Saturday, July 18, 2009

House Cleaning - And Why do I Feel so Weird Today?
Seriously. Maybe it’s because I haven’t eaten or something, but I just have this weird feeling right now…

But other than that, much of my day after Dad woke me up with a phone call on the way home consisted of cleaning my room or taking a nap. Not very interesting I’d say… ‘cept the weather is a little stormy out and for some reason as soon as my parents left to go to the temple my brother vanished. And I still don’t have his new phone number, so I don’t know where the heck he is nor can I contact him. He better come home alright, or so help me…

Ren: good riddance I’d say.

CCR: REN! Much as I sometimes dread admitting relation to him, he’s still my brother. And if anything happens to either of us, Mom goes insane and I’m on my own unless I move in with my grandparents or Dad lets me stay.

Ren: but at least you can’t be forced to live with your biological father if anything happened now.

CCR: I know, right? Now THAT would be torture. Worse than having my brother for, well, a brother.

The only problem now though… is that I’m kinda bored. And am in need of finishing stuff.

Ren: then finish what you need to do.

CCR: okay… Monday.

Ren: you’re procrastinating again.

CCR: but isn’t that what I do best?

Ren: -_-;

CCR: ^^
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I Can Explain
No seriously, there is a logical explanation as to why I haven’t posted all week.

Monday… Okay, so Monday I don’t know why. Probably was just lazy, as it was kind of a slack-day that I don’t remember much of anyway, aside from making cookies with Shana.

Tuesday, we baked again – this time a welcome-home cake for Rae and Hana, but their mom put it together… I just put it in the oven and took it out since she needed to run some errands. I also ended up going with the rest of the family (minus T who was a mutual) to pick them up at Sky Harbor, and got uber-glomped by Rae (but then again it was the first time we’ve seen each other in over a month, since after I had gotten back from Japan she was already gone to Utah for two weeks). … and I ended up spending the night there because it was late as it was.

Wednesday, kinda went about the day in semi-boredom, with Rae occasionally yoinking my laptop to draw with my tablet. Ended up spending the night again… just ‘cause, really. And staying up until two in the morning. Also, thanks to T, I’m starting a new fic.

Thursday, started working on the fic, got some drawing done, and helped set up for Rae’s mom’s birthday party. Finally went home after 48 hours over there.

And today, I cleaned the kitchen and did some laundry in preparation for Dad coming home tomorrow, then went over to Rae’s house… where Shana and I made cookies. AGAIN. Mainly ‘cause they were having a movie night for their parents (I guess the younger kids didn’t want them going out on a datenight and proposed that instead) where we watched The Road to El Dorado and ate burritos. Then everyone else watched Knowing, but Shana didn’t want to watch a PG-13 movie so we went and hid out in another part of the house and watched the last half of An American Tail: Fivel Goes West. … And I have no idea if I spelled “Fivel” right.

… I think since I got back from Japan, that’s the most I’ve done all summer. Oh, and I finally got around to watching the Soul Eater dub trailer. All I gotta say is that I hope this dub turns out better than DGM.

Anyway, I guess that’s all for now (sorry for the brief post). Until next time, ja ne!
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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Why Must Society...
Be so complicated?

Ren: does that have to do with anything?!

CCR: not really.

Ren: then why mention it?

CCR: *shrug* couldn’t think of anything else for the title.

But since Wednesday… a lot has happened, but at the same time nothing has. Thursday Shana and I made two cakes at once (we were hoping to stack one on top of the other to make double-layer cake, but that ended up not happening). Friday we made PASTAAAA~! Sorry, couldn’t help but add that Hetalia reference. And then Tawny called and I ended up staying over at her house, sleeping until noon yesterday because we were both up until about 2 a.m. And today was my first day back at church in a month… and Kana’s birthday.

And the day it dawned on me that I’m a useless, selfish brat. (the rest of this post is kind of a vent, so no one has to read anything between here and the ENDVENT sign like the latter. Unless you really want to read useless emo blubbering) No wonder my brother hates me. He’s not in the wrong, I am. So what if he -

Ren: before you continue – permission to smack you?

CCR: go right ahead, I deserve –

Ren: none of that crap. *smacks her upside the head* snap out of it, no one wants to hear your emo rantings.

CCR: *sigh* I suppose an explanation is in order…

This just happened a couple seconds ago. And don’t say “I’m sure you had your reasons” because I didn’t. Whatsoever. I should’ve dropped everything and gone to help, since it would’ve taken me less than a second to get there. All I would’ve had to do was lift a stupid TV up that decided to fall on my mom just now. For all I know she could’ve been hurt… But no. I left it to my brother, who was at the other side of the house (granted our house isn’t that big). And if dad reads all of these posts like he claims he does, then I’m royally screwed when he gets home for this.

Ed: obviously not, no one’s calling an ambulance.

CCR: -^- I get that. But what if she had? Not like I would’ve been able to drive her to the hospital, I don’t have my license and at this rate my permit’ll expire before I’ve even met all the requirements for my license. *sulks in an emo corner* so much for being “the responsible one.” As it is my brother’s respect for me probably was just flung even further out the window if it hadn’t already.

Ren: -_______- didn’t I already say no one wanted to hear your blubbering?

CCR: I have to get it out somewhere. It was either that or I threw the laptop across the room, which would cause even more drama. Just… yeah. Never mind. It was my own idiocy that produced this, and it’s too late to turn back the clock and prevent it or rewrite what happened. Repent, and start over, I suppose. Though I’m sure it’ll take forever for me to regain the respect of either member of this household. (ENDVENT – those who skipped this are safe to read beyond this now)

As my stepbrother would say it, “Cry a river, build a bridge, get over it – and stop crying, you’ve already cried a river.” … why do I have a feeling that would make a good Sokka statement? *brick’d for the topic change/out-of-nowhere Avatar reference* … Anyway, I’d apologize to my mom and brother for what just transpired, but I doubt I’d be well-received, at least by my brother… heck, if it weren’t 8:30 at night on a Sunday I would be headed over to a friend’s house right now until things cooled off.

Ren: *stuffs some dango (rice dumplings) in CCR’s mouth* munch on that for a while. Maybe there’ll be something in the dumplings to cheer you up.

CCR: *eyes light up* yay, dango! *eats the dango* ^^ man I haven’t had these since… wow. I can almost say it’s been a month since I was in Japan.

Ren: that surprises you? Time moves on.

CCR: I know, but… it doesn’t seem right ‘cause I was gone from the US longer than that ‘cause of the Thailand half of the trip. But yeah, it has been almost a month since I’ve had mitaraishi dango (if I got the terminology right and am talking about the right thing). It’s even soy sauce flavored like the ones we had in Kanazawa. *looks forlornly at the now bare wooden skewer that the dango was on* … .A. if only I really could have some of that right now. But I probably won’t have even the slightest chance until next year’s Matsuri (an annual festival held about an hour from where I live to celebrate Japanese culture – so far I’ve only been once, and that was this year). Unless… I can find a recipe online and can get the stuff to make them at the World Market or at one of our local Asian markets if I can locate any of them… and if I have the right tools to make them.

*half an hour later, after having “multi-tasked” on a couple of Tegakie pieces*

oops. ^^; Well, better end this post anyway… as it is it’s just a bunch of random rambling. I’ll try to make sure the next post isn’t as haphazard. Until next time, ja ne!

On a miscellaneous note though, I have been feeling kinda crappy today even before the TV thing.
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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Gah...
So. Tired. But. Must. Post…

Ren: -.- I say just do it in the morning.

CCR: considering how late I’ll probably get up, no can do. First thing I need to do in the morning is read my scriptures and then set up an appointment for class registration…. And I had some questions to ask Kyarri regarding “prerequisites” for classes I was RECOMMENDED for *coughbothMA101ANDMA121*. But I might just talk to the counselor about that. And I’m thinking about taking Psychology 101 as one of my two elective classes, as well as possibly beginning Biology… and they have French, so maybe if all else fails I could continue my studies in that language with just beginning at their first class level (not sure if what I’ve learned in high school of that class will be sufficient for a higher-level college French course). Either way, I can now honestly say I’ve started researching the available classes. … and am tempted to join the school’s choir, but I think it’s, like, only ONE credit per semester if I read the course description right. And wouldn’t count at all towards my General Studies Associates as far as I’m concerned except maybe as a fine art, but then I’m not sure what the requirements for that degree ARE because they don’t have it listed on the website, and I lack a catalogue.

In other news, the first half of today was drama llama after drama llama as far as Dad was concerned. And to some extent, so was yesterday… but then that’s Dad for you. He’s a spazz. And an angry, shouty, f-bomb-dropping spazz at that, but overall he’s alright. Once again though, my eyes grow heavy, so I must now take my leave. Until next time, ja ne!
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Monday, July 6, 2009

What did I do on July 4th?
I went to a movie, ate, slept, and read Hetalia fanfiction, that’s what I did. And as a result I think I’ve grown a taste for (familylove, not yaoi or shounen-ai) USxUK. But then on that note I read one too many sad ones… T^T

Ren: great, not again…

Yesterday, I got up and dressed, ate, and came home. As in I’m back in my room as usual, scrambling to get ready for college. Which leads us today, which consisted of taking my Compass exam for CAC… and I’m NOT in a remedial math class! =D They actually said I could pick Math 101 or College Algebra. Honestly, I’m gonna go for Math 101. I’m not ready for college algebra yet, I know that much. And also went with Kyarri and Riku to go search for wigs for our upcoming cosplays for the con, or rather at least check out a costume shop we didn’t know about. Man that place is good!

And I think that’s all I’ll post for now. Why? Because I’m getting tired (again… darn, I BETTER NOT wake up at 1 am again tonight and not be able to fall back asleep! That was TORTURE! … On top of that I ended up doing something I now regret within that timeframe ‘cause I let my stupid mind wander.). Also, I gotta go to the Social Security office all the way out in Phoenix tomorrow since the office out my way doesn’t do card applications, and I need a new SSN card. Why? Because the college can’t finish processing my scholarship without it (though this does in fact confirm I have the scholarship, so that’s a good thing). And right when I need it, my mom says she can’t find my Social Security card to fax. How long will this take to come in once we sit in the office for three hours and then fill out endless paperwork?

According to my dad, it could take up to two weeks for it to come in.

But at least hopefully tomorrow I can also set up an appointment with the counselor at the school regarding my classes… though I still don’t know what electives I’m gonna take within my required spectrum for the Associates I’m going for (General studies… and I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to get all of my credits in with my plan of taking 4 classes a semester (to keep my work load from getting too overwhelming)

Ren: and you say that you were going to go to bed?

CCR: sorry, got side-tracked.

So anyway, wish me luck in the upcoming college trials ahead (which hopefully won’t be AS bad as everyone’s making it out to be)! Until next time, ja ne!
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Saturday, July 4, 2009

Of Long Waits And I'm STILL JET LAGGED?!
At least that’s what my grandma is using to explain how tired I’ve been of late… and she’s probably right. Anyway, only other stuff that happened was that she insisted I get my nails done again… and we had to wait for three hours. And dinner, beta-ing a fanfic, and talking with Kyarri over MSN. My day in a nutshell.
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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Insomnia and Problem Solved?
One good thing: looks like Mom’ll keep her job after all, at least that’s what Dad said… though I don’t think he knew about the situation when he called me this morning.

But yeah… I ended up not sleeping at all last night until about 6 in the morning. Got all caught up in the recent Hetalia scanlations ‘cause of that, but still… it’s really taking a toll on me right now. Other than that and dinner though, not much happened today aside from divvying up our souvenirs, so I have all of mine in bags to take home, and to give the gifts I got for other people to them as time goes by (family gets first dibs on that ‘cause they’ll be the first people I see when I get back to the house, and I dind’t get anything for my cat). The rest of the time, we slept. Guess jet lag hasn’t fully worn off yet… ^^;

Ren: considering Fullmetal’s been asleep all day you’re not the only one.

CCR: speaking of which, just how’d you recover so fast?

Ren: I was smart, I went to bed right after we arrived here Tuesday.

CCR: meh… But I had a weird dream during my afternoon nap today, and it just might inspire a fanfic…. >.> but then recent geographical information given me by my grandma when I asked her if she knew Seychelles also gives me idea for fanart/pairings/so forth if I decide to create a Hetalia OC for Phuket.

Allen: but Phuket is part of Thailand.

CCR: so? People make State-tans and there are a couple of official characters for Japan’s old provinces if I recall from one of the comics… So what would be wrong with a Phuket OC? He could be Thailand’s little brother or something. (last I checked Thailand apparently has an official character, though in the comics I’ve read I haven’t seen him and he doesn’t have a profile yet… but then neither does Vietnam, and she has an official design too from what it seems like. >.> )

But then it’s not like most of my readers know about Hetalia anyway, so we best move on to a different topic.

Ren: … what topic?

CCR: I don’t know. There isn’t much to discuss… Ah well, let’s move on to the Photo of the Day for the World version of this post, shall we? As for myO, it's time for comment responses!

A13 - it's alright, I haven't been able to post on myO at all during my trip to Japan (been sticking to my World mainly 'cause it's easier to post on one place when there's limited time). By Prohibition-Era I was referring to the days when the amendment illegalizing alcohol consumption was in effect.

Until next time, ja ne!
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Of Jet Lag, Unpacking and Potential Family Troubles Ahead
Well this is wonderful, just wonderful.

My mom’s job is possibly in jeopardy… over something stupid and beyond her control, but then I suppose at a hospital they have to be careful about stuff like that. But I didn’t find that out until about a minute ago.

Other than that, I pretty much updated my Word archive with the posts from the trip, am starting the one for the second half of this year with this post, and uploaded all of my pictures… I believe I have about 400 total, at the least. 260 on one memory card, 115 on the other. And that’s with a couple of videos that I don’t know how I’ll get to you guys because I’m not so sure about uploading them on Youtube. So needless to say, once I get off my lazy bum and do a Livejournal post or a Facebook album full of those pictures (I will probably only upload my favorites though) I’ll put a link up to wherever I put them. Heck, I may just do a slideshow with the pictures, if I can find the songs that I have in mind for that sort of thing without having to create my own soundtrack. And then after all this was said and done, I took a nap until about 6 pm when my grandma woke me up and said we’re going out to dinner and to get ready.

And it was Carraba’s - the best restaurant around, IMO. Or at least they have the best steak around… I just hope that the alcohol really does burn out when they make the sauce, otherwise I must quit the Sirloin Marsala for good. Even if it’s in food, I must remain temperate, to use the Prohibition-Era term for sobriety.

Ren: for goodness’ sake, it’s just a steak.

CCR: but it’s an awesomely good steak. :3 though if it contains any alcohol, I’ll either have to order it without the Marsala sauce from now on or go without. But then I don’t even eat at Carraba’s that often, so just next time I’ll order something else if that’s the case or I grow that concerned about it.

So yeah, that’s really all I have for today. However, I can start uploading a picture from the trip at the end of each post for a while until I get those uploads done (I have enough to do that for over a year, but meh, it’ll keep it fresh in my memory – sorry though to the myO folks, but that’ll be in my World posts only). Until next time, ja ne!
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Thursday, June 4, 2009

Preparation Day Five: My Nails are Done, and I'm Ready to Go.
At least physically I am – I’ve had the typical pampering rituals performed (hair and nails – stuff that rarely gets professional treatment unless my grandma’s around, who insists on such), I’m all packed, and that tetanus shot… honestly, what’s the chance I’ll get tetanus while I’m over there? And I’m pretty sure that shot in 8th grade was my tetanus update, what with the school having us get our shots updated at the nurse’s office to ensure that our immunizations were up to date, and the only one that has to be renewed every ten years, at least to my knowledge, is the tetanus. The shot was in ’05, and my first tetanus was in ’95. That’s ten years, isn’t it?

Now if only I could actually wrap my head around the concept of what we’re about to do, the places we’ll go, the things we’ll see. In that way, I’m mentally not so prepared. My grandparents always went on trips without me around the globe – I thought they’d been everywhere, except for Japan, Southeast Asia, and Australia, which they’ve mentioned they’ve never been to save it be an hour or so in a Tokyo airport. As for me, I’ve never been anywhere outside the country since my conception in a German hotel (long story, it was my parents’ honeymoon), at least that I remember. Mom took me to the Carribean as a baby, but that’s lost to darkened memories and therefore does not count. Heck, the farthest I’ve been out-of-state is Colorado. And even when I took that trip four years ago to the day (seriously, I think we left on either the 5th or the 6th of June in ’05 for Colorado, and here I am about to leave for Japan on the 5th, arriving on the 6th), I had this same problem until we actually got in the motor home and left.

This time, it isn’t a motor home we’re traveling in, but rather a plane! A PLANE! Something I haven’t been on since I was five, and that was just to visit my grandparents in California. I barely even remember that except for the ascending feeling when the plane took off, looking out the window imagining my grandparents down there on the ground waving at us and looking for them, and the complimentary peanuts that I’m not even sure Southwest Airlines offers anymore. I’m excited, but at the same time nervous. … Would hand-sanitizer count as a blacklist item for the carry-on? My grandparents are insisting I take two 2.5-ounce bottles, but I’m pretty sure that the largest amount of any allowed liquid or gel is 3 ounces total. Not two 3-ounce containers, but one.

Ren: are you STILL worried about that?

CCR: what can I say? Wait… hold on a sec. I’m gonna check the national airline regulations again. … Okay, so sanitizers are allowed in 3-oz containers. But then it said “container” in the singular tense. And once again, it’s said that if you bring anything prohibited to the checkpoint you could get prosecuted. But if I bring this up to my grandparents, they’ll say “we’ve had this talk before, it’ll be fine.” Still…

…. ..

Okay, it said “containers.” No problem there I guess. But if that’s wrong… after the Air France incident and the possibility of that being a bombing, would they jump the gun and prosecute us?

Ren: do I have permission to smack you over the head, because you’re going into paranoia again.

CCR: might as well.

Ren: *smacks CCR upside the head* calm down already!

CCR: o.x ow, you didn’t have to do it THAT hard….

But yeah, why the early-ish post? I’m doing this so that way I can get to bed at an early enough time. The limo’s picking us up for Sky Harbor at 5, and then my grandma’s gonna get me up at 3:30 so I can get dressed and everything. And I’ve heard enough stories to know there’s little to no chance of me getting any sleep on the plane.

Not much else to cover today, unless I can relate my grandma’s semi-overprotective state earlier… heck, the guy she was freaking out over and almost took me to another nail salon for fear that he might try to hit on me didn’t even seem interested in that way – we barely exchanged words. He probably asked for my e-mail last time she was there so he could send that info on Japan that she said he had for me, which was all stuff I already knew. The “Address to send it to a place where they might buy your art,” ended up being a web URL. Guess what? That web URL was deviantART. And the “electronic district” was in fact Akihabara. What does this have to do with anything? … Well, not much really. Just that looking back it was almost funny to see my grandmother freak out over this and make me swear that I wouldn’t give him any contact info if he asked for it.

Ren: thank goodness he didn’t. Your grandma’s right, you can do better.

CCR: I know, I know… besides, he’s out of college already and aiming for a English-teaching job in Japan. Way too old.

And that, my friends, is likely gonna be my day in a nutshell – all that’s left to do is eat dinner tonight, go to bed, and get ready for tomorrow. Whether I’ll be able to post at all on my trip depends on if our hotels have computer/internet access and/or the price and availability of internet cafes, just like when I went to Colorado (though most of my current subscribers weren’t even around when I took that trip. XD). Until my next post, ja ne!
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Preparation Day Four: From Straight Hair to Warm Fuzzy Feelings...
Top it off with that freakin’ IDOIT who keeps hacking into FUNi and may inevitably cause probably not just the loss of the streaming service for good, but the death of the anime industry in general! And I go from feeling all warm and fuzzy to being PISSED. OFF. NOT what I need before I go on this trip! As it is I’m a tad on edge in fear that something a bit worse than security simply throwing away one of the two 2.5 ounce bottles of hand sanitizer that my grandparents swear up and down that we can take in our carry-on luggage because may happen, because they think it’s one or two three-ounce bottles of certain liquids allowed.

Ren: I blame you for this one Fullmetal.

Ed: why me?!

Ren: if your series didn’t exist -

CCR: don’t point fingers, Ren. Besides, I’ll calm down in a bit, just… is the utter idiocy of the human race one of the signs of the times? ‘Cause if so, pardon my religious expression, then we’re a heck of a lot closer to the Second Coming than I thought.

But so I can move away from this rant and end my royally pissed mood… about my day. But first, since I can’t physically scream without causing alarm in my grandparents or the rest of Sun City Grand, please bear with me this one moment.

GRAH!!!!!!!1111!!!!!

Okay, stress-removing moment over.

So, today’s preparation plans wee to get my hair done. This mainly consisted of a slight trim so as to reduce my split ends, and a straightening job. We would’ve gotten a French braid, but we could tell when the hair dresser started to pull at the first strands I would be cringing through the whole thing. Afterwards, we came back to the house, snacked a bit on chips and cheese, I talked with Rae on Facebook (by the way, SEND THAT E-MAIL WOMAN! I’VE ONLY GOT ONE DAY WHERE I CAN EVEN REMOTELY GUARANTEE INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE NEXT MONTH!) … Oh crap. It’s coming back again.

Allen: what’s coming back?

CCR: that stupid, likely unfounded and vain fear that something might happen to us on the trip! All it took for that to spark up again was for me to almost forget the “for the next month” part of that above statement!

I guess my input on that movie we got back from, for now, will have to be summed up in what I wrote on my Facebook before reading theO’s front page article and I wasn’t going insane: “finally got around to seeing ‘Up’ - highly recommended, but those who tend to get emotional over movies might want to bring some tissues.” Now while I go and regain my sanity (and please, no “relax, you’re not gonna die” comments. I appreciate the intent, but trust me, I’ll be fine within the next hour or so). Until next time, ja ne!
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