some of my favorite scenes should be in there.  I usually don't anticipate things too much, but this is it.  They've even addressed my complaints about the color scheme in the original series and adopted a slightly darker shaded palette this time.

This sentance is for King Bradley.  It requires no explanation and shall receive none.  Anyone who has seen the first episode will understand.

April's off to a great start.

What should we name Black Rose's son.

So anyway I have been playing Castlevania.  It's fun for a backtracking sim.  Dracula's back, and you're defeating him because he's there.  But you can also do sidequests. Like collecting furnature or Dracula's remains.  No you didn't read that wrong.  All throughout his latest castle you can find and pick up various odds and ends from end tables to gramaphones to "A superb piece of art by an obviously skilled raccoon figurine craftsman."  Eventually you will also find an empty room with nice red carpeting where you can automatically stow all your stuff.

There doesn't seem to be much purpose behind it, though I have to wonder who Konami hired that decided that a vampire hunting game should involve copious furniture rearrangement.  But I get to kill Death (That's "Death" Death), so I guess we're even.

Are we back from hiatus now?  I hope so.

Then a couple weeks ago right before a scheduled tune up, the screen froze and died, and everything turned black. Turns out the motherboard or the video card or something is fried, and I had to send it in for repairs, which are hopefully coming sooner rather than later since it's not that useful to me halfway across the country. They said in the warranty they may have to wipe the drive.

I think I will name this one Nia Teppelin.

But otherwise life is fine. Lots of time to plan writing projects and read Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and Pluto which I just bought and they are glorious.

Also, I haven't been replying to much of your comments, for which I apologize.

For this Vileplume gets a nickname.  Someone help me think of an awesome one.

Anyway, after a pressure cooker course on Asian civilization in these recent weeks, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I sort of have a plan to actually travel there sometime.  I've long had a quiet fascination with Asian history, particularly because of my friend Garriet who, aside from collecting foreign swords, is lending me Mushashi's own Book of Five Rings in the near future; but I'd never really entertained the idea of visiting the place.  Our professor though made me want to though, principly in her descriptions of still standing historic sites and local cultural flavor and night life.  I think I'd like to sit in on a Kabuki play once in my life (though expensive and busy), or see the Great Wall perhaps.  I certainly want to photograph some of those marvelous castles they still have strategically lying around, take a bicycle down some of the country side.

Okay, and yes, probably pick up some merchandise, though seriously, I do want to see these things.

And as horribly "American" as this sounds, I find it pretty convenient English is at least marginally understood over there, at least in most commercial districts.  Though if people start quoting Zero Wing at me I might have to bring along a guidebook to brush up on my non-existant linguistic skills.

I want to see what comes of this.

...BRB

Those are the exact words our professor used. It was everything I could do to stop myself from laughing.

Oh Internet, I hate you sometimes.

Oh yeah, and apparently a new president was inaugurated today or something.  Hopefully we have more to talk about in the next four years than Obama's skin tone of choice, because it got old pretty quick in the ceremony.  Someone call me when he starts performing these miracles and things though, like the part where he magically fixes the economy and ends all international strife.  I'll just be over here, burning through freeware games.

Wouldn't be Christmas without it though.

So Merry Christmas you guys.

This is the part where Tevye breaks into your room with a shotgun going TRADITION.

Also, I used an elevator today and there were people inside watching a movie. Waited patiently for the third story DING doors shuttered open and there against the wall of the compartment were two girls in a blanket with a laptop resting between them chatting about whatever it was. Apparently there was a killer but they didn't seem too perturbed, so a feel good murder mystery late at night.  In an elevator.

I don't think I said anything the entire way down.

Conceivably this is even better when I dryly take the handle from them and reinsert it in the wooden panel, casually and wordlessly.  Then I sort of stare into the space behind their eyeballs uncomfortably until they say something or walk away.

This vindicates my decision not to fix it.

Maybe I should take it with me.

She stood up slowly, uncrossing her legs and straightening up against the arch of the door. Collecting the dishes, she turned in towards the sink and ran them through the faucet. The flow of water was loud enough to interrupt the pace of the rain outside.  She busied herself with routine.  There was a radio on the panel.  Today, it stayed off.  Finishing, she stacked the dishes in a cabinet and closed it discreetly.  The rain resumed.

The whistle whistled.  It took her a moment to remember.  She removed a cup and brought it down, lifting the kettle over it's lip, filling it shortly.  Something was out of place.  She weighed the kettle thoughtfully in her hand, then lifted the lid.  Too much.  She had made too much.  She set is aside, holding a hand to her forehead in mock resignation.  She wanted to laugh.  She lowered her fingers over her mouth as she surveyed the scene.  The clock ticked another minute by.

She leaned towards the steaming cup and returned to overlooking the garden.  It had been planted very strategically, to not only survive but take advantage of such a barrage of rain.  Sitting on a slant, the water hit the ground and ran its course towards the side, to a man-made ditch that would, at some point, empty into a local river.  This idea had been entertained since the garden's infancy, before there even was a garden, when it was just another patch of Earth.  It was said it would withstand any rainstorm.  But, would it survive this one?  The rain had only ever come briefly in years past, but this latest downpour...when had it begun?  She began adding sugar to the drink and stirring it gently as he glanced skyward.   It seemed forever since the sky had last been clear. 

She took out the spoon and tapped it twice on the side of the cup.  She raised it carefully, casually wrapping her free arm around her waist, and began a sip.  Something stopped her.  She made a face and quickly withdrew the cup.  The flavor.  the flavor was all wrong.  She studied the still full cup momentarily.  It was too sweet.  How much sugar did she put in?  When did she start taking it with sugar in the first place?  Why...

Of course.  That was right.  How could she have forgotten it.  Force of habit.

After so many years, she still made his cup first.

She looked again to the sky, the sky that said so much that she couldn't herself.  She held the cup close, as if comforting it, and sidled back into her cushion facing the open door.  The rain wasn't letting up.  She imagined it wouldn't for awhile.  But that was fine.  The quiet storm would run its pace, and then the clouds would clear, and the sun would once again cover the land.  She raised the cup, collecting a couple drops at the edge.

"Here's to you."

She took another sip.  It would do.

My parents leave my sister alone for Not Even One semester, and she gets her nose pierced.  She's also picked up the habit of watching pretty tacky and poorly written soap operas, though when it comes to most television programming my sister is already near obscenely open minded.  This is the same sibling who happily accepted High School Musical: The Boardgame for Christmas last year.  And she's still more sociable than me if you can believe that (hint: I'm a Sociopath Lite).

Not that I'm complaining.  Actually, I'm secretly fine with all this.  No really, I am.  Just one more reason she isn't allowed to criticize any of my own hobbies, which usually she enjoys doing.

Oh siblings.

This last week has been a killer on my writing habits, but I'll shuffle things along.  Also drafting up a prototype for a second story to start work on after.  If I make good progress, I'll have the first story finished by (late?) December and slowly start  in on the second.  This is aside from my spontaneous short pieces.

Also, reading a lot of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Bokurano, but especially Bokurano.  Mohiro Kitoh is a freaking sadist and it's kinda wonderful.  If anyone's looking for a good deconstruction of the Super Robot genre, this is the place to look.

I am beginning to suspect that Viz has dropped JoJo.  Any of my industry savvy friends confirm this?