Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I've been fighting off a food coma for a couple hours now to try to win a bid on Bidhere.com. Why? Because mama wants a digital camera, and none of the stores have deals I'm willing to spend grocery-money on.

So, while I wait for the seconds to tick down (seriously now, this thing is addicting), I'll try to get into the spirit of things.

( I am thankful for )

Ain't no mountain hiiiigh enough,
Ain't no valley loooow enough,
Ain't no river wiiiiiiide enough,

( To keep me away from you, babe )

I just realized something.

All three of my group presentations for this semester? Are tomorrow. *facepalm* Keel me nao.

I also love the fact that I can't log on to any of my mail accounts or Facebook. Either someone's got a lot of time on their hands, or there are a heck of a lot of people freaking out at the same time. Either way, my nails are not going to last the night if this keeps up. D:

(That and the ELC kids here have an incredible amount of time on their hands. It's finals week for them, and yet I think I bumped into every single one of them at the mall last night while getting stuff I need for my presentation. That and half the high school students in the area. Wtf, it's Monday night, people. And it didn't even look like Christmas shopping)

I just found out today that two and a half years of advertising does nothing to shield one from a salesman. It just makes a person's inner voice all that much more snarky and know-it-all.

Seriously, though, I am half a paycheck poorer, two boxes worth of storage space short, and wanting to stab my brain with a rusty spork. Knowing that 'dang, that combination of door-in-the-face with a last minute emotional appeal really does work, doesn't it?' does nothing to bring back money earned from two weeks worth of dish room.

Well, that and I have absolutely no defense against emotional appeals. Angel may rationalize the living daylights out of everything, but throw in a good pair of puppy eyes, and the circuits just sort of shorten out up there. Is there some sort of firewall I can set up around this sort of thing? Because exposure really isn't helping. Case in point: I think the bf discovered this maybe half an hour into the relationship and has been thoroughly, thoroughly abusing it ever since. I'm still not developing any immunity to it. DX

It's 6:30 in the morning, and I've gotten maybe three, three and a half hours of sleep.

...wtf. He just held my hand.

Guys, I'm kinda scared here. Third (fourth? I can't count) tornado to sweep through the area is going to be here in...two minutes? Yeeeeeeah. It's too dark for green skies, but for all means and purposes, it's like Apocalypse come outside. If I'm not online tomorrow, don't look for me in Kansas.

Yesterday was the busiest day I've had in a long, long time. I had a midterm, a lecture that ran over, work, and then another midterm back to back to back. Right after the midterm came a group meeting, a cookie for dinner (my only meal of the day was a burger and fries I scarfed down during break at work) and then a meeting that lasted until nine.

Luckily, the day ended on a fairly decent note. A friend of my roommate's and mine came over to hang out and play card games, and a boy came over with apples. So not a shabby day at all, but I hope I don't have to do that again for a very, very long time.

So, does anyone remember the opening to Aeon Flux? Did that today.

...I think that's enough of bugs in my eye to last a lifetime, kthnx.

The 106 Most Unread Books.

The list is the 106 books most often noted as unread by Library Thing users. Bold is for books you've read. Italics for books you've started but haven't finished. Strikethrough is for books you found unreadable.

( Start )

Conclusion: I need to finish books that I start. And maybe not trying to read them all at the library. And the people who frequent my library branch, I dunno, actually read classic literature? (Then again, my library is weird anyhow. We have patrons that are pretty much permanent fixtures. I thought the world was ending when one of them wasn't there when I was--turns out he was simply held up by the fact that the snowplows hadn't come through yet. Yes, I went to the public library on snow days during middle and high school. Sue me)
Oh, more people need to discover Neil Gaiman. Seriously.

...I really, really need to be productive from now until about next Thursday, but slime molds♥. Who knew these little buggers were so cool?

• Two pages of movies on the various life stages of slime molds. The slime mold slugs are particularly awesome.
  
• Fruiting bodies of slime molds and mushrooms in action.
  
• The webpage that started it all (actually, the entire site is pretty darn awesome).

Not that I'm not terrified of fungi in general. It's just watching them in black and white on a petri dish on my computer screen is so much more comforting than, say, opening my fridge and meeting them in real life.

OMG, IZ POOR BUT DO WANT.

@#$)(*&#)(*& Madeleine L'Engle passed away. Four days ago. Madeleine L'Engle. Where was the pomp? The circumstance? Heck, even the simple acknowledgment that one of the greatest authors in history had passed away?!
There was nothing on any of my news feeds or newspaper until I came across this quiet little post.

@(#*&$# Will post later when I'm not so mad and when I don't have meetings and reports and tests looming over my head. GAH.

I AM DONE WITH MY PROJECTS~!!

I was invited out to the bars by one of my groupmates after our presentation today. Cool. She said that she'd stop by and pick me up, because she had other things she needed to do. Cool.

That was...four and a half hours ago. Not so cool.

I think I've been stood up. 8Db

Alrighty, I take that as a sign I can go to bed now. G'night, y'all (and I really need to stop pimping this). I'm off to catch up on sleep~♥.

So my cell phone disappeared. While I'm pretty sure it's missing in a buried-under-mountains-of-junk way, there's still the minuscule possibility it's missing in a in-the-hands-of-some-asshole way. Which would suck, because my phone's still under my mom's carrier plan, and I'd hate for her to pay for a phone that doesn't exist any more.
Actually, it still sucks, because it means I don't get to talk to you, knyx, for quite some times. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS, DEAR AND EAT LOTS OF CAKE FOR ME♥.

I just found out I might not be able to make it to my brother's concert, because it is during my finals week. We were both looking forward to it, but my mom put her foot down. However, since I don't actually have a finals on that day, or the day after, I'll see if I can continue negotiations with the mother. And that would mean I'll be in Ann Arbor Tuesday and Wednesday, if all goes as planned.

Speaking of my brother, does anyone know of upbeat music a listener of My Chemical Romance and Fort Minor would like? My brother is being all emo right now and has requested depressing music to fit his mood, but while I did fight down the urge to send him a .zip folder full of gratingly cheerful music, I still want to cheer him up. We still might have to sneak "Don't Worry Be Happy" in there somehow, but I still need music he'll actually listen to. Any recs?

Oh, and I finally found out why I've been so freaked out about the VT shooting. It's not actually that the shooter's Asian (although that's still a part of it), it's, uh, because of the character I role-play in a community.
The more I read about Cho Seung-Hui, the more freaked out I get, because the man is honestly like Vince in a lot of ways. Quiet, guarded, delusional, socially inept, passive-aggressive...

Vince has a lot of problems. I know that, and it's one of the reasons why I role-play him in the first place--not because I know him well, but because I'm trying to understand him through role-playing. However, there is a huge difference between "your character may not be entirely right in the head" and "hey, your character has the same mentality as the deadliest mass shooter in American history :D".

I think my one saving grace is that I don't play Vince very well. I still can't get into the man's head, and frankly, I don't know if I want to any more. I know it's stupid of me, as I've RPed other murderers in the past (hello Kakashi) without any qualms, but I simply don't want to understand Cho's point of view. I don't want to wake up one morning and think, 'Well, it all makes sense now. I can relate to why he opened fire on those people."

I'm scared I might be able to get to that point by continuing role-playing as Vince. I mean, what else am I trying to do but get into his frame of mind? I know I'll never storm into a classroom with two loaded handguns and a bulletproof vest, but a man like Cho doesn't deserve to be forgiven, and understanding him is a forgiveness that I'm not willing to give.

I...don't know what I'm going to do with Vince at this point. I've been debating whether or not to drop him the last two days, because he has developed a life outside of the anime during the time I've spent with him. He has changed, and he will continue to evolve. But. I still can't look at him without flinching. I keep hearing Cho's voice whenever I think of him, and it burns. I still want to play Pygmalion with him, but there's a problem when I can't even look at him.

Aaaand I just realized I have Bright Eyes on right now. Hmm, is my mood anything to be surprised at? ^^;;

Anyway, it's three in the morning and I have to get up early tomorrow to spazz about end of the year things. G'night!

Two days later, and I'm still pretty shaken up by the VTech shooting.

My heart goes out to all the friends and families of the victims. And of the shooter. What his parents must be going through right now.

Also, I've been noticing that people have been really...careful around me these last two days. People give me a wide berth when I'm walking around campus. My roommate and I got slightly panicked stares in the caf when we discussed the recent events in Chinese. Although it may just be me--I know I've been really antsy too.

We had an open discussion in class today. It was good listening to everyone put forward their opinions on the aftermath of the event. We discussed everything from a university-wide emergency plan to discrimination on campus. In fact, one of the questions brought up was, "Do you think differently of Asian Americans because of this incident?"
The answer was a resounding "NO" from the entire auditorium. Thank you, Professor Obst and EC202. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.

On another note, I was surprised at the number of people participating and supporting Day of Silence today. Kudos to everyone--I think it really got the word out, so to speak.

ETA: Someone just sent me this through email.

( Food for thought )

ETA 2: ( Just watched the Cho Manifesto )

HOMFG FMA CHAPTER 70.

a;lsdjf;laksjdf;lkjasd;lfkj ;aj NO WORDS. JUST. NO WORDS.

Actually, plenty of words, but they're all spoiler-y and I need to go back and figure out all the words first and I won't be able to do that until Thursday and why does my schedule suck every time something cool like this happens and OMG NO WORDS.

Okay, deep breath.

If I'm not around tomorrow, it's because my roommate killed me in my sleep for squealing all night over this.

*goes back to fangirling*

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此致
敬礼！

*CROSSES FINGERS* Wish me luck!

( So um, Hana Kimi )
*cough*

So, um, change of subject.

Has Patrick Stump always been this...big? I finally got around to watching the music video to "This Ain't a Scene", and well, frankly, my first thought was, "Are Pete and Joe teaching Pat bad habits?"
Hopefully, the smoke's not going to affect his voice. The MV was hard enough to watch.

Yes, I know I'm being shallow, and please, no comments on my taste in music.

Also. While I, um, still can't watch Super Junior music videos, I'm having fun stalking watching the boys in other ways. Take this for instance (WARNING: loads EXTREMELY slowly). ♥. If you have the patience for it, watch KangIn's look of absolute disgust near the end of the second clip. Totally made my day. XD
Thank you, pandamilk for the link~!

Oh, and does anyone remember "Where the Hell is Matt" here and here? Here is "Where the Hell are Matt's Outtakes". I like this version best. Yes, the second trip was sponsored by Stride gum. Yes, he's going on another trip (in a few weeks), and yes it is again being sponsored by Stride. ;__; Lucky bastard.
Anyway, personal bitterness aside, watch the clip. It really is great, especially the Rwanda sections.

My roommate and I are watching the Chinese live action series of Hana Kimi this weekend, simply because Wu Chun's in it. Ella, prz to be moving aside.

Anyway, here's a bit of Fahrenheit pimpage:
Only Have Feelings For You (feat. Hebe)

This is the highest quality MV I've been able to find on Youtube. It's really cute; I recommend watching it.

( Translations of the lyrics )