Every day this week I have told myself, "I am going to go home and play Mass Effect." Every day, I have then proceeded to not do that. Today, I'm not telling myself that! Not because I don't want to, but because I know I won't have time - I'm working a garage sale this morning and I'll be home around two, and then I have to be at Pinky's and Shiki's mum's house by five, because that's where the limo for prom is picking us up. And I can't play after I get home from prom, because prom isn't over until about midnight, and there's an after party. So I probably won't be home until about two, at which point I will want to do nothing else but crash horribly.

I am going to make another music post on my tumblr when I get home the first time, though, partly because I did it last week and partly because I want to listen to some better dance music than what they'll play at prom. I know Mez has a playlist and that we're going to try and find somewhere outside to set that up so we can dance to our own music, but it's also supposed to rain, so that might not happen. And I have it on good authority that at least two-thirds of the DJ's playlist is "music you can grind to." Which really isn't what I'm into.

I will tell myself that I'll spend all of tomorrow (or whatever's left of it once I've woken up) playing Mass Effect. Because really, I haven't got anything else to do.

Happy Easter, everyone! This is not an introspective post because I am absolutely tired of writing introspective posts. Instead, this is something of a random things post.

For example! Without even trying I'm subconsciously picking out songs for characters of mine. I've got a Mao song (Starlight), a Haru song (Trade Mistakes), a Mao-and-Haru song (Star Gate Heaven), and a Noemi song (Bad Apple). (I don't think I've ever mentioned Noemi by name, although recently I've talked about the issues I've had actually writing her story. Part of this is probably because, while I know Noemi really well, I don't know Luke very well at all, and I'm supposed to be actually introducing him into the story.)

My nail polish is finally starting to chip off, after two weeks of nearly perfect nails. It's weird, because the stickers I put on are coming off, too, from underneath the topcoat. So then I have a petal-shaped hole in my topcoat. It's really weird.

Hopefully getting out to the craft store on Tuesday! I've planned to go with Shiki and Pinky but I don't know if their mum will let them. /: If not I might try asking Ruchia, and if that doesn't work then I'm just going to have to ask mum. /: I basically need a whole ton of stuff for making the keys: clay, paints, paintbrush, gloss, wire, pliers... I'm also after a new pair of earbuds, as well - I want some Skullcandies, but they're always "locked merchandise" and there's never ever anybody actually in the electronics section, so I'll probably end up with another pair of the Sony ones I have now. But really, I just want a pair of earbuds that doesn't hurt my ears and doesn't start doing weird staticky stuff after four months, is that really too much to ask?

Also, I really don't understand this. List of Apple Software I Want: iTunes.
List of Software Apple Apparently Thinks I Need: iTunes, Safari, MobileMe, Ping, Genius, VoiceOver Kit, GraceNote, and Kerbango.

You'll notice there's only one thing common to both lists. The really ridiculous part? With the exception of Safari and MobileMe, the rest of that all comes with iTunes. But I don't want any of it. I don't even need any of it! I never use it! So why do I have to have all of it just to get freaking iTunes?

Which reminds me, I've got about four months' worth of Grammar Girl and Are We Alone? to listen to, as well as those three audiobooks I never finished. Who wants to listen to Tim Curry read Sabriel? I do! :D (Plus I've had a raging headache for three hours. I think getting off the computer and indulging in some awesome Skullcrushers might help.)

Okay, so having listened to 21st Century Breakdown (I finally bought the CD! It only took me going to another concert on that tour to do it...) I can say this with some certainty: there is a story there, and I kind of want to write it. I doubt I'm going to, because once I actually decide I'm going to do something I usually... never do it, but. I'm a sucker for stories of desperation, of last chances. As much as I like happy endings, I also like stories where things don't turn out okay in the end, where there's no way to make things better. This album has that (though there still is hope at the end) and I kind of want to borrow from this album and just write. Nobody's going to interpret Christian and Gloria's story in the same way, but I think I want to put my interpretation out there.

(Maybe I should write this for NaNoWriMo. ...haha, and then ask my English teacher, "Hey, can I get extra credit for doing this?" Haha.)

21st Century Breakdown's story also strikes me as coming after American Idiot's. Not just because it was, you know, released after, but also because the themes I'm picking up seem to be American Idiot, but more; I guess because the album as a whole feels more desperate ("Desperate, but not hopeless; desperate, but not helpless"). Hell, maybe I should do, like, a two-part epic - the story of the American Idiots, with their desperation giving birth to the Jesus of Suburbia and their anger bringing forth Saint Jimmy; and the rise and fall of the both of them, as the people who believed in them "grow up" and decide that the world can't be changed after all; which sets up the 21st Century Breakdown, where Christian and Gloria, undeterred by the failures of our previous protagonists, set out to change things for real, through action, and we follow them as they learn that the world doesn't work that way. (That was a bad sentence and I don't even care, because I like where it went.)

Minor gripe: the "class of '13" comes up a couple times in the lyrics, and I know full well that it's meant to represent the current generation, and I know full well why they chose '13, but it still bugs me because I'm class of '11 and feel unrepresented |:<

I had another post sort of like this in mind; I meant to post it last night, but it's a companion to something else that I need to finish first. So today: finish that, get up both posts, register for my Ohlone class, finish my English homework, and draw Damien for my bestest concert buddy ever who is finally seventeen.

I wish I knew where my sweats were; it's really cold right now. (In August! This is awesome!) Also I've been up since too early and it kind of sucks. /: So sleepy, haha. I think the hot chocolate helped a little bit, though. And I should have gotten up like at least twenty minutes before I did, too... I just hit snooze twice. Well, I was tired and it was cold! /fail

I have some art to do today; there are two drawings that I need to draw, scan, and colour, and these are important to get done because they're for other people and I've been sitting on them for like a month. But I'll wait until the lighting is a little better x: And I hope my tablet works okay; it's been kind of twitchy lately. (Well, I kind of need a new one; it's as old as my laptop, and I've needed a new one of those for a couple of years, now.)

I've been trying to pick out the remixes in the Metroid Prime trilogy soundtracks; people have been saying, "Oh, such-and-such song is a remix of Brinstar Green!" and I am not hearing the Brinstar Green. I know what Brinstar Green (aka "The Jungles of Brinstar," thank you Super Metroid sountrack) sounds like, and the MP2 multiplayer theme does not  sound like it. (There's another MP2 track that's also supposed to be a remix of Brinstar Green, and it doesn't sound like it, either.) Torvus Bog being a remix of Maridia is kind of cool, though especially since Torvus Bog is basically Maridia, except on Aether.

Other M today! I don't actually get to go and pick it up today, though. /: I did manage to talk mum into picking it up for me, though, so I still get it today. Art folio, you will be mine...! I saw the first like twenty minutes of Other M on Gamespot (I think; it was linked to me and I wasn't paying much attention) and it looked pretty cool. A lot of people are complaining about 1) cutscenes and 2) Samus with speaking lines, but I think they're both probably a good addition to the game. I think Samus's voice acting sounds pretty decent, for a bounty hunter who was raised by alien bird-people, and I think that plot is a welcome addition to any game. Character development - it's not a bad thing!

I really really want to play this game now. I know I'm probably really going to suck at it, but I want to play it. x: I hope Shiki renews her "You know, you can come over and play it with me if you want" because... yeah, I want. x:

I like gloves as an idea. I mean, they keep your hands warm and protected, and they sometimes even look cool, too. What's not to like? Then I actually wear gloves, and I remember why I don't like them. I mean, I have short fingers, so I buy gloves and they never fit properly. And if I ever have to perform a task involving any kind of dexterity at all while wearing gloves, well... it just doesn't work. I can barely even write while wearing gloves. That's just pathetic.

On a completely different note, my brother just texted me asking if I wanted an Xbox 360. I don't. He's being rather persistent about it, so I'm thinking maybe it's free or something /: I mean, okay, so I can think of like three 360 games I would like to play. Two of them got better PS3 ports! And anyway I have like a million JRPGs so I really don't need more of them and anyway I heard Star Ocean 4 wasn't even that good, Infinite Undiscovery was like Radiata Stories, which I didn't like, and Tales of Vesperia is... a Tales game. Not much to say about that. And anyway, he knows that if he comes home with a random video game console I would rather it be, like, a Wii or a Dreamcast or something like that. (We've had discussions about it. Is that weird?) I mean, maybe he was trying to impress me with his hookups or something. I'm not really impressed. (Although I guess I could take the 360 and then sell it and use that to buy a Wii. Or maybe just a new PSP; mine was making horrible screeching noises the other day :| )

Also, I find myself in possession of new music! Well, it's not really new, it's more like some music I ripped of my brother's iPod and some pre-laptop CDs that I found (and one not-pre-laptop one that I just never ripped). Ani's always complaining about how I'm "forgetting my heritage" or some shit like that whenever I'm too entrenched in anime or j-rock, so two CDs' worth of Wicked Tinkers should appease him. (I wish I could find the first and fourth ones; I know we have them somewhere but hell if I know where.) Plus I'm sure there's nothing better than Nana Kitade followed by bagpipes, right?

Now if only I could find that hip-hop remix of the Super Metroid title music, I would be totally content for the day.

edit: And then I went and cleared out all the extraneous playlists from my iPod. I mean, if I want to listen to, say, just Fall Out Boy or just Metroid Prime songs in iTunes, then I need a playlist just for that. But if I wanted to do that on my iPod, then I could just go through artists or albums or whatever and pick through it. So now I don't have like a million playlists on Balmung, and now I don't have to scroll through a million playlists to copy stuff onto my iPod (in iTunes I have most of them in folders, so I don't see them all the time, but you can't do that on an iPod). I actually feel productive today!

My body's not very happy with me right now. It's probably because of something I did, but I can't really figure out what it was, because I'm too busy feeling like throwing up and wanting to curl into a ball and die or something. I've taken something for the latter, but I'm really just not sure about the former. I'm thinking it was either the cupcakes or the onions. I kind of hope it was the onions, because I'd like a better reason to dislike onions than "I don't like the way they taste."

Moving on, I'm always amused by flame wars over music or bands, because I just don't see the big deal. Then again, I also seem to have the ability to treat absolutely nothing like Serious Business. Even if it is Serious Business, like a speech competition or a presentation that my entire grade is riding on. Of course, in those cases I do eventually realise the seriousness of it, just too late to really freak out about it until afterwards.

Also, I'm writing fanfiction of fanfiction. It feels weird, haha. It's actually kind of a long story: back in seventh grade (like, five years ago) some of my friends had the brilliant idea to write a crossover between Avatar and Kingdom Hearts, starring... them! (I'd say us, but I wasn't really in on it.) There was a start, but nothing much really came from it. Then, freshman year, Shiki decided to rewrite it, cutting out the Avatar part so it was just one huge Kingdom Hearts self-insert. She certainly rewrote it. Then she wrote a CoM sequel (which I got to be in, haha). Then she wrote a KH2 sequel, which she finished last month. It's every bit as self-insert-y as the original concept, but it's also kind of fun.

Anyway, at the end of the KH2 one she put a note saying that she wasn't going to write a Days version and she wasn't going to write a BBS version. I immediately began trying to convince her to write a BBS version, and now she's starting to like the idea, haha. But, back to the "fanfiction of fanfiction" bit, I decided to try writing my own little BBS bit. It's not very long, since I, you know, haven't played BBS, but I like it. Sometimes writing self-inserts is fun, and there's nothing wrong with a little indulgence. I was hoping to finish it tonight, but now I don't know if I'm feeling up to writing /: Maybe I can get a little bit done. At least I know where I want to go with it.

So I decided I wanted to go to the cinema. Couldn't make it with the people I wanted to go with (Shiki's busy, Pinky didn't get back to me before Ruchia-chan did) but I don't mind going with Ruchia-chan, so that's cool. (I don't know why I'm using silly nicknames for people I know I've referred to by name before. I guess I'm just in a silly nickname kind of mood right now.) Except that after I made plans, Pinky mentioned she had something in the works, which turned out to be on the day I'm going out with Ruchia-chan. /: I'm trying to see if maybe the twins would want to go to the cinema first and then the mall, but I have no idea if that's going to work out at all (and I think it probably won't, but that's my inner pessimist talking).

Also, these plans are on Thursday. I asked everybody if they were free tomorrow, because I kind of really wanted to do something tomorrow, but nobody was, and Ruchia-chan said Thursday was better for her, so... Thursday. This wouldn't be a problem, except that for the past three hours I'd been operating under the assumption that today was Tuesday.

It's Monday. Needless to say, I am definitely going to try and get out of the house tomorrow, even if it's just to the art store to pick up another 9"x12" sketchbook (because I've almost filled up my current one, and the two 10"x14"s and the 14"x17" totally aren't enough!). Or maybe another set of manga pens so that I can try to finish my Joshua shoes. The ones from the cosplay that fell through that I can't wear anyway because I only ever got around to colouring a third of one shoe. If I can finish them, I'll at least have a pair of not-dress shoes that fit me... even if I haven't finished breaking them in just yet.

Also, I really hate it when lyrics and/or music put these ideas in my head that I don't have the skill to articulate properly, whether in words or in drawings. I've had this one idea for a while, though it's just now solidified to the point where it has some coherence to it, but I'm... really sure I can't get it on paper and have it say what it says in my head. Then again... I have tried before, and it's turned out well, so I guess I have no excuse to not try now.

Also also, I should probably put out the croissants to rise so that I can bake them in the morning. You know, before I forget.

edit: And then the drawing didn't work out, and neither did the plans. Well, at least I still get to see a film.

Today I actually woke up early enough to watch the morning news (I've been up since like 6:20). And the news station I watch has new theme music. I think their music dude spent too much time in the jungles of Brinstar, because the new theme music sounds like something out of Metroid.

Yesterday my iPod stopped working; it did it in much the same way that it did last time, where it somehow managed to corrupt itself. I plugged it into the computer yesterday and nothing happened, which... I actually kind of expected, because it took a few tries last time for something to start happening, too. Then I plugged it in this morning and it immediately responded. All my files are still on it but it doesn't remember what I named it. Except that the computer does, so I think it's more me not remembering where the name is supposed to show up.

Also, I started a new writing comm (after deleting my old one, which was getting a little embarrassing). I haven't posted anything yet, but: firstawakened! I dreamed up the name, which is 1) a miracle, because I never remember details about my dreams, or at least not for long, and 2) seemingly witty without being witty at all. It ties into this username, though! (Because Ovan is the epitaph user of the eighth phase, and was also the first to awaken to his avatar ability.)

Of course, it's entirely possible I came up with it when I woke up around 1:40 after dreaming of ice cream, at which point I remembered I actually had ice cream, so I got up to eat some. That would explain why I still remember it, though I can't fathom why I'd have been thinking about it.

I am home! Home and tired, and with that weird feeling that comes from not drinking enough water and eating too many carbs. /: And also twelve videos that I need to email, but cannot compress enough so that I can actually email them. (Maybe I should put them on megaupload or something, lol.)

SF was, as usual, both interesting and boring at the same time. It's boring, because it's like right in my back yard and I therefore don't think it's omgsoamazing, and then it's interesting because... well, this time mostly because of the people. There's always music on the streets; we passed two trumpet players, a saxophone player, three hip-hop dancers with stereo, and a girl singing opera. Three of the people we interviewed were from London, and we also interviewed a happily-married gay couple, who said they were certain to get married when they did because they knew someone was going to try to ban it as soon as elections rolled around (which is what ended up happening.)

I also saw a couple of soundtracks I wanted in Borders (we had to pick up a notebook and pen, because none of us had thought to bring one and yeah, we ended up needing it) but didn't have the money for; the original score to Iron Man and the Broadway cast recording of American Idiot. (I don't think I can afford both of them with what I've got left, but I might be able to convince mum to take me to Borders tomorrow so I can see if I can't get at least one of them, lol.)

I kind of wish I had a fedora, because it would have gone better with my outfit today than the hat I did wear; but I don't have a fedora, and I don't think I could rock that look anyway. ):

Added a bunch of interest tags. Half of them I ganked off my first account, the others I just kind of added.

Am attempting to figure out tea. The internet makes it sound very complicated, unfortunately, but I think between the electric kettle and my basic understanding of the four different kinds of tea (as well as all the useless tea-related trivia I've managed to pick up, mostly within the last hour or so) I'm halfway there. There is a box of Irish Breakfast Tea teabags in the kitchen that, once I've managed to set up the kettle and find a suitable mug, will be calling my name.

I cannot wait until I get my own iPod. Then I will be able to perform such mundane tasks as making tea with a soundtrack. This is particularly amusing when I picture myself looking incredibly proper and dressed up and making tea for the morning... while listening to something like Mass Destruction. (Picked that video because I think it's funny whenever the camera cuts to Yumi Kawamura.)

It's just... it seems so ridiculous, but at the same time, that's me. I'm that girl in the pinstriped vest with the glasses and the combat boots and the Thermos full of tea, carrying her laptop in the ancient Fruits Basket messenger bag that's perpetually covered in cat fur, listening to Fall Out Boy and Lotus Juice and Kenji Yamamoto and Paramore and some live Nobuo Uematsu from that one concert I didn't get to go to when I was twelve, trying to read Harry Potter in French. And if those are all elements that seem contradictory, then I guess I'm contradictory. I'll think about that the entire time I'm sewing the patches to my Girl Scout sash. (But I probably won't be posting about it on Facebook, because nobody ever reads my Facebook posts.)

Wow, talk about derailment there. Wasn't I talking about tea earlier? (Yes. Yes I was.)

One of these days I'm going to have to make a list of all the artists in my iTunes right now. You know. For reference. (That may be after I steal the MC Chris off my brother's computer, though.) Since mum's up, tea is off the to-do list at present, so I might do that in just a bit.