June 25, 2004

One more day till my dance recital. I'm so excited! It will be a busy, exhausting weekend (performing Saturday, Sunday, and one dance on Monday), but it's better than Christmas!

Does anyone know about turning a VHS tape into an .avi or .mpg? What kind of plug and what kind of software?

While I still haven't been online much I have at the very least been keeping up to date with Full Metal Alchemist. I'd sworn off the manga because I didn't want to be spoiled, but I think it's time to go read it. If anyone has post chapter 13 I'd be much obliged. Streamload name: emeraldus

July chapter of AiBaby: Yuzuyu has a cold and spends the day cutely bonding with Kippei. Aww. But is that her mom at the end? I've forgotten what the mother looks like. Kokoro is weird. Is she mad? I can't even tell.

Good luck, , see you tomorrow.

Usa-p internally wept for Kyou at 12:54 | link |
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June 13, 2004

Ah, to sleep! To sleep some more! I feel so much better. Yay, alertness!

I'm still a little stiff from that muscle I yanked, but it's steadily healing. My acro class has been invited to do another show a few days before my recital, so I get to risk hurting myself again. Ah, performing.

Now, manga ranting! Kinda long:

Now, because I've had time to sleep and think and move and all that other good stuff, I finally trudged over to the bookstore to pick up all the Ribon and Hana to Yume I haven't read in the last few months. AiBaby's getting a little irritating. There's another girl at school who has a little sister in Yuzuyu's preschool, and because she's bonding with Kippei over having to take care of kids that aren't their own while still going to high school, Kokoro is getting self-conscious and thinking that Kippei is more interested in the other girl. The other girl is flustered and keeps needing Kippei to 'save' her by getting her emergency medicine for the kid, or whatever, which he does because he's a nice boy and is genuinely concerned about the little girl. I have absolutely no patience for this kind of thing. He always tells Kokoro exactly where he's going and why, so she just needs to stop being silly, or say something about it if it bothers her so much because Kippei is a boy, and therefore dense, and has no clue about any of this. Oh, and Yuzuyu feels the same way Kokoro does, but I cut her some slack because she's little. I didn't read this month's chapter yet, so hopefully some of this will end.

Now onto Furuba. Has anyone seen the latest chapter? (What is it, 93?) I haven't been online in so long, I've forgotten how to keep in touch with fandom. This chapter broke my heart, it did. Kyouko completely lost it after Katsuya died. Kyouko's father once told her that some people were needed, some people weren't, and she was someone who wasn't needed. Kyouko yelled back at him this chapter that that was a lie. No one is needed. The world will keep on turning no matter who dies. That is why people seek out to need and be needed by other people. I (almost) subscribe to that world view. The only difference is that I take comfort in the thought that the universe is vastly indifferent to my existence. But Kyouko thought she had nothing left to live for. She wanted to see Katsuya again and was about to commit suicide by jumping off her balcony until she overheard a little kid call, "Mom." That reminded her of Tooru, who she apparently hadn't really realized was still there, and Tooru became the person who she would need and be needed by. That doesn't sit very well with me. Tooru also witnessed all of this. She was tiny and didn't understand, but this is still probably lurking in her subconsicous. For whatever reason, Kyouko was telling this story to Chibi!Kyou. We still don't know how or why they know each other. Kyouko said that she always needs to lose her way at least once before she finds her own answers.

These past flashback chapters have been Kyou's dream, presumably about what Kyouko told him about her life. He dreams also of Tooru, dead, she and his own hands covered in blood. ...Kyou, boy, you need to stop doing this to yourself. He does seem to have some sort of inkling that Tooru might feel the same way he does, but he chastises himself. 'Ore datte sonna kudaranai koto omou jibun wo yurusenai. Shikaku ga nai koto datte wakatteru.' He doesn't think he has the 'right' to think that and he should be ashamed of himself. *cue Usa banging her head against the wall* As the final icing on the cake, he assumes the dream was a warning. 'Anna yume misenakutatte. Kore ijou chikazuitari nanka shinai.' *weeps in angst*

The repeating motif is the line 'Itsu datte mou ichido wa michi ni mayowanakereba jibun wo kotae ni tadoritsukenai,' where Kyouko said that she always needs to lose her way at least once before she finds her own answers. Sigh. I hope they all come into possession of a GPS system, or a compass at the very least.

Usa-p internally wept for Kyou at 13:57 | link |
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June 7, 2004

Yesterday I had my dance rehearsal, which was a lot of fun. (You did great!)

But I had already hurt myself the day before by pulling a muscle (the name of the muscle group escapes me at the moment, but they're the ones you pull in the groin area when you do straddles and whose main job is to help lift your leg). It didn't really hurt too much after I slept, though, so I thought it wouldn't affect me very much. (I really do know better, I was just trying to convince myself otherwise. I'd been very tight recently and not stretching enough, and this was bound to happen). Anyway, keeping with my denial, I stretched (not enough) to make sure that I could do what I needed to for the acrobatics dance: right and left splits, straddles, and a few other things that involve the aforementioned pulled muscle. After all, this is how I pulled it to begin with.

I did all my stunts correctly and I didn't fall! This is the first time I have run through that dance and didn't smack into the floor at least once! Granted, I could barely walk afterwards, but who needs walking! I didn't fall!

The icing on the cake was that I still had one more dance to perform, and while it didn't require anything major, it was a quick costume change and I barely hobbled to the bathroom and back in time for it. I got through that dance on sheer adrenaline. One or two people told me that you could tell that I was hurt.

I only hope I heal fully in time for the show in 2 weeks, and that I don't hurt myself again because I have a the show two days in a row. I have to practice my stunts in the meantime though or I won't be able to do them at all.

But the show must go on! Even if they have to cart my body off the stage when the curtains close!

Usa-p internally wept for Kyou at 02:20 | link |
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June 4, 2004

I saw the midnight showing of HP3 last night because I am geek. Steve and I were there in our Nimbus HP Convention t-shirts (that have silhouettes of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs on the front, and "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" on the back. Great shirts), my Gryffindor and Slytherin scarves and he held his fuzzy stuffed Scabbers. I was disappointed with the number of geeks on line. I suppose they're all going to the geek fest fandom movie showing on Saturday that I can't go to because of my dance rehearsal. :-( I invited Chrissy to come with me and forgot to tell her that she had to buy her own ticket... ^^;;; ehe... so when she got there we had to come up with an elaborate scheme to get her into the sold out show.

I loved the movie. I love Lupin. Lupin doesn't look like Lupin by any stretch of the imagination (he's got a cheesy mustache! what is WITH that thing?) but he exuded his essence spectacularly. My favorite scenes in the movie were the ones where he was talking to Harry one on one, strolling through the grounds... LUPIN!!!!

*cough* Anyway, Draco got hit with the puberty stick. It's about time, too, since he's 17 or something. Unfortunately the puberty stick just made him look awkward and dorky.

The Weasley twins also adopted the Beatles hair, though not quite to the same extent as the hair Ron's actor is sporting. Is bad 60s rock hair making a comeback in Britain?

The Dementors were well done. Spooky and eww. Their effect of sucking out the happy feelings though looked weird. It reminded me of The Ring where people got blurred out in photographs.

Harry acted better. He's getting good at angry, which is good, because he'll need to do a lot of that later. Still doesn't know how to do sad or faint, but he's getting there. Hermione and Ron were fine, Ron's comic relief lines felt more natural.

There wasn't as much emphasis on all the sparkly 'new' wizarding things, but I found that there were a lot more of them if you looked. The paintings were very animated, to the point where Steve said they were too busy. Look out for Sir Cadogan in the background and the antics of the headless ghosts (the gathering of which was necessarily, and thankfully, cut from the plot).

Steve's major complaint is that it didn't 'look' right. With the first movie, no matter what they thought of the adaptation, most people agreed looked exactly the way they imagined it. He thought there were too many wide open scenery shots and far shots on the characters. I don't agree. It looked and felt different the same way the third book is different to begin with. The first two books, even the fourth one, are characterized by a sequence of distinct action or mystery events while book three is mostly storytelling by the campfire before the confrontation at the end. Oh, and the plot? Not compromised. Lupin is beautiful, have I mentioned that? I will make him look like the Remus in my mind and then all will be well.

While the dementors looked great, and overall the special effects were wonderful, Lupin's form was cheesy. It failed to inspire fear; it failed to be wolfy. Padfoot on the other hand, AAAAOOOOOOOOO!

Um, yes, and Lupin! Ohhh Lupin, I want to hug you because your life sucks and you need a HUG, you poor fuzzy thing, even though they didn't make you very fuzzy, but we all know you're fuzzy, yes you are...

*ahem*

Go see movie now. Go.

Usa-p internally wept for Kyou at 11:04 | link |
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