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She's Back, and She's got a New Trick... |
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Holy cats! I'm updating! It only took me... three months? Something obnoxious. ******** if I know.
So anyway, here's the scoop.
JOINED ARMY.
Left June 25.
Two weeks in processing. (Where they are only required to give you five hours of sleep. Guess how much they give you? Five. Unless you arrive sometime after lights out. Then you get up whenever the lights are turned on. The night I got there, it was an hour and a half before the lights were turned on. JOY. And yeah, two weeks is a long time to be in processing. I talked to a few people who managed to get out in about three days, but the average is a week. Welcome to the army. Hurry up and wait.) Processing consists of getting your uniforms, shots, and other such s**t. Much time is spent reading a very boring handbook and trying not to fall asleep.
I made it to week six of nine. I found out that because I am skinny like a twig and not used to being that physically active I had managed to get a stress fracture in my inferior pelvic radius (IPR) (a** bone, except because of how the muscles attach, it's like burning pain in the CROTCH. ******** menstrual cramps. And I was trying to run on this s**t) and I was sent to "Warrior Rehab" or, to use the politically correct term "Warrior University". (First I went to Sick Call and was harassed about probably being a malingerer because the Drill Sergeants (DS) noticed me limping and stopped letting me do... anything. I was at first told that it was too early for X-rays to show anything, so I was given a code prohibiting me from... everything and sent on my way. Qualified with my M16, went back, got X-rayed and found out I was broke and it would take at least a month to heal. Next day, I am in a barracks with 50 other females with nothing to do. That is an obscene level of estrogen in one place, and it is NOT pretty. More stupid s**t went on there than in basic.)
I was there long enough to watch my old company graduate, go on break for... a week, I think, and then watch them graduate AGAIN nine weeks later (new people, obviously). My feet started to bother me. I went to get it looked at and found out my feet were ******** up. The boots they issue are known to cause problems, ask almost anyone who's been in the army awhile. I got sent home on my feet, because they refused to send me home on my IPR even though I STILL have problems with it if I walk too much or the weather is ******** up.
The night I was cleared to be discharged (it took, like, three ******** weeks, and that's a short period of time, for them) some higher up (I forget who) was getting a walkthrough of the barracks and found chewing tobacco lying out on the bunks on the female discharge side of things ("Warrior U" is connected to discharge, but has nothing to do with them, if it can be helped. Not even allowed to TALK to them) and so EVERYONE, all four barracks (male rehab, female rehab, male discharge, female discharge) were forced to stay outside while they brought in people one at a time to check their lockers. It was chilly. For a while, it was windy. We were not allowed to go back and get coats in case we tried to hide something. If we had to use the loo, we had to use the portapotty. After awhile, we all just started to sit down and/or huddle together. ******** formation, we were cold, and poorly dressed to deal with it.
DS Freckleton was pretty cool about the whole thing, joking with us and not caring that we weren't staying in formation or anything. There were some fights. Someone got bit (no, seriously). It got dark. We were still outside and it was getting cold. People were starting to freak out. DS Solomon (no one really liked her much) got pissy with the rehab females for huddling together and forced us all to stand up in formation, double the usual distance from each other. No sitting. She left eventually and people started to break formation again. (And she paid the males no mind whatsoever.) I was shivering so hard I could barely stand. I wandered over to Jeri and she tried to start a conversation. I broke down and started crying and DS Freckleton lets her help me to the portapotty since I could hardly walk by myself and she had to catch me a few times. I was so numb I couldn't feel my hands.
Hobbling my way back to "formation" Jeri and I noticed everyone is being herded into a building (females on one side, males on the other, there was a partition in the middle) and when I'm actually in the light the other girls who knew me almost have a heart attack. Apparently I was even paler than normal (hell if I know, there was no mirror) and they couldn't get me to warm up. I had on my heavy polypros (meant to keep you warm since the new uniforms are made for the desert, but the weather called for us to be wearing our jackets as well and as I said we weren't allowed to retrieve them, even though out DS's wanted to let us have them) my uniform undershirt, my uniform jacket (ACU top), someone retrieved for me a sweater hot from the dryer and I was wrapped in blankets. I am told my lips remained blue. They took me to the DS office. I was muttering nonsense by this time, I am told, and I remember something about my Nintendo DS.
DS Freckleton let me in and had Jeri and Monk (two other Privates in rehab) feed me warmed tea (I guess I said it tasted like apple juice, and no, I seriously couldn't drink it myself) and keep me awake. Twenty minutes later, I am still freezing. DS Freckleton says to call ER (it's so late the hospital and Sick Call are closed) and DS Solomon walks in. She starts asking why I need to go to the ER, but she's asking me. When someone tries to answer for me, they get yelled at. All I do is mumble. (What the ******** do you expect, I'm showing signs of hypothermia.) DS Solomon says I'm not going anywhere unless I can tell her myself I want to go, and she can hear me across the room.
However, this is the same DS who would check lockers when we were all at lunch and then trash your stuff if it wasn't locked (she ruined one girls' dress uniform). This happens in basic (except without the destroying of property). It isn't supposed to happen in rehab, and she was a discharge DS anyway. Our senior DS was always going rounds with her. Granted, she was placed in discharge because she was too extreme for basic (so say the Privates, anyway).
I was eventually coaxed by Monk and Jeri to ask to go to the ER and I was allowed to go. They said I was showing signs of an early cold and I was given Tylenol.
Oh, yeah, and no one but the discharge females got their lockers checked.
However, I managed to make it home in one piece and have finally managed to aquire a job. Hopefully, I will actually get on Gaia regularly.
More Army crap in following journal entries, possibly. It wasn't all bad, and a lot of the DS's were actually pretty cool.
 Firesighn · Sun Mar 11, 2007 @ 02:43am · 0 Comments |
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IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL THOSE WHO KNOW ME.
I am so horrible at keeping in touch with people. I haven't even been on Gaia in days. Bad me.
HOWEVER. IT'S ABOUT TO GET WORSE. YUS IT ISH.
FIRESIGHN HAS ENLISTED. LEAVING IN THREE DAYS. FOR NINE WEEKS I WILL HAVE NO ACCESS TO A COMPUTER.
I have enlisted for Language, and got a high score. Hopefully, I'll get Japanese. No garuntees, but that's what I hope. When I get back from basic, I will post a message here. I don't know how long I'll be back (maybe I'll go straight to school, but I don't thinks so), but I will get on a computer if nothing else to let everyone know I made it out alive. After that, I'll be going to school in Monterey CA for the language, and it will be instant immersion. I don't know how much access to English stuff they are going to allow us, so I won't garuntee any posts then, either, but I'll try to keep everyone updated on where I'm going and what I'm doing.
IN OTHER NEWS.
General dislike for Gaia's new layout. Now I have to refigure s**t out.
NEW EMOTES. The drama llama one dramallama looks like a Meowth to me. I'm thinking this may be a BAD SIGN.
WHY DO THEY GIVE OUT A FREE SET OF STUFF? This now makes the peasant clothes or nekkid look for new users obsolete. Alas, I found that endlessly amusing. Especially when I was new. "LOOK, I'm NEKKID!"
I bought a Nintendo DS lite, and the one game I got for it was Nintendogs. I am such a dweeb.
I cut my hair. Like, seriously cut it. The rule for the military is it can't touch your collar. I could put it up in a bun (ponytail isn't allowed, it interferes with the helmet), but I'm far too lazy for all that, and sine I'm heading south for basic anyway, this means less heat held close to my head. So my hair is, like, a little over an inch, I think. I took off almost eleven inches.
See you all later, I promise to post as soon as possible after basic. *hugz*
Firesighn · Sat Jun 24, 2006 @ 02:37am · 2 Comments |
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She's Back, and She's Got a New Trick... |
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Behold me l33t journal/Gaia avoiding skillz!
(Cheesecat, I haven't received a response to the last thing I PMed you. If I offended you, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.)
Oi, people-I-used-to-take-Japanese-class-with! Do you still have Sensei's e-mail? If you do, could you PM it to me?
Anyway!
My friend has the Sims. We decided to upload it and then download a bunch of character skins. So, Roy and Riza were living together. We were hoping to get them together. However, Stephie decided it would be JUST GRAND to ******** with Roy's poor addled brain (Roy really, REALLY likes sock puppets, by the way. O_o;; ). So instead, She got Riza and MIROKU together.
(Also, Kouga, Miroku, Sesshoumaru, Riza and Roy were in the military. Inuyasha works for the police. I think I'm afraid.)
So, the damn genie managed to set my piano on fire. (b*****d. Sesshoumaru LOVED the piano.) and Miroku but burninated. He left an urn, which we could have sold for $5.
...
A whole five bucks.
Seph was over, and he randomly went up to mourn Miroku. I didn't even know where he'd gone until I heard the crying.
...
Yes, Sephiroth was crying over someone he hardly knew. And after Miroku had been mourned, he was only worth $4.
...
Okay...
But I sold him, because he was making everyone depressed and was interfering with my relationship meddling.
And speaking of relationships, once he died, Riza didn't seem to know he'd even existed. "Miroku? That lecherous guy who used to be my boyfriend? Never knew him."
In other goings on, I HAD TO HAVE A PELVIC OH BLISS. </sarcasm>
However, I failed, because I was too tense for them to continue. Go me?
But, really, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT!? I'm nervous to BEGIN with. THEN, before we get to what I KNEW was going to happen, we decide to FEEL UP MY BOOBS TO LOOK FOR CANCER. I'D RATHER STICK WITH THE MACHINE I HEAR IS PAINFUL THANKYOUVERYMUCH. Random doctor people do not need to feel up my boobs, good excuse or not. AND YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN ENOUGH FOR YOU TO SHOVE A PLASTIC GADGET IN MY COOTER AND THEN OPEN IT SO YOU CAN TAKE SAMPLES!? I THINK NOT!
But yeah, I still have to take birth control to even out my periods. But I have the patches. Go me?
So, I was reading through the information in this thing, and you can get a package thing that gives you $5 and a reminder to change your patch and information type stuff. Hey, I could stand a reminder and $5, maybe it's a good plan.
...
"*This offer is for women 18 and older."
...
EXCUSE ME!? I HAVE to take your damn birth control, but I don't get the benefits because I'm a few months too young!? 'SCUSE ME!? That's gotta be some form of discrimination! Go ******** yourselves, whores!
(Sad part is, EVERYTHING is 18 or older, because of Government laws. Nice, Government enforced discrimination.)
Also, can someone tell me what I'm on? I'd really like to know.
I've had two odd dreams that I can remember. The first one, I was trying to watch a show. (I BLAME YOU, SARAH C.!) Sarah had told me about it (in the dream) and I wanted to know about this crack-fest. It was an Anita Blake movie, and I'm pretty sure that's too explicit for TV. So I had to know how they had murdered it. (Not like Laurell K. needs any help, nosirree, she can slaughter her OWN novel, thankyouverymuch.)
So, anyway, I'm trying to watch this show and people keep interrupting. First, Sesshou and Seph show up. They just walk in, because they have keys to my (large, old, secluded) house. (Anyone else surprised? I didn't think so.) They see that I'm busy snarking at the TV, so they just kind of leave me alone. But then Roy and Ed show up in some army jeep. I don't remember what they wanted with me, but we started getting chased and shot at. Fortunately, my giant lawn is covered with very large bonsai trees (I DON'T KNOW!), and I just ducked behind those, all the while trying to get back to the house because OMGMYSHOWISONANDIHAVETOKNOWWHAT'SGOINGON!
So, as I try to get back to the house (cursing out Ed and Roy, THEY GOT ME CAUGHT UP IN THIS TO BEGIN WITH, JERKS) I wake up and have to go to school. Damn. I wanted to know how the crack!movie turned out!
The second dream was like One Piece meets FMA. Everything took place on the ocean, with ships and floating houses. Ed and Al were trying to find the Philosopher's Stone (surprise, surprise) and I found it for them. Turns out Nicholas Flamel had decided to keep it nice and safe in a bank deposit sort of thing. (I think that was inspired by Harry Potter.) But, how is it kept safe? In a padded envelope in a cupboard in a floating mobile home.
...
Yes. Floating mobile homes. Floating military buildings. Floating construction sites. And the Philosopher's Stone was kept in a padded envelope in a cupboard.
So, Ed has everything set up, they are being tailed, but he got the thing to work and Al is cured and then I wake up. Joy.
Also, I had to baby-sit for my nephew who is in first grade (maybe second). He tends to mumble so he gets annoying. But he loves me. To the point where my word is the Word. I corrected this kid once on the difference between cheetahs and tigers and leopards. He will now correct anyone else and get it right.
He also likes to watch me play video games. A lot. He liked to watch me play Spyro, but that gets tiresome after awhile, so I began to switch games. He liked to watch me play FFX-2, but that got boring fairly quickly, apparently, so I switched to Inuyasha. So when I babysat him yesterday, he wanted me to play Inuyasha.
Now, I realize that A) Inuyasha isn't REALLY appropriate for first graders, (but he hasn't taken to swearing again (he picked it up FIRST from his DAD), so I think we're okay. And he was flirting with waitresses BEFORE I introduced him to Inuyasha, so...) and B) the concept of the show/game JUST MIGHT be a bit over his head.
Nonetheless, I don't remember talking about Sesshoumaru or, really, any of the other characters for reason B. I'd go so far as to explain that Kouga looks funny because he's a wolf demon (I won't start using youkai with him, no Japanese) and Inuyasha looks funny because he's half dog demon. I remember playing through the Kouga part with him, but not the Sesshoumaru part. Maybe I did, though. Because I let him start his own game and one of the first questions he asks me is "When does the guy with two swords show up? I want to fight with him."
...
Okay, he can't mean who I think he means. I tell him Sango and Miroku show up soon, but he says no, not them, the guy with two swords. Okaaay...
I show him my Sesshoumaru phone strap and he confirms that yes, this is the one he's talking about, "When do I get to fight with him?"
...Oh... You really do mean Sesshoumaru...
I tell him not for quite a while. His response is, "Oh yeah, because he and Inuyasha (pronounced Inuwasha, damn that Y, anyway) don't get along, do they?"
...
Bless you, child, bless you.
So, eventually, I take pity on him. I have the Sesshoumaru ending saved into the first file, so I can fight with him anytime I want, basically. When it was getting close to the time the parental figures would return (and I could go home), I loaded up this version for him and he was just THRILLED.
He started trying to actually call him by name, and the first try came out "Sesshowermaru".
...
That's nice...
Eventually he gives up and just refers to him as "the White Guy" (pretty fly for a white guy *shot*). However, he's a persistent child, and he tries again some more after the first battle. We finally manage to get him to "Shoumaru" and I figure that's as close as I can hope for.
Inuyasha shows up, and he stands right behind Sesshoumaru (it's a back view). Shelby exclaims "It's like they're clones, except Inuyasha has stupid ears!"
...
Okay, I'm torn. On the one hand, I have created a child who is adamant that Sesshoumaru is the better of the two brothers.
On the other hand, HE JUST DISSED INUYASHA'S EARS! Inuyasha's ears KICK a**. That should be, like, his ultimate attack. Just walk out and squeak his ears. Those who don't die of cuteness would walk off, disturbed. Yesssssss. It's brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT, I tell you, GENIUS I say!
So yeah, these conflicting desires managed to cancel each other out. Shelby lives to see another day.
(More pictures in another entry, possibly. This thing is long enough. Four pages in word is more than enough.)
(P.S. Sukotto-sama, did you read that story I sent you!?)
Firesighn · Sun Sep 04, 2005 @ 06:23pm · 5 Comments |
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Okay, so, anyway... It's been... HOW long since I last updated? I know, bad me. No cookies. *pout*
ANYWAY! Answering previous comments...
YES! Akari shall help! We have staff! (I haven't played Mario in AGES, but I do remember a tail and ears.)
Sorry, Ryo, but this will have to go through several people. It's highly unlikely. I'm sure you can have your pick, or something, but no seperating the collection.
Yes, Cat, I believe he is a tanuki. They call him a raccoon in the English (at least, I heard that once, and then I heard raccoon-dog once, which is another common thing to translate tanuki into) but the slight problem is this: raccoon(to a lesser extent), tanuki, and kitsune (fox) are all know to use magic and transform. Since tanuki arguably look very raccoonish, and America doesn't have tanuki, it's often translated as raccoon. (Although, going by that stuffed critter they don't really have bands on their tails, and Hachi does have bands on his tail. Maybe he's a mutant.)
Well, Augery, it WAS a real tanuki... now it's a real STUFFED tanuki. And yes, the lantern symbol is cool, because it's the flower design on Sesshoumaru's haori. And that lantern is in a Buddhist temple. I've been meaning to submit it to Engrish, but... I've been distracted by... fanfiction... <_< >_>;;;
First order of business!
I found this today... and have had it on repeat. I believe I've memorized it. >_>;;;
I also recently found that that there is a fangame for Fullmetal Alchemist. It looks interesting, and I like the music to it. Too bad they had to stop making it due to copyright laws. I'll probably never get to play it. However, if you're interested in downloading the soundtrack, go here. If you wander around that LJ comm it'll also give you info on the game, if you're interested.
The main story that has been distracting me is here, if you want to read it. It's like CRACK, I swear. That's all twenty chapters (NOOOO, IT'S OVER!!), so just click the link for the first chapter. I figured it'd be easier for you to keep track of the thing, though, if I sent you there.
Warnings; yaoi with the pairing of Roy/Ed. Cat probably won't want to read it for this. :/
(Question! Does anyone know what gender the mangaka for Fullmetal is? I keep thinking the creator is a dude, but I'm not so sure, now.)
Another reason I was distracted... I beat both FMA games! Or, rather, I sat and watched my best friend beat them, because she's better than I at games. In the first one, Roy FLIES. I s**t you not, he FLIES. You have to fight Armstrong and him at the very end of the game (you're supposed to lose, by the way), and he does this jumping thing to get away from you (it seems you can only hit him with the cannon) and he jumps, like, five body lengths. WTF!?
In the second one, Al finds these kittens you can equip. When he sits down, he meows.
And in both of them, Ed has this one face... and it's SO FREAKIN' CUTE AND IT MAKES ME WANT TO HURT THINGS. Whenever this came on I'd squeal "PUPPY ED!" because he looks like a puppy or something else cute and fuzzy.
Things that have happened;
Found out I need to get my wisdom teeth removed.
Found out I have other issues, and may have to go on birth control.
In an effort to find out what is my issue, got blood drawn.
Also to see what's wrong, I got an ultrasound. (Directions for having an ultrasound; drink/eat until you're bladder is painfully full, and then have the person move the camera around on you so hard you have to pee even worse. Continue the latter for 15 or so minutes.)
I also have to get a pelvic exam.
But I got the Sesshoumaru figure thing, so I'm happy. For the moment.
Actually, that reminds me of something... Talking to Kate in Japan (can't remember what it was about) I uttered (about Sesshoumaru) "Well, you never know. For all we know, he could be the bi-est bi ever to come by bi."
...
No really, I don't know where that spewed forth from. O_o;;; I said that and tried to step back and give myself a weird look but found it rather difficult to step back from my body. I did stare dumbly for a second or two, though.
MORE PICTURES!
If you pet the cow, it's supposed to bring you knowledge.
 
This is the crane bell at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. All of those glass boxes in the BG are full of origami cranes. Really, it's true.
This is in the junior high we went to. It's made entirely of paper cranes.
The Golden Pavilion. It's a Buddhist temple. Yes, that's REAL GOLD it's painted with. Which is why you aren't allowed near it.
One of the few building to survive the bomb blast in Hiroshima.
 
Hiroshima before and after the blast.
These things are smaller than my thumb. A girl named Sadako made these. After the blast, she got leukemia (like many people who survived the blast). It's said that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will come true. So she folded these cranes all day. Her parents would actually hide them in boxes under her bed (she wasn't able to get up) so she would always think she had fewer cranes than she did, and would therefore always have hope. She ended up folding well over 1,000 of these before she died.
Firesighn · Wed Aug 17, 2005 @ 09:03pm · 3 Comments |
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Bad Jodi! Not updating for over a week! No cookies!
...
It's not my fault! I've been distracted by Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction...! It's funny!
...
And the Inuyasha manga I bought in Japan. It has Jakotsu. It makes me happy.
Okay, yeah, I promised pictures. <_< >_>
They're all in my Photobucket account. The password is "Kamatari". (Although, I'm not sure you'll need it. Photobucket hates me.) Yes, the cross dressing gay man from Kenshin. Cross dressing gay men are the spice of life. xp
(I tried rotating a few, but they looked freaky, so I re-uploaded them. You'll just have to turn your head. >_>;; )
This guy... he was very blatantly obviously gay. I think the GAP stores in Japan are run entirely by gay men. It was amusing. So I got a picture. He was very confused. (He walked more like a woman than any woman I have ever met.)
This is tea. The lighter stuff is ready to harvest, and the darker stuff has already been harvested.
These are all the different sugar packets they had at the Hard Rock Cafe. I thought I'd just take one, but then I saw they had different patterns. I figured taking home five sugar packets was a bit excessive, so I got a picture. Yes, I know I'm a doofus.
This is a tanuki. You know, that thing that everyone calls Kaoru (Kaoru from Kenshin)? Yeah, this is what they look like. Not very big. A bit bigger than most terriers, maybe.
I brake for bunnies. Especially bunnies named Momiji. whee
This is a pigeon. A huge ******** pigeon. The things are, like, twice the size over there as they are over here. Same goes for the crows. And dragon flies. And most bugs. I swear, those dragonflies looked like they'd taken a time machine from the late Pleistocene, or something. I think it's because there're no seagulls to keep them in check. I kid you not. No matter where we went, I never once saw a seagull.
This is a women�s clothing store. That amuses me greatly.
  
I love Ginko trees. (Yes, the close up of the leaves was necessary.) The entire time I was there, I wanted to steal a tree. Sadly, it's rather difficult to fit one on a plane. :/ (The really big one is 1200 years old.)
I found this outside a cosmetics store. Beware the Engrish.
We found this in Harajuku. There are three mascots. Lubey, Pokey, and Ribber. It was too funny to pass up.
BUNNYBUM! Okay, I'll explain. One of the girls, Kate, bought this little white hamster looking thing. (It's nose lights up red.) He has two rabbit feet for tails, so I dubbed him Bunnybum. Kate says his mob name is Victor Two-Tails.
This bug was outside the museum where I got the tanuki picture. It wouldn't sit still, so I coaxed it onto my hand where it actually sat still for a bit. Then it flew off and bit Blue. (We called him Blue because the first day he was wearing blue and no one seemed to remember that his name is Julian.)
When you go a shrine/temple/whatever and see this pattern on all of the lanterns, you have to get a picture. Who DOESN'T recognize this? If you watch Inuyasha, this should seem familiar.
This is a giant wooden spoon. (More like rice ladle.) That fence comes up to... I think around my thigh.
This was in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial/Museum/Thing. It's a giant globe that shows all the countries with nukes and how many they have.
This was also in Hiroshima. It was nifty, so I got a picture. I want a clock made of foliage. SHRUBBERY CLOCK!
There was this island we went to... Miyajima, I think. There were deer running around. They were like town dogs. You could go up and pet them. They were nice. I want one. (Judging by size, I think they're some sort of fallow deer.)
I can't remember what we were walking to, but there was this tiny Shinto Shrine.
I don't know if anyone else reads it, but I got this picture because it's XXXHolic by CLAMP. I just wanted to show that in Japan the pages have color on the edges. (The manga sections are HUGE in most books stores. Usually, there are two shelves (like in the picture) front and back devoted to shoujou, and another two front and back devoted to shounen. And usually there's a wall surrounding these shelves ALSO filled with manga. The sections are enough to make the manga section in even the biggest American bookstores I've been to go "No, no, my integrity!" wink
A goth chick we came across in the mall. I had to have a picture.
This is the pencil case of some Junior High girl. It very much amused me. BE AMUSED! I COMMAND IT!
Oh, something Kate and I came up with... we need to start a Cute Asians collection. We're going to take over... either California or Australia. We'll kick out the locals (well, okay, we'll just relocate the Aussies. We like them) and then we'll kidnap all the cute Asians and keep them there. Free food and living quarters for the people in the collection! Anyone want to help?
Firesighn · Fri Jul 29, 2005 @ 11:57pm · 5 Comments |
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Return of the Firesighn... |
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So, yeah, hi!
For this post, I'm going to be lazy and talk about things that do not require pictures, because... I'm too lazy to put all of that s**t into Photobucket, at the moment... Go me...
So... I saw War of the Worlds in Japan... in English with Japanese subtitles... T'was odd... But I wanted the ad thingie for the Naruto movie outside the theatre... It had these suction kunai and a target... I wanted it... still do...
Apparently, Sukotto-sama's Internet connection has kicked the bucket, so let's all have a moment of silence for it.
...
Okay, that's enough.
So, anyway, the first night in Tokyo, this Aussie group walked in, and on the way to our room there were a few in our elevator. Apparently, they heard us talking about our room, because they called at, like, 11:00PM. They'd found out what room the girls were on (thanks to Kate and me) and had dialed a random number. They got us. Damn ironic.
Anyway, they invited us to the garden that the hotel had, and we snuck out and talked to them for about an hour and a half. I was afraid we were going to be caught the whole time, but it was fun. (And the Aussie's hate Steve Irwin like whoa. They called him a cocker. Because, apparently, ******** and ******** are more of an American slander.)
The last night there, my other roommate got some alcohol, and I took a sip, because cats are deathly curious. It was SUPPOSEDLY 5% alcohol. So, my alcohol tolerance must be, like, -42, or something. An hour (give or take) later, my stomach was very upset at me (not pukey upset), and my reaction time was severely compromised. Here I am, trying to set the alarm and it's like "Okay, 7:30, stop when you see 7:20. Wait... Why's it already 8:00?" And all this on a sip of supposedly 5% alcohol.
So, yeah, my tolerance is... terrible. It tasted fine, too, until the aftertaste hit, and then it [the drink] was like "HAH! I taste like s**t!" So yeah, this is yet another reason to NOT drink.
And Kate (my other roomie) fell down Mt. Fuji and twisted her ankle. She had to hobble around with her walking stick. (She is also known as the Yaoi Girl, as she introduced many people to Gravitation on the trip.) Jordon, one of the others in the group, pissed me off by figuring this a great inequity. He threatened to take her walking stick and knock her over, because she got taxis and stuff when the rest of us had to walk. As if I didn't dislike him BEFORE that comment...
Firesighn · Thu Jul 21, 2005 @ 11:09pm · 5 Comments |
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So, on Monday I'll be leaving for two weeks. Last journal entry for awhile. Thought I might fill you in a on a few things.
First, an epiphany. I was thinking about Inuyasha again, and that led to thinking about Takahashi-sensei's other works. Something occurred to me. One, the people you see naked (in her works) most are women and, two, Takahashi-sensei is single. She's a 48 year old Japanese woman who draws more naked women than men and is single. Does anyone else find this slightly suspicious?
On another note, I killed a spider. Now, this was quite the ordeal. I come out of the bathroom, and there's a spider hanging in the doorway. I make several strange, panicked noices, and retreat to the bathroom to watch it stop smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. It eventually dissapears, and I sneak out to look for it. My foot gets a tickle, and I FREAK. I'm jumping around for a bit and finally get a new shirt and have looked myself over for spider hitchhikers.
I think I've lost the spider. I am sad, as I won't function right knowing a spider is loose in the house. I see it hanging from the kitchen lamp. I stare for a bit. I then FINALLY muster up the courage to get the bug-spray out of the kitchen. I proceed to spray it with 50 times its body weight in poison, possibly more. I'm not kidding, there is a puddle of bug-spray in the kitchen. But it's dead, so there.
On the last note, MIKAN. GOD DAMN YOU, SHOUNEN JUMP! It's NOT A TANGERINE. If you insist on Engrishifying everything, then call it a Mandarin Orange! Since, you know, that's what we call them here.
(Of course, what do I expect when you call their ship the Merry Go instead of the Go Merry, and change Zoro to Zolo just because the anime was translated for crap. R or L, pick one and stick with it, you bastards.)
Firesighn · Wed Jun 29, 2005 @ 04:30pm · 6 Comments |
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A Letter to Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei |
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I have come to realize you have severe issues with your story. Not that it isn't enjoyable -- but there are certain aspects that need improving. Lets focus on youkai, shall we?
You have introduced to us an entirely new species. I realize that youkai and how they act and such varies from person to person, but what are your youkai like? I realize your story doesn't revolve specifically around youkai, but they are heavily involved. Hell, Inuyasha is half youkai. That in and of itself could bring up several interesting side stories. What of his youkai background does Inuyasha not know?
Okay, first, before I digress too much: power. You have made Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru BOTH ridiculously powerful. Inuyasha is powerful because of his youkai blood. He's proven that he's stronger than most full youkai. However, following the laws of genetics, you can surmise he got this power from his father. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru have the same father. It stands to reason that Sesshoumaru is going to be umpteen times stronger than Inuyasha, since he has the benefit of not having a human mother to dilute the blood his father donated. So... why does Sesshoumaru seem like a mediocre battler? Why does it seem like you're trying to make him weaker?
When you make powerful characters, be careful. Ask Laurell K. Hamilton -- she sucks at it. Inuyasha has gained ungodly abilities with the Tessaiga. If he manages to control it's latest ability, he will be on an entirely new level. He teeters on the edge of being a Gary Stu often enough as it is. Don't do that. Again, ask Laurell K. Hamilton, as she sucks in that area, too.
And Sesshoumaru... he has the ability to use poison/venom/acid. The Doukasou just kicks a**. Why does he even care whether or not he has a sword? He has acid. If I had that ability, I'd melt everyone else's weapons and laugh at them. And don't tell me he couldn't melt metal with it, because we've seen him melt bone with that ability. The Doukasou makes him immune to poison (or so you've alluded). That is one hell of a fringe benefit. I want it. So, he can melt things, and he's immune to poison/venom/acid. With the ability to melt things, you do not go "I NEED A SWORD!" no, you go "Hello, enemy, you don't need that sword. *melt*" Give us a legitimate reason why he doesn't do this in battle.
And then you give him the Meidou Zangetsuha! Mein gott! He can literally send chunks of his enemy to the Next World or Afterlife or whatever you want to call it. This is the general rule: if he/she/it can beat Alucard without much of a fight it's a bad sign. All Sesshoumaru has to do is use the Meidou Zangetsuha a few times, and Alucard has serious issues. Alucard would probably still win, but... watch yourself, Takahashi-sensei. Two characters teetering on the edge of Gary Stu-dom is scary.
Abilities: you have made it abundantly clear that youkai can gain abilities. You've had youkai show up and say "I got <insert ability> from <insert place/person/etc.> because <insert reason>." or something along those lines. Okay, we've established that Sesshoumaru (due to genetics) should be better than Inuyasha on certain levels. Inuyasha can have his tooth pulled out and have it grow back in less than half a day (sounds more like a shark, to me). Tooth is made of bone. Inuyasha can have parts of VITAL ORGANS eaten, and be fine by morning. If a hanyou can regrow bone and vital organs, why in hells bells can't Sesshoumaru regrow bone and some muscle? If he can, why has he chosen not to?
Are certain species' of youkai born with different abilities? Such as dogs with heightened sense of smell, cats with heightened sight, lizards with the ability to regrow body parts? Is that why Sesshoumaru hasn't regrown his arm? He doesn't have the ability? If that's the case, you've shown other youkai (just recently in the manga, actually) who have found other ways to accomplish this ability. Is it just me, or does this seem like an ability a Youkai Lord would want to get his hands on?
And my god, address the culture difference, would you? You have made it abundantly clear that youkai and humans are different. Sesshoumaru says he doesn't eat human food. What is youkai food? Does it differ from species to species? How do the other species' mingle, if at all? Can they interbreed? Do they act more like the animals they are? (Ex. Sesshoumaru is a dog, and dogs are more social and LIKE to touch and be touched, not necessarily sexually. Openly showing affection is pretty much a taboo at that time in Japan. Does Sesshoumaru like non-sexual contact (because he's a dog)? Did he keep Jaken around because he was company and therefore fulfilled Sesshoumaru's desire to have others around? Show this.)
What about politics? Sesshoumaru is a Youkai Lord. He can't possibly be the only Lord. What about the other Lords/Ladies? How do they interact? What exactly do they do? Does Sesshoumaru get challenged for his position ever? This could be interesting to see.
Naraku would be a big threat to all of the Lords/Ladies, since he's pretty much trying to seize control/become too powerful to be stopped. So why haven't the other Lords/Ladies ganged up to get rid of him? He's a threat to their positions.
Do the youkai answer to a Higher Power? A Council or a Court or something? If so, don't you think they'd want Naraku dead, too? So, all in all, why are only a few people trying to bring Naraku down? Why is it only the people with personal vendettas against Naraku, when he's a threat to more than just those select few?
Maybe these things seem trivial to you, but these are rules to a story that you have created. If we don't know these rules, at least you need to. And if you aren't going to introduce these rules to us, how are we to know when you are doing something wrong? Do you not show us these rules as a failsafe for yourself? Don't do that, it's bad, and it's a sign of poor writing.
Inuyasha is different than all of the other stories you've done thus far (that I know of). In all of your other stories you kept the rules to our world with maybe a few adjustments, or going on a myth. Like the eating of mermaids flesh to retain immortality in the Mermaid Saga, or the Jusenkyou Springs in Ranma. But with Inuyasha you are creating a world to go along with the human world we know of. You have to be aware that this world also has to have rules for it to be believable. But the way it comes off is you tacked on the youkai world, and only nurse it a bit if you're afraid it's going to come off.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the story, but when it's looked at from the right angle, it's lacking. Don't get so caught up with what you are familiar and comfortable with that you forget to explain the part that you aren't as familiar with. By tackling that part, you improve, and that's the point.
heart
A fan and (unpublished) author
Firesighn · Tue Jun 21, 2005 @ 10:31pm · 6 Comments |
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