The How's My Driving? Meme

I may recap today's adventures later, but I think the most important thing to say is that Justin and I saw a cloud that looked like a Star Destroyer on the way home from the States.

I know some of this is the whole 'lol six am' thing talking, but I am so tempted to write like. A long essay on the Zanpakuto Rebellion arc and what it tells us about different characters. Despite the fact that the plot was kind of awful and contradicts the rest of canon horribly, because hello, how do three of the oldest shinigami captains (two thousand years plus old) not know about a major uprising and exile of a Kuchiki. Even if the records were sealed. And let's be honest, the Beast Swords arc was pretty much pure, unadulterated crack. Delicious crack, but crack nonetheless.

But I love love love the zanpakuto spirits and their personalities. And the ones who aren't just like their masters (as opposed to say, Zabimaru or Hyourinmaru or Haineko) tell us a lot about their wielders. Senbonzakura is actually highlighted in that regard, that his impatient, short-tempered nature is actually an innate part of Byakuya, just one he's gotten better at controlling. And honestly, I could dedicate paragraph after paragraph about what Sougyo no Kotowari (who are actually responsible for me thinking this - I was discussing how I play them in BDR with someone) says about Ukitake's inner wants, or what Katen Kyokotsu tells us about Kyouraku, or how Tobiume confirms my guess that Momo is secretly awesome inside (well, okay, she's still pretty awesome outside too). And I kind of wish we had seen more than like thirty seconds of Minazuki, because I have realized in the last week or two that Unohana is probably my second-favorite captain after Ukitake. I blame Retsu and Jyuushiko's budding friendship, which is absolutely adorable, and I crave more of it.

However, the fact that it is stupid o'clock in the morning means that no, it's not actually going to get written. Not write now, anyway.

-Cleaned out the inside of my car today! Which was long overdue - there was a hideous mouldering metropolitan Boston atlas in one of the trunk compartments, as well as crumbs everywhere

-Have spent way too much time playing World of Goo over the last few days, to the point where I've like...strained a muscle in my forearm or something from all of the dragging and clicking. I picked up via this promo - which is a very cool idea. Pay-what-you-want for a bunch of neat, crossplatform, DRM-free indie games, and some of the money goes to charity if you choose.

-We had the second session of our Bleach!Exalted game today! I may do a fuller write-up of all the crazy personalities we have going on (and the crazy zanpakuto to match), but I uh. Don't remember everyone's name, so it's just tidbits. The grumpy Kuchiki cousin is appropriately grumpy and Kuchiki, the guy in 5th has PAWN written all over him, and the combat loli healer is terrifying and makes excellent cookies. We're not sure yet if everyone else in 4th is nice to her because they're afraid of her, or because she'll beat up people who pick on the other healers.

-Ishida is ridiculously fun to play. I realised the other day that his relationship with Ichigo has one of two settings - arguing, or awkward. I also apped him to Desai and he is rapidly becoming BFFs with Hokuto Sumeragi.

-I can't find my library book. This saddens me.

Woke up at eight this morning for no discernible reason (having gone to bed at one), and immediately started panicking about everything and nothing. It was like being back on the 300mg Wellbutrin again, ugh.

So I got up and Did Shit, and this is what I did:

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I am in the middle of exam madness, I have no problem being horribly self-centered here.

I have flipped my sleep schedule yet again! Sigh, my life. I have gotten Important Boring Stuff done, or in some cases, at least started, so I do not actually feel very guilty about this at all right now. It's exam period, I'm allowed to do stupid shit like this for a week or two.

I've been looking at lots of photos of kimono and shibori dyeing and stuff, and it makes me want to make something beautiful. I know I'm a good seamstress, but somewhat ironically, I don't actually enjoy sewing that much. I enjoy seeing the finished product all put together, but the actual process usually just ends up as tedious and occasionally frustrating (it's not a project until I've put at least one sleeve on upside down or inside out). The stuff I actually really enjoy doing is what I think of as the 'crafty' bits - painting, beading, building props. I had a ton of fun with Yuna because a huge portion of the outfit is like that - the skirt and obi are all painting, the sleeves are gradient-dye (and I actually had a ton of fun doing that, and love how they turned out), the earrings were beading and painting my own beads and occasionally building my own beads. I wish I was better at the 'crafty' things - I've gotten better about being able to copy designs, and /way/ better about not smudging my paint everywhere (no smudges on either of the haori! It was like a miracle), but it's still all very basic.

Maybe when I am in Richmond next week acquiring a hot water dispenser and a new tower fan, I will drop by Michaels and go on a shopping spree or something. Not quite sure what to make, although I did rescue my knitting needles from languishing in my old bedroom closet back in the US.

Also, I realized the other day that I may have to edit some of what I'm writing for Jyuushiko's backstory, because I am thinking in fashion terms that are at least a thousand years too late for the setting of this story - realized when I was discussing how Sougyo no Kotowari basically wears a variation of Heian-era courtier's robes (now mostly known as Shinto priests' robes, but I think given the age of the zanpakuto, the historical connection is the more relevant one). I am thinking in other terms (mostly medical) that are probably closer to two thousand years too late, but I may give in and let some anachronisms lay.

Finally! For those interested in browsing on their own, the main gallery starts here, Turks photoshoot stuff starts here, and Bleach stuff starts here.

Going to go ahead and embed some of my favs, too - just a warning that it'll be image-heavy. I know some of the resized versions are a little artifact-y, but the page links have the big version too.

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You know your unemployed gaming buddy really needs a new job when, after not getting a response to his /first/ planning email after two days (look, two of us have finals right now, we're kind of busy), then proceeds to write up a four page (SINGLE SPACED) 'Goals and Action Plans' document for the party. With lists. And sublists. I love this game, and he's a good guy, but seriously.

Attempt to reset sleep schedule did not go as smoothly as planned, but I made it to the class I had a presentation to give in, and I will be able to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight.

In lieu of actually doing stuff, I will blather more about my media PC! Mostly because internet access means I actually working on it some more. I know have external video player support, running Media Player Classic because it supports offloading to the GPU and thus can play high-def MKVs without my CPU usage spiking to 100% and horrible graphics stuttering.

I also reinstalled Stepmania and got it to auto-maximize on opening to the tv. Unfortunately there is a small kink in my 'play DDR, regain cardiovascular fitness' (my resting heartrate is like 110 bpm, I am aware that this is really bad) plan - I think my cheapo ebay pads that I bought something like six years ago now are finally giving up the ghost. One works except for the down button, and the other is kind of flaking in and out all over. I'll lay them flat for a few days and see if that helps - if not, I guess I'll buy some more on ebay and ship them to my mom and get her to bring them out at grad. All the dealers are in the US and want $50 shipping to Canada, so noooo.

And a random observation, but I feel like WinXP goes out of it's way to make itself difficult to make un-ugly. I spent about two hours fiddling with themes and icons and going 'ARGH FUCK YOU ATI WHY WON'T YOU SUPPORT THIS CARD BETTER SO I COULD DO THIS IN GNOME' The desktop at least looks good now, although I still need to figure out how Rainmeter works so I can configure it better. I settled for just hiding everything else so the ugly unmatching icon-sets don't show.

-Damage for the day: two more bottles of BPAL (Crowley and Black Forest, mmmm), and a book on cosplay make-up from Kinokuniya
-Discovered playing DDR again uses muscles I haven't used in a long time, ow.
-Had an epic moment of panic after l accidently left my camera bag in the washroom, but all was well - someone had turned it in to lost and found.
-Managed to not get lost driving around Seattle!
-Awesome cosplay of the day - fursuit Kyuubi, that guy from Durarara!! that throws vending machines (complete with vending machine)
-Technically Sunday, as it was in the early hours - Rufus-Aizen fistbump of evil.

Overall con impressions: lots of fun, despite epic amounts of organization-fail on the part of the con itself. Also, a lot of sleep deprivation.

I was hoping to come home, get all my photos up, and then make icons for the Sougyo no Kotowari journal I made last night, but I came home to find that the new modem was still not here, and as tomorrow is a stat holiday, it'll probably be Tuesday at the earliest, ugh. So that plus the sleep dep kind of put a damper on those plans. I did get the small shoots we did for the costumes I made for the con off Ced, so those will probably be edited and go up tomorrow, but in the meantime, have a shot from each of them.

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