raiblu

Blm. Now that I stole all these zany icons I need to run around crediting the artists. . . might take some digging, but anyway, please don't get mad at me in the meanwhile.

Class starts to..morrow technically. Two sleeps for me though. Gotta try to get back on schedule. @_x Got all my logistics organized... laptop adaptor died so I can't use him until the new one arrives, but the company was really solid about the warranty so I feel less horrified about the whole life-to-price ratio.

I also have'ta give my first public poetry reading in like, 9 days. I get to read off sheets instead of memorizing but I still should practice/write some new material/pick stuff that doesn't suck. Gonna be a very tense 15 minutes, I dare say.

Ugh dental appointment tomorrow. Should be in bed. But fielding this question before I forget.

Does anyone know any sane, cool Fantasy authors (I was going to ask Female since I wasn't following any but I figure I may as well go all the way) who blog or post articles online to follow?

I regularly follow Pat Rothfuss because he's awesome and am building a small list of people... this call is kind of prompted by my disappointment at certain authors I used to respect and now think are heinous slathering nutjobs-- I won't name who out of politeness-- so I want to build up a more reliable list of cool people to follow. It doesn't have to be writing news, I just like authors that are.. online.. socially?

(Right now I've mostly got Rothfuss, Gaiman, Abercrombie, and I think I'm going to give Naomi Novik a trial run... but beyond that.)

Sticking to my guns of writing every day, even if it's just a lousy single page. Of fanfiction. Aw yeah.

Hm... note to self. Get more icons.

Haven't been too terribly energetic since my whole dentist visit thing. Didn't have a root canal (something like a core buildup... most of that tooth is GONE now but it was broken anyway, at least I still have it.) I found out that I have this weird aversion to drills (while I'm completely blase about anything grimdark otherwise) and maybe found a dentist that isn't trying to kill me. c_c;

Kinda missed returning all those happy holidays but I think I covered most of them??? So yeah. 2012. I'm not making any predictions this year because I was always DEAD WRONG.

Preregistered for Anime North tonight. Suppose everyone else should do it soon, too. The idea of needing an attendance cap is crazy.. hopefully that means it'll be LESS crowded than last year? @_X I'm not claustrophobic but panels were impossibly crowded, haha.

Dental appointment could have gone worse. Though the dentist not being criminally insane seems to be an uncommon blessing. Totals are still staggering but between my family and some creative financing approaches I can handle getting the repairs done. I think they want to canal/restore my broken tooth... which is surprising but good (if expensive) news to me.

The more crazy stuff is that all 4 of my wisdom teeth are in. One of them is literally 90 degrees sideways and the other came in so low that it's right next to a facial nerve and no one wants to take it out for fear of paralyzing part of my face. Fortunately I can't even tell the darn things are in there so I'm going to try to leave them there FOREVER. If I can. Pretty sure this one is slated to bulldoze one of my molars into oblivion but if it's that or facial paralysis I think I'll risk the chomper. (Seriously I wish I could have kept those slides they're pretty wicked weird).

Right now I am doing a well-deserved read-through of The Last Unicorn and it is 100% badass. But all of you probably know that by now, because everyone already read this decades ago.

Extended family stuff is kind of whirling all around but now that I'm here it's kind of like the eye of the storm, I just close my eyes and everything is pretty chill.

I want a Bec Noir plush.... I'm not sure if I'm good enough to make one but I might try at some point. I don't know why this is, either, don't ask.

I HAVE EMERGED from the sudden and apparent swamp that was my finals projects. . . Guuuuys, grad school can be haaaard. Well not really hard but time consuming and as a non-teacher doing teaching-geared projects and generating resources for other teachers (as a part of Teaching College Composition) I was constantly riddled with self doubt, and I'm not sure if anyone is going to try to use my materials. I'm horrified if they try and it goes badly. xD

So uhm... sorry if I started LJs or conversations in the last couple weeks then disappeared, I spent 90% of my time bouncing between assignment to assignment.

Bleeeehhhh. The last week kind of sucked. And I guess I should throw down some statement to quell possible rumors I might have started regarding my health, since I forgot who I told. xD I'd had a couple episodes of severe chest pain paired with tooth pain, so I was terrified it could be any number of things... I went in to the doctor Monday and they did the usual work-up on me, walked through a number of things it could have been. Don't seem to have any infections or any major heart defects, and they said it probably wasn't anything serious, very possible that I'm getting a caffeine sensitivity-- which would suck but at least not be a debilitating health issue-- and that my mouf isn't infected in any way. Anyway I've naturally become distracted and somewhat panicky due to that but I'm calm now.

The next two weeks of MLP are going to be AWESOME SO AWESOME YOU DON'T EVEN

sigh maybe I should get some work done. Praxis paper, or fanfiction.... which will win out...

( DON'T GO TO BED )

Spoiler tag, I guess. Also ponies.

(Lousy SS from the stream I guess, leave me alone I'm tired.)

Man I hope my paper doesn't bomb, aagh. And now, something else.

Okay well obviously not one poor iteration of something can signal utter destruction of a beloved series, but, well, Ace Combat.

Normally I wouldn't even touch war games and arcade flight shooters weren't really my style. But then I got pulled into Ace Combat 5 and fell in love. Yeah, the world is fictional, from what I can tell slated to symbolize parts of our own. But it also has its own history and mythology that crept into the story, every mission seemed to matter. The overall plot can be a little dramatic at times but it also felt really genuine. The betrayals, the motivations, the utter corruption of political bodies for one reason or another. How radical patrioticism can at times be blinding.

This and 4 were really character driven stories. And they meant a lot to me. I don't want to spoil them, but there are some seriously emotional, tear-jerker scenes in both games and given where I'm from a lot of the messages really hit home. And also, Nagase is seriously a badass. >.>

The trailer for AC 5 if you're curious.

Anyway. I saw the trailer for the new game. Compare.

Pretty, I guess. I was suspicious about it from the trailer. They cut to the 'real world'y stuff. Americans, Russians. Russians everywhere, ogod. I haven't read a lot of reviews but I've been given the jist of it and linked to this pretty one here. Here's a little snip: "In Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, the last action you take is not to participate in a thrilling dogfight, or to victoriously soar through the clouds in an F-14 Tomcat. No. The very last thing you do in this airborne action game is to press a button to pump your fist in the air. No single moment exemplifies the spirit of the new and soulless vision of Ace Combat better than this display of alpha male bravado. "

Okay Ace Combat 6 was kind of a bomb. A lot of rehashing the old stories without developing as much character and the missions just got ridiculous, but it at least FELT like the series I was so fond of. But this signals a move to embrace the, ugh, the American War Game genre... and by embrace I mean sell out and big bags of money. Previous games felt like they wanted to talk philosophy and overcoming weakness and nationalism. This just feels like hoo-ah crazy bullshit. Stuff like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and whatever else there is, I won't even touch it with a ten foot pole, so it's especially wounding for a series I consider to be unique and worth the time because it was entertaining, thoughtful, and emotional. And all of this was just compounded by the fact that it was an arcade plane shooter. (Things that surprise are all the more wonderful, no?)

I hope the team learns from this and goes back to its roots, but if the game sells well I'm afraid it'll send the wrong message. But, this happens, and so new things may rise to take its place, and nothing can take away the older things that were so much better.

Right, I was sick for a week and basically died for online netness. And now I have a big paper to finish. So... arrivederci

Oh man I could get used to these late late late-night(early morning) streams.

The animation for season 2 has really kicked up a notch and I won't spoil anything as usual but maaan the writing is great. ... also I keep seeing people I know pipe up in streams, and people I THINK I know pipe up in streams but can't confirm/deny. >.>; I should make more icons this weekend. yesss.

In non-pony news, I'm feeling a little buried by grad school. Nothing beyond my capability, but there's all the meetings and sidework in addition to the small novel of work I'm expected to read a week. And and and deadlines and UUGH. Still I'm getting the indication that if you work as a TA you have absolutely no free time. Which is a big hitch for me. >_>; I might put it off till my last year, or something. . .