This time years ago, I was terrified. I was two weeks into the scariest part of my life yet: my first year away from the place I grew up and was therefore (however begrudingly) familiar with. I didn't know what I was doing; I'd hardly saved any money; I couldn't find a job.

However, I was on the eve of the first and only Harry Potter release party I'd ever attended. Borders, downtown, midnight. July 20th (though, technically, July 21st), 2007.

Before all of that, though, there was a girl.

Back in the good ol' days (lol) of GreatestJournal, I ended up posting to and browsing the animeaddme community. And I found this one post that I couldn't quite ignore, and I wasn't even quite sure why. Of course, since GJ bit the dust several months ago and silly me forgot to save it, I no longer have the post. I do, however, have my comment on it, as well as the reply.

pekori: FAKE, puppyshipping, Depeche Mode. Squee~ I want to add you even though we wholly disagree on Stephen King. Add backs? (We're also the same age and that sort of surprised me because everyone I meet (not even just here!) is always younger than I am XD)

vicious_lullaby: Ahhh, fellow puppyshipper?! ♥♥ I really don't care what your opinion on King is; if you're a puppyshipper we will get along. xD; Especially since you also like FAKE and Depeche Mode~~.

You're added. ♥

---
I am pretty sure I've told this story zillions of times, reposted those words just as many, but... they're important. They were the launchpad for what's become one hell of a fucking journey. (I sort of feel like I've had a bit too much of Mr Saturn's coffee/Tenda Tea - and, I promise, you will understand that soon, love.)

At this point, I could get into the gritty details. I could talk about all of our plans, and how they've changed, evolved, broken and been rebuilt into something entirely new (and yet still very much the same) over all of this time. I could get into all of our countless all-night gigglefests over bondage bakeshops, Gundam Soup with Nappo, and the rules of Kubo edition Scrabble. I could also just sit here and copy and paste months' - years' - worth of conversations over AIM and let those do all of the talking for us (because the phone calls have been filled with so many laughs I would not know where to begin). I think, though, that it's best if I just try using my own.

It feels like so much longer than two years. We know this; we've talked about it. It doesn't make it all any less surreal, though. That two people could just stumble upon each other like that, at such a seemingly random time. That, of all the horrible things that happened to me and around me during and because of that time, I would still do all of it again.

Because it gave me you.

And I know you are why I was meant to go there. You are why I am meant to be here.

I hope this all sounds crazy. I want everyone to know just how crazy I am for you. How crazy I have been for you. How crazy I always will be for you. Because you are mine, you always have been mine, and you always will be mine.

If there is anyone who could get me to believe in reincarnation again, it is you — there is absolutely no way I have not known you for eons longer than just a simple two years. And there is absolutely no way I could ever love you enough in just this one lifetime.

So, what I've got here for you is, at best, a crossection of our life together. In some ways, it's a little out of order. Then again, even that is sometimes more than fitting. They're words that describe how I feel as well as how I've felt, so there is a lot of love, courage, friendship and gratitude, but there are also hints of fear and pain, because, well, we both know that this has been anything but easy. And maybe this all seems thrown together, maybe the transitions are clumsy and the story makes no sense (not enough vowels, clearly ♥). But...it says a lot of things I don't trust myself to say properly, too. And I hope that they do.

But, mostly, I hope you know that I love you. And that there is nothing I am looking forward to more than next month and you in my arms. Except, maybe, all of the rest of the days I get to have you there after that. ♥

You know what? There was no need for me to Rickroll you. How did we defeat the undefeatable? XD

I don't care what has been said about him,
Thriller is one of my favorite fucking records in the whole world.

And for everyone just focusing on Michael, you know what? Farrah Fawcett died today, too. And Ed McMahon died two days ago.

Celebrities like to drop dead all at once. It's almost like they're vying for first place even then.

That is an evil, cynical thing for me to say. Sorry.

So I got out of bed, was eating something before work, and the local news was on.

And then I choked.

How many of you remember "metrosexual"? You know, those guys who like to preen and primp and look nice. Lotions for their faces and hands and what have you. In the words of our dear Governator, "GIRLY MEN."

Well, Japan has apparently coined their own word for them.

Something that would make Kyouya Hibari very proud indeed.

I love the word "tokidoki" in Japanese because it is so fun to say. It means "sometimes." But I really like Japanese in general because they have a lot of single words to describe things that take an entire phrase in English. While their grammar is totally crazy inefficient sometimes, they make up for it by having awesome words that we cannot even hope to duplicate in English.

In French, the first word to come to mind is "papillion" - "butterfly" (not the dog, though they are cute). However, I also really like the word "pamplemousse" ("grapefruit") and "ananas" ("pineapple").

There are probably zillions more that I'm just not even thinking of right now because I lovelovelovelovelooove languages and pretty much want to learn them all (yes, really) so I'm always finding words I love in all kinds of languages.

This question is awesome. I have decided that today is a good day.

That I could fucking win a fucking auction for a fucking EarthBound player's guide that I should fucking have in the fucking first place.

No, but there is a relatively famous English actor with the same name as one of my younger brothers. He often plays the romantic lead, which is doubly confusing, as my brother is, in general, a reclusive, asexual jerk.


Also, this has absolutely nothing to do with Writer's Block, but i didn't want to double post:

http://www.gundam30th.net/event/real-g.html

If this happens, and Japan wins wins the bid for the 2016 Olympics (because we are not all dying in 2012, stfu Y2Kers with nothing better to panic about), we are fucking going. Because a LIFE-SIZE GUNDAM will be AMAZING. Of course, it's predicted to be finished sometime in July, so i should be going then, except all the Gundam fanboys will want to be going then, so i'll hold off a little while because Tokyo is crowded enough as it is oi. BUT SERIOUSLY. OMG. MY DREAMS ARE SLOWLY COMING TRUE.

My favorite Mother is this one.

/obvious

Threeee years ago? No, way more than that. Like, five years ago. LKSFkj Let me look this up...

YES five years ago on May 17th, just one day after my eighteenth birthday, gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts.

Today, ten days before my twenty-third birthday (wtf old), this grand~* state I live in has finally caught up, following not only Massachusetts, but Connecticut and Vermont. We're still waiting on New Hampshire and Rhode Island, but I'm pretty sure the former is going to cave looong before the latter because RI is sort of notoriously cranky about everything. (Napoleon complex maybe?)

At any rate, good job Maine. For once. x_X;

I bet Charlie Howard would have been proud, or at the very least incredibly excited.

lol I was just about to update about this ANYWAY, so.

No, I am not worried about catching the swine flu. I have only ever caught the regular flu ONCE in my entire almost 23 years of life.

My plan for avoiding contagion (is that a word? Google Chrome isn't red-line-of-deathing me, so) is to do what I have always done - stay the fuck away from people. I don't like touching; I don't like to be touched. That's prooobably why I never get sick (well, that and my immune system is godly).

However, this all leads up to how there have been two confirmed cases in Lowell, Massachusetts (which is sort of nearish to Boston) and those are the first two confirmed cases in New England. My mother also forwarded me this Plan of Action™ from the local schools to deal with anything that might end up further north and stuff.

Whatever. This shit is crazy. It's just one more thing telling us that the world is over-populated and we need to go back to using, you know, what has worked for millions and millions of years:

NATURAL. SELECTION.

edited for genius


see more Funny Graphs

Thank you for being a friend, Bea Arthur.

And for being a surrogate grandmother, and a wonderful role model to so, so many of us.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

Admittedly, I'd never heard of the book until Miyazaki's anime version of it was released. I picked it up at Barnes & Noble because I lived in the sticks and there wasn't a theater anywhere near me that was running the movie.

It was pretty much instantaneous love.

The book is filled with so much clever mystery, and while it's a young adult book, it doesn't read like a young adult book. It sort of doesn't seem to have a proper demographic at all, really. (Not like her latest venture in the Castle series, but I digress.) The characters live and breathe so clearly in that book they almost feel like real people — and that is such a brilliant mark of amazing writing. You can see Howl, hear him lamenting in the bathroom and smell the hot, floral steam from his hours spent in there. You can almost feel yourself reaching out to help poor old Sophie as she trudges on, bent-backed and weary, but too stubborn to just sit her bones down and rest properly and too proud to turn back. And Calcifer — oh, how I adore Calcifer and his sharp-tongued remarks and his voice like crackling logs. Every time I hear that sound, I can't help but wonder, just a little...

The other books so far in the Castle series (Castle in the Air [not to be confused with another Miyazaki adventure, Castle in the Sky] and House of Many Ways) get mixed reviews from me. Neither of them really manages to capture quite the same magic as the first book — they seem more like poor impostors of it. Castle in the Air comes close, but sort of grasps at straws when it comes to actually fitting into the same world (and yes, they are all meant to take place in the same world, though in many different countries within that world). It is, however, still very enjoyable and I've read it two or three times myself. (Incidentally, the soldier is hands down my favorite of all the characters.) House of Many Ways, though... that one was a really big disappointment.

The book reads very much like a young adult book — it almost reads like a children's book. And for all that Castle in the Air grasped at straws, this book would be lucky to even find any straws at which TO grasp. Such a let-down...

Still, ultimately, Howl's Moving Castle stands VERY well on its own, and is even a fairly quick read! One could easily tackle it entirely in a few hours, which I highly recommend, as it is far easier to lose yourself in Ingary that way. Of course, I make no promises on you wanting to leave once the book is through.

(As an ironic aside, though, I really couldn't stand the movie, despite how much I adore the book and all of Miyazaki's other films. I managed about twenty minutes of it before I had to turn it off; it deviates so completely from the plot of the book that I couldn't believe it. And while I can appreciate wanting to make something one's own, I'm inclined to believe it's scarcely the same story anymore. But, I never did manage to sit through the whole thing, so I suppose I'll never know~.)

So, I guess today in Augusta, they had a big public hearing on Maine passing a bill to legalize gay marriage in the state (one that would not only recognize out-of-state marriages, but would also make Maine the fourth of six New England states to adopt such a thing :3). It lasted alllll day and there was apparently a random fire alarm that went off during it, and it actually ran a little longer than it was meant to because over four thousand people showed up to defend their view on it.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=252291&ac=PHnws

That's the story I read tonight at work that notified me of this whole thing happening in the first place (guess that's what I get for not paying attention to news, ever).

I am really excited for this. And I really hope the goal of all six New England states by 2012 is achieved. (Laaaame, Rhode Island. Just because you're the tiniest state of all doesn't mean you have to get all macho about it.) Then NE can laugh in the rest of the U.S.'s face and be like "WHAT NOW BITCHES."

Except for Iowa, obviously. And California if they ever re-get their shit together.

This sort of made up for a day that was otherwise mostly filled with things irritating me.

Let's just hope that Maine's legislature is as smart as Vermont's, y/y.

EXTREME like dinosaurs exploding.

That is all.

...lmfao. I think my entire friends list and then some could answer this question.

But, uh, EARTHBOUND for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Foreverandeverandeverandeverandever.

*goes to browse other answers, only to find disappointment that no one else put EarthBound*

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/lucasmagypsy

i lol'd and i've never even seen The Big Lebowski.

umm and spoilers for Mother 3 i guess except you won't understand what it is until you actually get to that part in the game. XD

edit April 2 Welcome to Mother 3 World.

Having about an hour and a half before i have to get ready for work and it being too hot in my room (wtf, it's March) to keep sleeping off this cough, i decided to give up and play some FF again (probably for about three minutes before i turn into the She-Hulk). i am a bit of a cheater and use the uploaded maps at gamefaqs.com to help myself navigate some of the bigger dungeons and the overworld (seriously - the overworld is sort of obscenely huge) and i saw this "Link" at the top of my page. (ohoho how punderful)

i am almost a week behind the times, but i am still tingly anyway.

i am not terribly thrilled about the train. Even though i just complained about the overworld of another game, part of the Zelda series' appeal is that you can, you know, traverse the land at your leisure. At least Zelda is back in this one? Hopefully that means Ganondorf will be, too. Things are sort of boring without them. (No offense, Link's Awakening. And Oracle games while we're at it. And actually, Minish Cap was all right, despite all the haters.) At least you still get to battle enemies; it's not like a little side-story collecting game of bullshit like Four Swords Adventures was. Granted, i dig party games, so i sort of liked that game anyway, but in terms of the story mode, it was totally lame. (Though it's worth noting that even THAT had Ganondorf in it, and sort of paralleled...hurr i don't remember which one - Zelda II? Because he acquired the trident.)

IDK but i love the cel-shaded graphics even though apparently the rest of the world hates their guts. i DO miss "adult" Link, but they gave us a half-finished Twilight Princess GameCube port for the launch of the Wii and he wasn't a little kid in that one, plus the game was pretty decent. Granted, i totally PWNED it, but. (Seven Poes! That's all i failed to get! *shakes fist*) i don't know. i think the Zelda fans need a real game again; something like (yeah, i'm gonna say it) Ocarina of Time. Something epic. Something consistently challenging. Something not so freaking gimmicky. :|

You know what i'd really love to see? An actually adult Link. Like, not the teen Link we always refer to as adult Link because it differentiates him from the children Links. i'm talking in his twenties. Maybe his thirties? That actually could be ridiculously interesting, and i think it would be a really novel turn for the series. It'd be really refreshing, too. Something, finally, that we've never seen before.

Because, really, even i can only put up with so many ocarina/baton/rock, Name That Tune, let's-buffer-the-game-with-side-quests bullshit. And i live for that kind of stuff.

edit So apparently if you go the correct way in the Earth Cave, it's not a jerk and so i have made it to the Vampire boss. Whose, ah, special attack is apparently Dazzle. Yeaaah...

edit again LMFAO I BEAT HIM IN ONE ROUND? My black mage didn't even need to use Fire 3. ;; My fighter and my thief took out almost all of his HP and then my white mage (MY WHITE MAGE) did the final four damage needed. XD;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5lz2CYNR4

Thank you, Vic Lasanga and America.

#1. My Mother 3 handbook arrived today! SO STOKED. It is absolutely beautiful and so is the keychain/Franklin Badge that came with it. Unfortunately, i don't exactly have many keys to put on it just yet, but at least i won't be able to be struck by lightning.

#2. In the spirit of my spending a solid half an hour trudging through both the standard wikipedia AND the Final Fantasy wikipedia in search of the proper order for playing the games (because i plan on getting through as many of them as i can as quickly as possible - though i need to dig VII out of hiding and figure out how i am going to emulate IX and whether i will emulate or simply make sure III (which is actually VI) is sent to me in time to play it), i bring you one of my favorite people ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVzPCY2T-g

( Nicked from herbalriver lol @ my results )