I have just finished reading Robin Hobb's "Soldier Son Trilogy" and although I enjoyed the experience of reading it I ... I can't decide whether or not I liked reading it (it IS a very uncomfortable trilogy, admittedly, which explains that dichotomy). Or how I feel about the ending.

Anyone else on my flist read it? Any thoughts...? My mind's all awhirl and I just can't seem to pin down how I feel about it or that strange feeling of "wait a minute..." when I finished the last line.

QUICK LIFE UPDATE

- My birthday was awesome. I got lots of books from my family (doubly good now that I'm commuting because I've been reading so much), a cupcake from Christi, and lots of cool stuff from Zazzle including commissioning amazing art like this hot and hilarious hug pillow design by rubyd or this totally amazing and hilarious and IC picture of Mikogami and Mutsu by ceesoo. SO LIFE WAS GOOD.

- Work is crazy and my wrists hurt so much every day sob. I apologize to everyone I'm being super-spotty about therads with at both my rps because being at the computer for an extended period is hard right now. I am spending a lot of time watching tv.

- AM GETTING NEW COMPUTER. SUPER-HYPED. More details later!!

- Woke today by the SUMMER FESTIVAL PARADE. We went down to the festival and stuff and browsed the booths. GOOD TIME.

- Bought Amai a big standing structure thing. I have not seen him this excietd in forever omfg.

WRISTS HURT. TV TIEM NAO.

Please note I will be slow as I've been having, well, wrist pain lately and have been trying to limit my typing h-hahaha.

PICK ONE OF MY CHARACTERS AND I WILL TELL YOU:
→ why I decided to play this character
→ my favourite scene or bit of interaction concerning this character to date
→ my favourite original aspect about this character (world-building for ocs or head-canon for fcs)
→ the last thing they did "off screen"
→ what their last words would be if they died tomorrow
→ what the next thing I'm doing for them is (narrative, post, shelving, whatever)

BONUS ROUND:
» I will tell you what character of yours I'd like to play mine against.
» you may ask me a free question if you so desire


I highly encourage the free question. I love that stuff.

( Character list )

So uh. APPARENTLY Dark Horse put out Clover in an omnibus. For a totally reasonable price. So finally, xx years later, I was able to buy it and read it (twice since lunch. On a work day. YEAH) which I never got to before. I read it once when a friend loaned it to me, but. No. It's the same translation, I think, with some of the same weird issues (Oruha = "Ora", Suu = "Sue", etc) but. Clover.

Sooo

here's a little something I threw together once I got home from work.


Silence
Clover
Gingetsu/Ran
Not safe for work. Spoilers.

( Silence )

Well, it's my birthday tomorrow, which will make me as old as Umeda Hokuto, which is one of those facts my mind shies away from accepting, much as it couldn't acknowledge, when I turned 16, that I was as old as Haruka and Michiru, who were clearly written as the mature older figures. Now, ten years later, the same shock comes upon me. (Though I've had a few moments of it in other fandoms, see also, "God I am older than Pi or Kuhn wtf")

I think I am officially turning Too Old To Save The World, guys. 21 was a big step past that, and 25+ and female? My heroic-quest world-saving options are even slimmer, minus me joining the military or something.

That aside, a moment to squee about the canons I've been reading lately:

( Saiyuki Reload 51 )

( Saiyuki Gaiden END )

( Sekirei 85 )


In other news, I've been reading a lot more since I started public transport to get to work after moving, and I've been tearing through Robin Hobb's books. My feelings on some parts are occasionally startled by mixed foreshadowing (such as the fact that I could have sworn she was foreshadowing Burrich being in love with Chivalry, not the person he HAD been in love with) but overall they're such strong entrancing reads that. Yeah. I can't put them down sob. I'm working on the Soldier's Son books now before going on to the Liveship/Tawny Man series, and I'm finding the Soldier's Son books are making me uncomfortable, but in a very good way. IDK.

MORE LATER. RP nao.

Let's do this in the usual order.

Pre-Con
( Pre-Con )
Friday
( Friday )
Saturday
( Saturday )

Sunday
( Sunday )

Random Weekend Hilarity
( Random Weekend Hilarity )



Photos!

Usually I put, like, 85% of the photos in and then link to the gallery, so warnings for a lot of pictures and, here is the link to the gallery with its safer-browsing thumbnails.

mackzazzle was cosplaying Karasuba (reference here); tinaeu was cosplaying Benitsubasa (reference here); I was cosplaying Haihane (reference here).

Preview:



( many photos behind the cut )

Visit with dosetsu was amazing, but too short :(

Con was awesome!

Work is great, but also very busy. Which in this day and age is also a form of great, I guess XD.

Current plans: Bath, juicy steak, and playing on the internets.

***

A full con update is coming later -- maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow -- but Zazzle hasn't been able to upload the photos from her camera yet 'cause she's had work tonight. However, until I can get those and spam everyone in the meantime, I tide you over with a couple of pictures of me I managed to find elsewhere on the internet. (As I know you were surely waiting with bated breath)

( I feel like I should include the one where I accidentally ended up in a photo of someone else. )

"Honey since you're taking the garbage out later can I put the kitty litter in it?"
"I dunno it's awful full."
"...where am I supposed to put this, then...?"
"Don't sound so plaintive... I'll take the bag out so you can put it in."
"Wait, put it in that one or the new one or uh?"
"...Put it in, there'll be more room..."
"It's not supposed to be complicated!"
"Zazzle take bag from garbage... move bag. Bag now have more room. Haru can put Litter in bag! Ugh ugh!"
"YOU KNOW HARU NOT THAT SMART."
"Zazzle put garbage by door!"
"WHAT IS DOOR?"
"HARU BANG WALL TO GET OUT!!"
"WHY I NOT LEAVE?!?!?!"



So, who else is going to Anime Evolution? Zazzle, tinaeu and I are going to be there dressed as Karasuba, Benitsubasa, and Haihane from Sekirei. I doubt there will be any other Sekirei cosplayers so if you see us there come up and say hi.

Also, memo to me: before I leave, put up challenge poll to guess how many yards of gauze I'm gonna be wearing.

From the sudden completely insane influx of work today through next week (5 days, 800 pages of documentation to write??? AHHH) to the bus blowing grit right into my eye, I call veto on today.


I think I'll make myself more Sekirei icons or something. HARU LIEK PRETTY SHINIES.

Sekirei Drabble Meme -- 3 moar drabbles
Sekirei
Characters: Miya, Matsu, Kazehana, Karasuba, Mutsu, Musubi, Minato
Batch two! Sorry these took so long -- life's finally starting to settle down, though, so I should be getting to the others sooner rather than later. Originally from this meme; feel free to leave a request still, if you want to ♥.


piecrumbs - the original Disciplinary Squad - "All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost"

( Drabble 4 )

***

metallic_sonata - Miya: "I have had some experiences with love, or think I have, anyway, although the ones I have liked best could easily be described as 'common decency.'"

( Drabble 5 )

***

metallic_sonata - Musubi and Minato: "Strength is not for hurting"

( Drabble 6 )

I had a horrible nightmare that my kitty Amai got really badly hurt and needed immediate surgery and he was making these tiny whimpering noises throughout. and my heart was breaking and nnnngh

And Solid Snake was the surgeon.

Only he was fighting with Otacon so his hands were unsteady.


!!!!

harukami: http://kotaku.com/5271124/can-you-decipher-kojimas-famitsu-interview
katmaxwell: MY FAVORITE ARGUMENT RIGHT NOW IS THAT IT'S JOHNNY
katmaxwell: I MEAN
katmaxwell: I'M CERTAIN IT'S SOLIDUS
katmaxwell: (BUT JOHNNY WOULD BE SO AWESOME)
harukami: would his bowels become a new stress meter
katmaxwell: ...
katmaxwell: I hope so.
harukami: And he'd have to find shelter with 80%+ stealth rating to relieve his bowel meter
katmaxwell: asdjklsf
harukami: or draw enemy soldiers
katmaxwell: YES

Sob sob I'm getting sick. AND I KNOW JUST WHAT IT IS. it is that bug that zazzle brought home that's knocked her out of comission for the last two days.

BAW.

(I just moved to a new place! My immune system isn't hooked up yet.)

In other news...

( Sekirei chapter 83 reaction )

Originally I typed "Congo get". Rather different.

IT'S GORGEOUS HERE AND I'M SUPER HAPPY AND I HAVE SPENT SO MUCH MONEY IN THE LAST FEW DAYS GUYS AND AHHH it's SO NICE and the CAT IS ACCEPTING IT and I'm hungry and tired and covered in bruises and have to figure out the bus to work tomorrow but life is pretty good rite nao.

Now if only I could get onto IRC...

However, in the meantime, chilling with video games and food sounds like a plan.

So today I was stuck at work forever* without my drabble prompts and instead had the following email exchange with ranith:

ME: [out of nowhere] Grimsby/Sebastian little mermaid secret otp?
HER: [gamely] I always kind of wondered if they were just, you know, actually the same person.
ME: I can see it. It's either soulbonding or, like, soultwins.
HER: "Have you ever thought of what you life would have been like if you'd
been born a crab out in the Caribbean Sea?" "No sir, I never have."
ME: Tragically, I now want to write something with Grimsby and Sebastian getting drunk together.
HER: Enabled.

* Not actually forever, but twelve hours is more than long enough.


Ambassador
Post-movie gen
Disney's The Little Mermaid
Safe for work, spoilers for the whole film but it's the Little Mermaid, if you haven't seen it you've been living under a rock anyway.

( Ambassador )

my god I need to just sit and do something that a) doesn't involve moving anything and b) doesn't involve thinking anything for a while sdfj; SO TIRED HOMGGGG.


so it's a good time for a meme I don't have to think about.

❶ Choose an episode of anime or television series you have on your computer. Make sure you're certain you want that one, you cannot change your mind. DO NOT TELL YOUR FLIST WHAT YOU CHOSE.
❷ Make note of how long the episode is here -> 23:38
❸ Ask your flist to choose a time between 00:00 and whatever the length of your episode is. Be specific, (ie: 19:11, 21:09, 02:42)
❹ Make them an icon using THAT FRAME ONLY no matter what it is. And remember, you can only use that ONE episode you chose previous, even if the person posting isn't familiar with it.

MORE FICS COMING SOON I have them in progress ♥ Just a head's up since I went all radio silence since the last one.

Packing is just being MORE TIRING THAN ANTICIPATED whups.

Sekirei Drabble Meme -- 3 drabbles
Sekirei
Characters: Yukari, Kuu-chan, Shiina
Batch one! More coming later, once I've done some packing. Feel free to leave a request here if you want to ♥.


inarticulate - Yukari and Minato: "One's first love is always perfect until one meets one's second love."

( Drabble 1 )

***

levade - Kuu-chan and Shiina. "Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night."

( Drabble 2 )

***

qara_isuke - Yukari and Shiina - "So much to mention, but you can't find the words."

( Drabble 3 )

My goodness. Between rumors I've been hearing on the internet for a little while and yesterday's roleplay secret, I've been spending some time wondering if I should say something publically about my feelings for Sekirei. And, well, also turning over what to say if I did.

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that though there's a lot I could say, but not much I want to. I like what I like, and I have, actually, considered my biases and sorted through those feelings. There's a lot I could say at great length about the reasons I don't think less of myself when reading it, or about why it avoids squicking me when other things in similar T&A genres do, having thought through these things: about the autonomy of female characters, about fanservice as an in-character element, about fanservice as a blatant and open (if admittedly constant) thing instead of a sneaky or undercover voyeuristic element, about portrayal of characters by character first and not by role or by boob size or by gender or by gender identity, about lack of shame in female sexuality, about issues with sexuality being shown as issues rather than the norm, about directly commenting in narrative on the issue of the gaze in fanservice and whose responsibility it is and thus avoiding "slut-shaming", about IC open-mindedness and the external view of shame as hard to understand, about the portrayal of the love options as something because the characters are worth accepting everything about instead of as being only there to pick between. These are some of the things I've looked at, among others, and some of why my comfort zone is not being violated.

But at the same time, I can accept that even if my comfort zone is not being violated, and thus do not feel squicked myself, other people's boundaries will be set at a different place. And that's fine and good; the world is made up of all kinds of people.

So beyond a list like the above, I don't really feel like discussing it further. Other people's feelings are just fine by me -- I'm not offended or hurt by anything like that. I fully intent to squee and pimp for my new fandom like any other series I'm big into, sure, but I won't be offended if people would rather not read it or play with my characters in a RP or what have you -- it's fine by me if other people don't like the same things I do, for any reason they could have, from genre to their stance on fanservice to art style to narrative style and beyond. In general, I don't like to defend my tastes, but that's mostly because it feels like a lot of times it comes down to, well, tastes. If it's not about tastes but about something like morality -- well, it is not, obviously, fine by me if other people think less of me as a human being for my tastes. But in this particular circumstance, where I can certainly admit that there are elements that are problematic, and understand why others find it problematic even if it has enough on the other side of the scales that I don't, I doubt I could change anyone's mind about my morality by simply getting more in depth than this.

So I'm going to leave the whole thing at that and don't really plan to revisit it.

I'm disabling comments here -- not for wank (I'm not feeling particularly wanky), or not because I'm offended (I'm not feeling particularly offended either), but because, like I said, I just felt like I should state my feelings on the matter and leave it out there since it's come up a few times in general timers -- to state both why I like it and why I'm okay if you don't.

The first few drabbles from my drabble meme will be coming soon (People are still more than welcome to go and add requests ♥ I'm a little slow going but I intend to fill everything I can), and then it's onto more packing for me.

Cheers to all. ♥

Man, you know, I want to be writing more, but with the upcoming move, writing long fic isn't practical. AND thinking about fandoms other than the one that's eating my soul with awesome is also difficult while... exhausted and packing and cleaning etc.

So, drabble meme of a very specific sort. ♥

Give me a Sekirei-fandom-specific prompt either with characters + quote (example: Mutsu/Mikogami - "We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.") or with characters + brief situation (Example: Disciplinary Squad - Karasuba perving on Haihane's scars!) or some other such thing, and I will answer it with a relevant drabble.

:D Reply to this post with your prompt if you want a Sekirei drabble. o/ I will most likely start to answer tomorrow, and the weekend at the latest. THIS I SO SWEAR.