Ooh, saw X18. Must review as always.

1. Never start the show off with Kus, it makes me want to hurl my mouse at the screen.
2. Damn, but Fuuma looks good in that trenchcoat.
3. No No No Yuzu-chan, you want to stay away from the good-looking man with the evil eyes. Go play with your much bigger buddy, you know the fan of statuatory rape.
4. Hmm, never mind. It looks like Compubitch wants to play instead.
5. Wait a second, is Kus actually being insightful. Wow, he can do more than just walk around and attract underaged hyper children.
6. Why does Inuki's growl sound like a car engine?
7. Instead of constantly repeating 'people who cry exist' why can't we just say that killing is bad because 'people will be sad?'
8. Yuzu should have kept the Inuki-sword for longer. She could have stabbed vid-screen Satsuki in the head. Sure, it wouldn't have done much. But it would have shut the bitch up. God, she is so BORING!
9. Okay, I really did not buy that Inuki death scene. He was so much more tender in the manga. He even licked Yuzu's cheek. Here, he just *poof.*
10. Aww, Yuzu told Kus she loved him. Well you know what they say, "Age ain't nothing but a number."
11. And we meet Fuuma again. Damn you people, can't you sense the evil vibes! And the eyes! The eyes! Are all the DoH blind? (Well, Sora-chan did recognize that Yuuto was a little bit of a bad boy. Go Sora! You win the prize for being observant and rational. Who'd have thought?)
12. No Fuuma, she wants to die. See how she just stands there and lets you beat her up like your other frequently abused Dragon who should be here. *cough*Kamui*cough.* I mean the fact that she's running around like crazy must just mean that she wants to get some excercise.
13. CHIBI-INUKI! *hearts* ^_^
14. Whoa! For a second there, I thought Kus was going to challenge his "Kamui." Go for it, big boy. You know Fuuma would kick your ass ten times before you hit the ground.
15. Awww, Chibi-Inuki smiled for Kus. I didn't know puppy's could smile.
16. One big complaint for this ep. I know it would be way out of place now. But Kamui was supposed to be here just so he could have some more "fun" with Fuuma. I feel I'm being deprived of my F/K fix here. *cries* I want my weepy Kamui and EVIIIIL Fuuma scene!

 
This is not an attack at any person. This simply stating a fact that has been refuted. I am only using this person's words because it was the clearest example of how some people think. For this reason, I'm not even going to bother quoting who said it.

"Of course, being authors, we all must keep in mind that we are allowed to bend and break the rules to fit our needs. That's why being an author is fun -- if we want to use a comma where it's not needed, then we can. If we want to start sentences with "because" and say "would of" and "could of" (I deserve a cookie, too) then we well and can. That's what makes us authors. We ARE the ones that write the stories that people read, and we all have our different styles; as a result, we create different styles. You said you use commas too much, and I am often victim myself to using "and" and "but" to start sentences off. Do you know what though? It makes the story flow. Not all errors are bad -- most are put there for a reason."

Okay, I'd like to say one thing. I don't write fanfiction, I write original fiction and I am still a beginning writer and haven't yet mastered some elements of novel creation. But I am a prolific fanfiction reader and have learned some things about writing from both my education, my experience, and several other readings that I have done. Though I support free style of writing as much as possible, I find it very defeating to hide behind the fact that 'we are authors' as a reason to misuse basic grammar. Sentence strucuture can be bent into the shape we want and that's okay. But unless you're using dialogue (And dialogue alone, not even person POVs can excuse this) you never deliberately misuse grammar. Vernacular is okay (cuss words, cliches, euphemisms, slang, ect.), but grammar should not apply to vernacular.

I mean honestly, would you take a popular author seriously if she/he wrote 'Riley would of killed him if he hadn't of talked,'? Come on, it looks childish! Starting sentences of with 'and,' 'because,' and other 'wrong' sentence beginnings is okay if they are representing a character's thoughts. This style of writing can work because it is stylish, but bad grammar cheapens the story. I'm sorry, but no characters think 'I would of done this.' None. Playing with style is great, just don't let it interfere with the story. In conclusion, don't use the claim that you're an author to justify major mistakes.

 
Screwed up html and post again.

Anyway, I'd like to give a big THANKIES to Astri who was sweet enough to add me to her blog.

I like being linked because it helps me feel that I am not just talking to myself all the time. Plus, it inspires me to do my HUGE rants like the one on writing further down. I've been thinking about doing a nice long 'Uke/Seme cliche and how I can't stand it anymore' rant. Nah, maybe I'll save it for later.

 
Okay, I wasn't going to blog. But these search engine foul-ups are so ridiculous, they deserve special mention.

fuck kevin spacey, he was rude to everyone: What?! I love Kevin Spacey. He was killer in LA Confidential, American Beauty, and especially Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Mr. Spacey made a wonderful lover for Jude Law. Too bad, it just didn't work out for them. ~_^ Oh well, I think him and Russel Crowe (gawd, I know I spelled his name wrong) should have hooked up in LA Con.

Quentin flashbacks in The Sound and The Fury: Ok, granted that his scenes were the only thing that didn't make me want to kill myself while reading the book (ironic since he is the character who committed suicide), it's still not worth searching for flashbacks. Besides, one must be specific. There are two Quentins, remember? TWO. The guy who killed himself because life was just not beautiful enough for him and his sister's daughter who was named after him. Caddy wanted her brother bad. Still, I think the artistic and idealistic Quentin was a little on the gay side. Hmmm.

Sakura and Yue lemons: Unless they aren't together, I want to hurt this person!

Muraki and Tsuzuki Psychosis: Umm...I'm not even touching that one.

On other notes, I'd like to give a big THANKIES to "That's right, puppy. Mommy's gonna make you bark."

 

//being serenaded by: "Hero," by Enrique Iglesias. Don't judge me! I needed sappy music for my night scene. *hides in corner and cries*//

Time for X tv reviews. (I know nobody cares. =P)

X16

-I don't care what anybody else says about this episode being rushed, it was still great!
-All those Seishirou and Fuuma switches in Subaru's mind creep me out.
-Wah! I wanted the Sei/Fuuma ice cream scene.
-S/K bedside scene. Tolerable. Kamui just looks too sad to mock here.
-Sei-chan and his amazing lighter always astound me.
-Hokuto's faith in Sei-chan makes me cry.
-But not half as much as watching Subaru kill him! :******(
-And the almost kiss scene is even more depressing than people said.
-And so is the final Sei-chan smile. Awwww.
-What sort of people leave a possibly suicidal person by himself? The DoH are idiots! With Kamui being the King Idiot. They're lucky all Subaru did was jump out the window.
-Can't see pic of Sei-chan and Sumeragi twins. Crying too much. Waaaaaah!
*this probably the ONLY time I've ACTUALLY cried during an anime, though I've come close a few times, and I knew it was coming.*

X17

-Re-cap episodes are dull.
-Naked Kamui with bat wings makes it a little better, but not much.
-Kakyou scenes always help.
*cuddles Kakyou. Shoo! Away evil Fuuma! How many times do I have to tell you to go molest Kamui? Unless of course, you want to try a F/K/K. Oooh I like.^^ Mega S&M!*
-Awww poor Kakyou and Hokuto. It would have never worked, but still AWWW.
-NOOOOO! Not KOTORI! Die bitch! Die!
-Kamui, you shouldn't sleep in trees. It gives you weird dreams.

Hmmm, I hear the rest of the eps are going to be terribly out of order. Poo on them.

 
MEGA RANT WARNING

I really really hate writers who take great pride in their work, but don't seem to care enough to devote proper time to essential elements of it. For example, Spellcheck/Grammarcheck should practically be every writer's god. Sure, it doesn't pick up every single mistake, that's what REVISION is for. If you have the pride to post your work on the net, then you should have the common sense to get it as close to perfect as you can before putting it up. Artists don't like to put up half-finished pieces unless they want feedback on how they may work on them. If an author puts something unfinished up for the sake of advice, that's a different matter. But when a writer posts something that is clearly unpolished, it makes them look lazy. One doesn't have to be superb writer to reach their own level of perfection. Hell, I know that my writing is far from perfect. But everyone is capable of looking over their writing more than once. I actually recommend as many as four times before posting just to make sure that you catch all the obvious mistakes. Yes, there may still be some mistakes that will be missed since occassionally the eye corrects them itself and allows the author to skim past it without realizing that something is clearly wrong. This is why so many people resort to beta-readers. But they are not a necessity in all cases. Sometimes a simple few minutes devoted to re-reading something can pick up the most jarring screw-ups.

This is a major flaw of almost any writing posted on the internet and it's not just native to ffnet pieces. It can be found anywhere. People are so proud of their work, they want to throw it up for the masses as quick as they can. So they often make really obvious mistakes. Mispelling a character's name should be considered sacrilege in fanfiction even if it is just a typo. Re-read your stuff people! I find it extremely hard to enjoy a story when it is plagued by frequent errors. The three or four typos is tolerable but any more could usually be avoid with some effort. I, myself, have often made the mistake of posting without decent revision. I felt stupid after I saw the ridiculous mistakes I made, especially using 'no' instead of 'know.'

Another thing is that people often confuse beta-readers with editors. Some people may believe that it is a beta-readers job to simply go over a fic and put out all typos and grammatical errors. I believe that a beta has a much bigger job. A really good beta will tell you what you're doing wrong when it comes to actual writing and point out things which don't work or don't make sense. They will also offer helpful suggestions and give some insight on your fic. In this case, it is less of their problem to find your grammatical faults and more important to improve the actual writing style. Sadly, there are very few betas who actually do this. I've been lucky enough to find one who does and it has helped me immensely in my writing. But one must remember, that writers can not always depend on their betas to find all their mistakes and must always go over their work themselves. Many write first drafts and ship them off to their betas without much more than a cursory glance. One important thing to remember is that almost all first drafts are terrible. If you can write a great first draft, you're so talented that you'll probably be called up by a publisher within the next ten seconds. (Don't hold your breath.) Because of this simple fact of life, people usually need to scan over their writing and redo some things.

Now, this advice doesn't apply to all people. Some people only write to share with their friends or let people know that they like to write about a certain thing. But for serious writers of fanfiction or other writing that write several fics a month and share them with a wide circle of people, decent revision is a MUST. This goes double for writers who are taking on really critical or meaningful subjects. Case in point, yaoi may not have the perfect style since it's purpose is just to get two characters in bed, but shonen ai writers should always take the extra step and devote more time to their work since their stories revolve around emotions and thoughts and less on the 'action.' Same thing goes for those who write comedy fics and those who write drama. If you want people to take your story seriously, then put serious effort into it. (CLAMP/YnM writers especially!) There's nothing worse for a reader than finding a story that looks really interesting and then finding that the writer rushed through it and only focused on making a loyal fanclub happy.

For once, I am not going to apologize if this offends anyone. If you want to be considered a sincere fanfiction writer, then you should put in the proper amount of time. If not, then go ahead and write however you feel like. Just don't expect people to do much besides offer flat and ass-kissing praise that means absolutely nothing in the long run.

*takes deep breath*
Done now. ^_^

 
Oh and my mother finally made my dad take my precious Louis-kins out of that god awful cabin in the woods. Maybe she took a hint from Buffy disappearing and decided that she better make sure Louis was okay or I would hurt somebody. Still, I hope that someone finds Buffy later. I kind of liked that kitty-cat. She was fuzzy. ^^

Also on the family topic, my little brother decided to whittle me a wooden stake by sharpening it against (get this) the side of our front steps. No blades or anything. Just concrete. He insisted that I show everyone what he made me. I think his obsession is getting worse. But he does make me food a lot and I like that, especially since I've started this new vegetarian kick. I give myself a week before I go insane and decide to blow off the whole thing and return to my normal carnivore life style.

 
//being serenaded by: "Velvet Underwolrd." I don't know. I guess I was just in a Weiss mood. Maybe it's the pins.//

Now, that family life blogging is done. Onto con-blogging.

This year's experience at the con was double-sided. On the one hand, I hated the crappy organization, the hideous crowds, and the overall down feeling about the whole thing. It was also beyond impossible to reach any of the booths and you had to quibble over most things that one wanted to buy. More importantly, they ran out of DN Angel and X17 before I got there, as well as CCS 6-12! On the other hand, I was able to snag some nice merchandise from my trip. My pride and joys being my wide collection of F/K stuffs including:

-set of Fuuma and Kamui pins taken from the picture of them chained together
-the pencil board of F/K with the headsets
-a nice red mini-poster with Kamui and his demon wings
-FINALLY X16 (It's about time I get to properly mope over Sei-chan)

Other pins:
-Tsuzuki/Hisoka pin set
-Heero/Duo pin set
-Ein pin
-Omi pin
-Sojirou and Kenshin pins
-Kuroneko-sama pin (kitty from Trigun)

Other Mini-posters:
-Fruits Basket
-Dark of DN Angel
-Seishirou/Subaru

Other Pencil Boards:
-Gravitation (I had two but I sold one to Celes)
-Tsuzuki

I also bought volume 6 of Mahou Tsukai Tai and the new DVD of Kenshin. As for manga, I grabbed volumes 1-7 of E's. I really like the art (Clampish but without the annoying feathers and sakura) and I adore the characters so far. Shen-Long (looks like cross between Wufei and Duo), Kai (looks mostly like young Subaru), and Yuuki (just plain funny and cool) are my favorites, but Eiji (seductive evil guy) comes in second. Now if only I could find some more translations. I already joined the mailing list so I hope that helps. I just wish the dealer at the booth would have told me that EsperS was an on-going series, instead of telling me that volume 7 was the last one. I had hoped that I had purchased a whole set as I once did with Tokyo Babylon.

Too bad, I can't put up most of my new wall decorations since my room is off-limits and my roommate isn't very yaoi-friendly. Maybe I'll just put up Fruits Basket and Kamui. But all my pins are now on bookbag since I want to always have my precious F/K ones. Overall, my biggest accomplishment was that I still had money left after the con, even though I spent way too much on that set of E's.

Unfortunately, now I get no time to enjoy my con purchases since I have to spend a gazillion hours studying for my test in Journalism tomorrow. Everyone else gets the day off as a holiday and we get a test. I love my university sometimes. -_- Dang, that means I won't get to write until tomorrow night. Well, I guess that's okay since I need a little more time to decide how to build up my slash scene properly.

 
Well, looks like I have a new little niece. Weighing in at 3 lbs and 1.4 ounces, my sister's Brianna Faith was born on Friday at 8:18 pm. I just got my first chance to see her today. Since she was 8 weeks premature, she has to spend some time until March in the intensive care unit to make sure that she can do things (such as breathing) for herself. But I can guess why she was so early in arriving. She has some of the longest limbs for any baby that I've ever seen. One of the mother's in the intensive care unit joked about her becoming a basketball player when she gets older. My father added that had she been born on time, she might have practically killed my sister in the process.

She's so tiny and cute looking. But I think that my sister is a bit sad about her being born premature and not being able to spend time with the other babies in the nursery. She's also a bit unhappy about having to get a C-section done since Brianna was breached before her delivery. I could tell my sister was somewhat depressed when she didn't even care that I was eating her Valentine's Day chocolate. I know it was mean, but she had cocconut and I really love that flavor.

Anyway, going to see Brianna was worth the trouble of venturing back into the hellhole known as Baltimore after yesterday's experience. My father still bitched about having to pay .75 just to park. Still, he calmed down once we saw my sister and didn't even complain when we had to scrub down and don the hospital scrubs to see Brianna. He likes his grand-daughter's even if he doesn't like the babies' father. Now, he will have two of them to fuss over since he already coddles Hailey.

 
//being serenaded by: "Possession," by Sarah McLachlan. Don't know why. Need something to kill silence of room and happy squeals of Valentine recipients.//

Very strange day today.

Stayed up all last night getting this evil plot idea out of my head. I don't even know if I'll use it, but now I stop fussing over it and write some decent crap. My idea for Chp.34 being added today didn't pan out since I'm still unsatisfied with my slash scene. I can't decide whether it's not sappy enough, whether it's too sappy, or without it's just plain disturbing. *sigh* Damn unconventional shonen ai writing. Maybe I should just go with the mainstream approach.

Anyway, I had to wake up early to finish my Creative Writing responses and I forgot that Larkin had moved the room to the Math building, which made it a fifteen minute walk instead of the usual three minute stroll. Then, we had to discuss the difference between WB tv and writing in class. Don't ask. It sort of spanned into a Twilight Zone and Touched by the Angel topic. Either way, it was kind of amusing and it was fun to get into that total bitch-fest with the other writers. The best part was that Larkin didn't interrupt us since he thought we were being "decent."

Next, I had to hear to all the un-loveds whimper and bitch about how they had nobody to spend Valentine's Day with. This was accompanied by the happy couples showering each other with garish teddy bears and cliched balloons. All I wanted was some peace so I could write but nooooo, I had to deal with about fifty interruptions and syrupy visitors. I swear I will find some way to avoid all holiday interactions from now on during my stay at the dorms.

I ate an apple pie on the mall and ran into my widdle Subby-squirrel in his tree. I was pressed for time to reach my next class so I didn't call him down. Then I went to throw my food away and guess who was waiting for me INSIDE the trashcan? The hateful Sei-chan beast crawled out of the lid and I could have sworn that she was going to bite me. But she didn't and I left quickly.

Next class had us students watching as our TA dissected a living cockroach. Now, I usually hate the ugly little things, but I found it very cruel to tear of a living animals' legs and poke at its internal organs as a bunch of disgusted students gawked at the way it squirmed. Our prof tried to cheer us up by handing out candy valentines. She did not succeed.

Speaking of bugs, I think I'm going to try feeding Oedipus Rex some raw meat since the darn thing's so very vicious. He bites whatever he can get a hold off and eats constantly. He also loves to rear up on his tail when he's displeased. Then I gripe at him for being mean and people laugh at the sight of me talking to a bug.

Maybe work tonight will be better.

 
Now, I know I should be disturbed, yet I'm not. I kind of saw this coming. That doesn't bode well for me. I also should note that my second choice was Sei/Subaru, followed by Fuuma/Kakyou. Oh dear.

Which X Pairing Are You?