So... itemized update.

-- I'm still in Cali, and working on finding... well, work. I finally got my resume all together and have sent it to most of the companies I know I want to work for.
-- This was one of my best 4th of Julys. We (Ludick, Ashley, and myself) got to start the evening watching fireworks from a mountain, continue it watching fireworks from the freeway (we saw too many shows to count. It was amazing), and then head over to an awesome club in steampunk costumes to hang out with awesome people in steampunk costumes.
-- So yeah... I threw together a steampunk costume and wore it to a club that was apparently having steampunk nights. This turned out to be not so much true, and I got to feel like an enormous idiot on Saturday. I'll get pictures at some point.
-- I sort of went to AX this weekend. It was really underwhelming and inconvenient, and I don't plan on going back unless the convention moves.
-- Most of my time is spent playing with Kittens (aka Ashley's cat Saka). She is cuddly and just fantastically quirky.
-- I got cute totally goddamn cracked-out stationery at the bookstore. If people want letters, just comment with your mailing address and I'll try to get them out. I'll go ahead and screen comments.

i feel: busy

I have shaggy hobbit hair because it's raining and I haven't had a haircut in forever.

i feel: hobbit-y

That stupid cough I was determined not to get? I have it. I feel totally miserable. Fortunately, this gave me the excuse to buy Nyquil, which helped a bit with the insomnia. (though there was this 3-4 hour period between when I took it and when the sleep-aid part finally conquered my insomnia, during which the Nyquil and my insomnia were kind of fighting, and it was really fucking weird and screwy.)

I still feel not-so-great, I want to kill my roommate, and I need to work on computer shit though that will require a walk through the rain that I am not inclined to take.

So, to amuse me, I want your Nyquil stories. This stuff is an endless source of comedic gold, and I know some of you must have something to share.

i feel: sick

I got my first ever summons for jury duty... for mid-July. Way to go, Massachusetts. I've been here 5 years, and you wait until 3 weeks before my graduation. Awesome.

Otherwise... I am working hard on my last 5 assignments (for 3 classes) with one week of classes left. (Then it's finals. Hooray.) I am doing my best to not get sick (my roommate has a cough that's been around for 2 weeks so far... she's determined to not get it checked out until she goes home, in another 2 weeks) and my insomnia is worse than it's been in awhile.

But, as I keep telling myself, it will all be over soon. After May 10, I will have a week of total leisure time I am completely looking forward to spending with East Coast people, while I still can. Then it's graduation, and I'll be off to California for some indefinite period of time.

I am very much looking forward to it. Not so much the "joining the real world" part, but the rest of it.

I finally made it through this ridiculously long programming spree I've been on. It started the week after (obligatory "woooo") spring break. I've been doing computer programs pretty solid since Mar. 24. (I've had 4 programs, a written assignment, and a take home exam. I'm only taking 3 comp sci courses. And the last week of April will be so so so much worse.) But that stuff is boring.

I'm thinking this weekend I'll finish up my creative writing portfolio. I want to write a new piece, and since I'm kind of getting the hang of this 'dramatic scene' stuff, I think I might write more of that. Unfortunately, given that this has been the 3 weeks from hell, I didn't finish the new piece I wanted to write, and turned in a different one I'm not totally sure I actually want people to read. It's the first of anything I've written for this course (save for one in-class assignment) that even approached something personal, so I'm not looking forward to taking the criticism for it. It's just a hard one to stay impartial to.

So I think that one, my other written scene, and that poem I was really adamant about not changing will all go unrevised, and I'll touch up the short story that I made too short so I wouldn't have to get more pages printed on my dime. To make up for not revising more shit, I will need to include one or two extra pieces, or however many it takes to totally convince myself that I will get an A in this course. Because if it's an A-, I'll be upset.

But yes... I'll try to catch up some more on you guys later! Sort of missed the last 3 weeks of shit. This is probably again one of those "if you need me, use e-mail" situations.

I had a really awesome week. It took my mom all of two minutes via phone to put me into a foul mood as soon as I returned though. Awesome.

I sum up:

- I took a lot of (four) Chinatown buses. They are less scary than I feared (certainly not enough to deter me from using them again), dirt cheap, and easy enough to use, aside from their knack for dropping me off in inconvenient places.

- I finally got to NYC. (DISCLAIMER: I know I saw pretty much no one but Dia when I was there, so please don't take offense if you're in the area and are not Dia. It was my first time in the city, and there was a ton of stuff I wanted to do and see while I was there, so I didn't have much "hang out and party" time. I'll try to get down there again.) My NYC experience pretty much comes down to everything (particularly Manhattan and Central Park) being bigger than I thought it would be, except the Statue of Liberty, which is pretty darn small. I took the boat out to see it, because I was convinced that it couldn't be THAT small... but it is.

- Dia is awesome. (A+++ would highly recommend)

- I finally got to see Philly.

- Boots is awesome.

- Ali1 is also awesome. And looks fantastic. And is now married, which is also awesome and fantastic. She is just way more punctual than I had been counting on. (I missed the ceremony by about 20 minutes. I suck.)

- Jane Austen is awesome. I did some recreational reading instead of homework. I have no regrets.

All in all, a very fun week. It went by too quickly, but I hope I can make these rounds again, and see more of everything. Thanks again to Boots and Dia for hosting me! This was definitely way more fun than Wisconsin!

First off, apologies to those of you I wanted to hang out with but could not. Basically, unless you were in the right place at the right time Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, I was too busy. And that's silly and I'm sorry. My roommates probably saw me less than some people, if that's any consolation. There were a lot of unforeseen things to be dealt with, among the usual convention and masquerade nonsense.

On the bright side, I have never participated in a better masquerade, and I know at least a few of you contributed to that. Katsu's always had one of my favorites, and these were totally amazing skits. I don't think there was a bad one in the bunch. And I got to see a totally complete and amazing Bebop group which pretty much made my year.

Anyway, I'm tired and have to clean up the huge mess I left behind when I packed in a hurry, and also need to wind down a bit from "Project Cosplay" and trying to cram a whole con into Sunday.

I'm glad I got to see a surprising amount of you, and hope I'll be able to do some actual hanging out come Anime Boston.

P.S. I am discovering that it is really strange and lonely to be suddenly without people... not even a Canadian in sight!

I don't know what it is, but there's something about me and anime and complicated forms of poetry. In addition to my previous collection of Cowboy Bebop poetry, I just finished a Trigun sonnet for my creative writing course. It's a little tongue-in-cheek, but I like it. Don't know why I can write these things easily enough with anime as inspiration and totally struggle otherwise, but hey. There's a lot of anime out there!
Now if only I could twist this around to work for my short story... I'm not sure what I'm going to do there.

Anyway, classes are going okay. It's probably going to be a bit of a grind, but I've started on my first of many four-day weekends (classes are only Tue-Thur!! WOO!) which I plan on using to sew. I picked up the rest of my katsu fabric, realized how much I've come to hate JoAnn's yet miss their button aisle, and wrote that sonnet. Productive. Woo.

Got to hang out with Lexx last night to watch Project Runway (how fierce was that!?) and get to do Karaoke with Lisa tomorrow.

How in the hell did I manage to live in Wisconsin for a year?

i feel: cheerful