Dreaming of Everything

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So, I don't know if you've heard about

livelongnmarry yet, but it's pretty neat.

And that would be a lead-in to the fact that I have made an offer. If, y'know, you have a dying need to purchase my ficwriting skills temporarily. Or you feel like donating to a good cause!

In other news, today was the last full day of my exchange.

D:

¡CAMPEONES DE EUROPA!
¡¡¡¡¡ESPAAAAAÑAAA!!!!!

Choir!
Choir concert went off perfectly! We hit all our notes! We followed our dynamic markings and our director's directing! We even managed the fsking intonation on Ave Maria! Nobody botched too badly on the ridiculously-hard words of the final part of A South African Trilogy! Including me! I looked calm, not panicky at all!

:D!

So, our songs in the order sung, followed by the language:

1. Kyrie (Latin)

2. Ave Maria (Latin--and I'm not sure whether I love or hate the arranger, Julio Dominguez)

3. La dama de Mallorca (Mallorquin, a variant of Catalan, which is kind of a mix between Spanish and French. It is spoken on Mallorca. Don't confuse Mallorquin with Menorquin--heaven forbid! After all, Menorquin is spoken on Menorca!)

4. Pandur-andandori (I got nothin'. The main lyrics are 'pandur andandori.' I have no clue what language that is in. And then it goes 'canta sempre canta,' which is Italian. But then it switches to 'Danza di Ungarlando, la la, non alargando--' and then it switches to 'andandori hej, hipp; andandori haj, hopp!' The music was written by Orgeltabulatur von Jakob Paix in 1583. The text--'textunterlegung'--was written by Lajos Bardo and Laszlo Lukin. Pandur is translated as 'gendarm' and andandor to 'wortspiel.')

5. Atardecer Yaracuyano (Spanish! How normal! And a waltz! It is very pretty, if a voice-killer.)

6. Lau teilatu (Basque/Euskara.

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Choir concert went off perfectly! We hit all our notes! We followed our dynamic markings and our director's directing! We even managed the fsking intonation on Ave Maria! Nobody botched too badly on the ridiculously-hard words of the final part of A South African Trilogy! Including me! I looked calm, not panicky at all!

:D!

So, our songs in the order sung, followed by the language:

1. Kyrie (Latin)

2. Ave Maria (Latin--and I'm not sure whether I love or hate the arranger, Julio Dominguez)

3. La dama de Mallorca (Mallorquin, a variant of Catalan, which is kind of a mix between Spanish and French. It is spoken on Mallorca. Don't confuse Mallorquin with Menorquin--heaven forbid! After all, Menorquin is spoken on Menorca!)

4. Pandur-andandori (I got nothin'. The main lyrics are 'pandur andandori.' I have no clue what language that is in. And then it goes 'canta sempre canta,' which is Italian. But then it switches to 'Danza di Ungarlando, la la, non alargando--' and then it switches to 'andandori hej, hipp; andandori haj, hopp!' The music was written by Orgeltabulatur von Jakob Paix in 1583. The text--'textunterlegung'--was written by Lajos Bardo and Laszlo Lukin. Pandur is translated as 'gendarm' and andandor to 'wortspiel.')

5. Atardecer Yaracuyano (Spanish! How normal! And a waltz! It is very pretty, if a voice-killer.)

6. Lau teilatu (Basque/Euskara. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language"I'm going to let Wikipedia explain this one for me.</a> This manages to be a gorgeous song even through the ridiculous sounds of Euskara. For example, this is the chorus to Lau teilatu:

"Lau teilatu gainian
ilargia erdian eta zu
goruntz begira,
zure keia eskuetan
putzara batekin... putz!
Neregana etorriko da
ta berriz izango gara
zoriontsu
edozein herriko jaixetan.")

7. Xalbadorren Heriotzean (Also in Euskara! Also absolutely gorgeous. Seriously--this song is just--incredible. *sigh* You can get an idea of how it sounds <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vc22Vcs0c">here</a>. The chorus needs female voices to do it justice, though--that's the "Non hago" bit.)

8. Goodnight, Sweetheart (English. Also, there is a good chance you have heard this song.)

9. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Not joking, seriously.)

10. A South African Trilogy (partly in English, partly in what is, presumably, some South African trilogy. It's fun!)

Now, off to sleep--it is only 10 or so, but the adrenalin is wearing off.)

Current Music: Run, Snow Patrol

This Is A Pointless Update
OMG you guys! I have icons now!

Current Music: Another Day, Dragonette

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki
So. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. Everyone should be watching this. No, seriously. I am totally in love with this series.

So, the basic premise is that, a thousand years ago, there was this demon or god who tried to destroy the world. He was finally stopped, but he told them that, a thousand years later, one of his children would come forward and finish the job. Fastforward to the present, where the government has identified the six children. They don't want to kill all six, which would mean killing five innocents, so they decide to try and make them all happy, so when it comes time for one to destroy the world, s/he doesn't want to do it.

This is a great set-up for forming family relationships and adorable awkward bonding scenes and everything! Yaaay!

...And that leads me to the characters.

Ouka Midarezaki is the person assigned to form the base of the artificial family the kids are going to be placed into. He ends up married to Kyouka and father of the five 'kids,' Ginka, Yuuka, Teika, Kyouka and Gekka. (And, as of episode three, Chika, but that's a different thing altogether.)

Anyways. In order of age, approximately speaking...

--Ouka is the only main character who has no chance of destroying the world. He's trying his hardest to be a good dad, even though he's totally new at this and basically completely unqualified and (~~rumor~~ Wikipedia has it, did not grow up with a paternal presence) kind of nervous about the whole deal.

--Kyouka is the only non-'child' destroy-the-world candidate. She's also convinced she is a god among mortals, hyperactive and kind of annoys me. >.> But I am withholding judgment for right now, because there are strong hints that she's had a past just as fucked up, or possibly more so, than that of everyone else in the series (except for Ouka) which will explain some of the behaviors. And did I mention that she's a cat-girl?

-Ginka is 23 years old, son of a mob boss, and has gender identity issues because his father insisted he be very, very masculine. May or may not be gay.

-Yuuka is a 9-year-old girl with an abusive history, and is very sweet and adorable. (This is all very normal so far, isn't it?)

-Teika is a lion, one of the very last of his species. Like, seriously, a full-sized lion. That is lion-shaped.

-Hyouka is a 'biological weapon' (ever seen anything related to 'Overman Kinggainer?' He looks like the titular mecha, no joke. He is also my favorite, although that is totally unrelated...) and has never lived a normal life. He is freakishly adorable. And made me almost cry in episode 2 in a way that is remarkably understated and incredible and just down-right PERFECT especially for an anime/anything animated, and they even held off with it (because it starts in episode 1) which shows remarkable restraint and OMG. He needs soup!

-Gekka is a jellyfish. A mysterious jellyfish.

So, it is adorably, ridiculously-cute family bonding with three (then four) 'normal' humans, a cat-girl, a mecha-bioweapon, a lion and a jellyfish. And it pulls it off. That is the incredible thing. Once you get past the immediate ridiculousness, you are really seriously rooting for all these people to form a happy, happy family!

On a slightly more intellectual level, it's a great story on the family-really-doesn't-need-to-be-biological front, which is pretty awesome, and something you see far to often.

And I have watched all four episodes that have been released with subtitles, and so far they have totally avoided the really over-dramatic ridiculous teen-angst side of things! It is not about moping! It is not about how much the world hates ~~you~~ one/all of the characters! It is not about a defeatist attitude! It is about fucked-up people who are actually finding happiness in totally non-traditional ways! Ways which work for them! Ways that are adorable in a--okay, not really 'understated' or 'subtle' way, but not in an in-your-face way!

In conclusion, this is a very, very new anime (as of April in Japan) and I am pretty positive that it has not been licensed, so it's legal to watch the fansubs on YouTube! Which you should do! I would start here if I were you.

Current Music: The Happy Song (Saint Anthony) by the Snow Fairies

I Really Should Update
~~I really, really should update, but my mom always told me that talking about yourself is rude.~~

Anyways, today when I was walking home from choir, I found a bird. It was a not-quite-fledgling--it could kind of hop-fly a very short distance, but not well, and it still had mostly down. It was all wet, and on the sidewalk.

It made me really sad, which is kind of silly.

Current Music: I Believe in You, Amanda Marshall

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHEVALEON!

Current Music: Opposite Day, Andrew Bird

My Day
A breakdown of how my day has gone.

1. Waking up:

Pros: I have 20 minutes to get ready, instead of 10.
Cons: I have 20 minutes to get ready, instead of 40.

2. Technical drawing:

Pros: It's snowing, and it's the really pretty, big flakes.
Cons: That snow's not sticking, and it's alternating with slushing.
I'm-About-To-Break-Out-Crying-In-Public Cons: Kid behind me pushes his desk into my back while I'm working on the assignment. After a few seconds I move it so it is no longer pushing me into my own desk. Then he does it again. At this point I shove my own desk two feet forward, and then spend the rest of the period trying not to cry while That Fucking Rat-Bastard I Really Honestly Do Hate (TFRBIRHDH, for short) makes fun of me.
Neutral: This teacher sucks, which means he ignores me (plus) but he also ignores the rest of the class, leaving them free to do whatever they want. (Major con.)

3. Chemistry:

Pros: This teacher ignores me.
Cons: The weather is now alternating between actual snow, slush, rain and hail. On a related note, the classroom is freezing.
I Haven't the Foggiest: I am somewhat ignored by TFRBIRHDH, but I feel for the German exchange students arriving in a few hours. Seriously, what the fuck does this kid have against exchange students?

4. Math:

Pros: I spend the entire period writing.
Cons: I also spend it trying desperately not to cry in public and, more to the point, in the presence of TFRBIRHDH.
I Could Hate Humanity Today: In honor of the imminent arrival of the German exchange students, TFRBIRHDH and co. spend the passing period drawing swastikas on the board.

5. Biology:

Pros: Bio, yaaay! And a teacher I actually like!
Cons: TFRBIRHDH apparently hates me even more than he hates the teacher, so I am still one of his major 'projects,' even though I'm usually spared him for an hour, at least.
I'm-About-To-Break-Out-Crying-In-Public Cons: TFRBIRHDH has apparently decided to stop being 'subtle' and bring teachers into this particular little game.

6. Language

Pros: This teacher ignores me and I write the whole period.
Neutral: German exchange students mean nobody pays me any attention. Good for me, not necessarily good for the exchange students.
Cons: I live in constant fear that this teacher, who is Really Fucking Scary, will call on me in class. For a petite, fashionably dressed woman, Nora is... Frightening. o.o

7. Philosophy

Pros: I am actually following the class, OMFG I am so happy! And it is interesting! I now have a technical definition of a fallacy!
Cons: I am still about to burst into tears, and since I forgot my allergy medecines last night I couldn't sleep, (it's got sleepy-making chemicals in it and my body has adapted to their constant presence) so I'm exhausted and I itch. A lot. Also, I'm pretty sure that I can see my breath in the class.
Neutral: It is now simultaneously slushing and hailing, there is an inch of combined water and melting ice in the streets, and I will be walking home very, very soon. On the other hand, I will be walking home away from school.

8. Lunch

Pros: Lunch is warm and filling and delicious. Mmmm, I love you, fantastic Spanish potatoes.

9. Afternoon

Pros: I sleep. And have this weird dream in which I might have been living in a video-game, only it was also kind of like real life, and I needed to build a train track (among other things) and actually, it wasn't a bad video game, far as I could tell. On a slightly more confusing note, I think I was a boy.
Cons: There is a very good chance I won't be able to sleep tonight.

10. Post Afternoon-Nap

Pros: Alone, writing and I did not gorge myself on unhealthy food for my afternoon snack, I had melon and a small ham sandwich, go me! Also, melon was incredibly delicious. And I think I'm getting close to the end of some of my (endless list of) writing projects.

Cons: I still itch, and I haven't done anything that counts as productive in the Real World. However, I can't be bothered to really care.

11. Dinner

(This hasn't happened yet but, really, it can't be all that bad. In fact, it will probably be quite nice, and involve a scrambled-eggs-with-ham sandwich and soup.)

In Conclusion: My life is a cascading avalanche of miserable. ;_; Hold me...

Current Music: Rebellion (Lies), The Arcade Fire

Lalala nobody's reading this...
The times when the choir director refers to "The men and the tenors" will never get old.

Current Music: Construction

What I Am Studying Right Now
A section of my current bio notes. (Hey, it's not like anyone actually reads this thing, right?)

Anyways, you should all totally feel my pain.

Here goes:

-Tejido Epitelial
A. Tejido Epitlin de Reuestimiento
-La piza e protecte las superficiales ~~internas~~ externas y las internas organos (???)
1. Epiterio plano: celulas planas
-Epiterio plano monoestratificado *diagram goes here*
Ej: basos capilarios anemios *other diagram of capillary goes here*
-Epiterio plano pluriestratificado
Ej: piel
2. Epiterio Cubico: celulas quadradas (*diagram in parenthesis of a box w/nucleus*)

Etcetera etcetera. And this is not the bit where I memorize five basic leaf outlines, six different margin textures, three different nerve branching patterns and three different positions leaves can take on the stem. It's all pretty cool, actually, but not to have memorized by tomorrow for the test we're taking.

...Which is totally why I'm procrastinating, btw.

Current Music: Angel, 8mm

Haiku Day
Just three weeks or so
And I'll be in Italy.
Hot damn this is cool!

Current Music: White Flag, Dido

Mascotverse
OH MY GOD. CICEQI.

Currently Dead
Urrgh. Sick. Bleah.

My Day Today:

1. 10 hours of sleep.ç
2. Wake up.
3. Fail to do anything.
4. Sleep.
5. Lunch.
6. Sleep.
7. Wake up with fever.
8. Dinner. (To do)
9. Sleep. (To do as well.)

Am going to go die now.

(But hey, there, everybody! I'm updating. Tomorrow, assuming I'm somewhat alive, I will rant about the Spanish keyboard.)

Current Music: Headache, rawr. No music for me.

Drive-By Update
Firstly: Today sucked. Blood draw first thing in the morning, and then a visit to the dentist right after that. :( Not fun.

Secondly: OH MY GOD. PLANTS.

WE WENT UP TO HURRICANE RIDGE AND. AND THE PLANTS. GLEE. I AM REDUCED TO JOYFUL INCOHERENCE.

The Exciting Plant of the Trip is probably coast penstemon (Penstemon serrulatus) which was growing at the trailhead kind of tucked behind some cow-parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) and absolutely GORGEOUS. Kind of a purple-blue and wonderful.

There were also lots of incredible white rein orchids (Platanthera dilatata) which were also incredible. Sadly, the delphiniums were drying out a little, and we were a little too early to catch their full bloom. ;_;

There was some pretty Cooley's Hedge-Nettle (Stachys cooleyae) in the ditches. There was some discussion about whether it was sickletop lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa) which we ended up seeing at the ridge. A little ways up the bank from the hedge-nettle there was western meadow-rue (Thalictrum occidentale) growing in the shade--very, very pretty.

There were two kinds of yellow monkey-flower: yellow monkey flower and moutnain monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus and M. tilingii.) They were growing along the stream-banks, in with the orchids and some other assorted bits and pieces, most noticeably Pinguicula vulgaris, also known as common butterwort. It's carnivorous and never fails to take my breath away. And then there was some Sibirian springbeauty, Claytonia sibirica, and some yellow willowherb, Epilobium luteum.

Up in the woods there were some gorgeous little wintergreen-type things: white-veined wintergreen (Pyrola picta) and one-sided wintergreen (Orthilia secunda). There was some rattlesnake-plantain in there as well, which always makes me smile. It's one of my favorites. ^_^

EDIT: TRYING TO GET THE SECOND HALF OF THIS TO WORK. AAARGH. BE UP SOON.

Actual fic, this time!
Deductive Reasoning
By Dreaming of Everything

Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Shino/Hinata
Disclaimer: Naruto and all that is related to it is not mine. (Although my computer wants me to say ‘Naruto and all that is related to it are not mine,’ which sounds wrong to me.)
Author’s Notes: Sorry about the page breaks--ff.net is EATING MY FORMATTING. ARGH.

( Deductive Reasoning )

I Understand
By Dreaming of Everything

Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Shikamaru/Chouji
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in any way related to Naruto. Except this fic. Can I trade it in for the manga or something? Please?
Author’s Notes: Shikamaru and Chouji are love. Much, much love. I have tried to do them justice with this. Again, page break apologies.

( I Understand )

Next on my list of things to do is to start setting up my memories, and uploading all my fics to my LJ. Also, to start actually updating this thing. ~~I can dream, right?~~

Current Music: Chuck E's In Love, Rickie Lee Jones

GAH.
The computer I'm on won't let me copy/paste, but I have two Naruto fics to upload as soon as I'm on the other computer.

I aten't dead, to quote Granny Weatherwax.

Current Music: My computer is really *loud*

Today we made cookies!

Or rather, the dough for cookies. They both need refrigeration before baking. *is sad and teary-eyed and IMPATIENT*

So we made a double batch of Alma Anderson's Icebox Cookies, which are quite possibly one of my most favorite things every. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD THEY ARE. Yuuuummmm, walnut-cookie things.

And then we made a quadruple batch of chocolate-hazlenut biscotti! I am very very happy. Melting the chocolate was approaching torture, though: melting baker's chocolate smells delicious and tastes like, well, baker's chocolate. I also had the brilliant idea to coat the finished product with hazelnuts after it's dipped in chocolate. We'll have to see if it works.

Now I'm baking the first batch of the icebox cookies. I wonder how they'll turn out...

(For anyone wondering about how many cookies we made: they are a traditional gift for teachers in our household. We have a list of 20-30+ people that we'll give them to. Thus: double to quadruple batches of a long list of cookie recipes.)

I may post the recipes later. Too lazy right now.

(I'm updating! Go me!)

SNOW!

!!!

IT'S-SNOWING-IT'S-SNOWING-IT'S-SNOWING-IT'S-SNOWING-IT'S-SNOWING!

Life really, really sucks right now.

Friend A misinterpreted something I said in an email, in response to something I sent out. He gets a little bit up-in-my-face about it. Mutual Friend B out-and-out attacks me: "Wow. You really will take any chance to humiliate *Friend A* and glorify yourself, won't you. That's unfortunate. Any other nasty remarks, *my name*?"

That all happens yesterday. So when I see Friend A today, I ask him not to try to discuss issues he is having with me online. He says, "I'm not the only person having problems with you, you know."

So I spent the next half an hour trying not to cry. It didn't work and I ended up bursting into tears in front of everybody. Thank God for Friends C and D, who were very comforting, offering support and hugs and getting me out of the room before anyone else noticed. At least Friend E seems neutral, at the moment...

I have classes with Friends A and B tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to deal with it.

It's a good thing I'm not suicidal...

Today I found myself in the unique position of filling out student exchange applications by candlelight.

Power outages, you are such fun. (That was a lie, for the record.)

On the other hand, it looks like I will BE GOING ABROAD FOR A WHOLE YEAR OMG SQUEEEE!!!!

I have a very good chance at getting into two programs. :D

I've started in on reading D. Grayman. It... Is good, overall, I think. I haven't fallen in love with any of the characters, though. On the other hand, I haven't gotten very far into it, so that may change. I'm on chapter 36, I think, and att the moment my favorite character is Allen. He's awakening my mothering instincts. The ones where I want to hug whichever character it's centered on a lot. It comes out at the oddest moments... And is a good argument for me never having children. Ever.

Noodles (my pearl gourami) died, joining past pearl gouramis Grace (or Gracie,) Hephaestus and Nicholas. I'm thinking that I should just give up on softwater fish, and break down and get some more mollies. I'm thinking all black ones, or maybe a few black and a silver or two. A lyretail might be fun... My only sticking point is that I absolutely despise and hate dalmatian mollies. And the balloon-belly mollies.

It has finally stopped raining. We have had FIVE DAYS OF RAIN. The water was getting a few feet deep in drainage ditches that are normally a few inches deep at most, and generally dry. Scary stuff. And wet. And miserable. And I ended up looking like a drowned rat this morning when I was scurrying back and forth from school and the dentists office and my other school and the library and the printing place and school again. Wheee.

My brain is being eaten alive by ~~zombies~~ an epic FFVII fic. It will not leave me alone. At all. And I want to write it. And it's this sprawling AU/AR. And it has no end. And rapes canon in so many ways, along with the timeline. And doesn't work. And involves that weird technology/mythology combo that's been flitting around in my head for who knows how long. Aaaaahhhhh!!! It's after me! Plus the pairings won't settle down into something normal and doable, and I can't make them resist. It's all chibirisuchan and cicequi's faults, and they both have no idea who I am. Hmm. That makes it that much easier to blame them, maybe?

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, I am attempting 30,000 words this month. I figure student exchange applications can make up for 20,000 words. ~~Okay, fine, I'm lazy.~~ So maybe I will end up updating things.

I got lots of new bead-type things from somebody who was cleaning out her jewelry box. Or drawer, whichever. Some black and amber seed beads, some nice crystal, a tear-drop shaped piece of cowery I will have lots of fun with, a nice sterling silver chain, some crystal, some wooden Tibetan/Peruvian (she couldn't remember which) beads with some red ones and metal accents, lots of loose earrings and random metal pieces. My only difficulty is figuring out how to turn this ring into a necklace pendant without altering it too much... It's going to be my gift to her in return for the beads.

...

~~YAY! BEADS! YAY! EXCHANGE! EXCHANGE. EXCHANGE!!!!!~~

Okay, off to write now!

Current Music: Ooh Aah, The Grits