Gates of Horn

Well, the time has come to bid this faithful blog farewell. I do not leave without feeling some iota of regret. After all, Gates of Horn ver.2 has stuck with me through the past year and a half (I think) and allowed me to instrospect--alas, without German music--,to laugh, and to ramble away in a very hyper fashion. It's also allowed me to rant, rage, and throw hysterical fits. The decision to leave was, indeed, long and arduous. It is only after much--

*HEAVY SMACK*

Whoa. I'm leaving, people, to the LJ. Because I can LJ-cut there. Really, that's more or less the only reason. And my friends are there. And Chinese people can answer my Chinese posts in Chinese (Majo, that means you. *insert maniacal and non sequitur laughter*). Yes yes, I am at last revealed to be just a trendw--a trendwh--a person who shamelessly follows trends.

I do love this blog though.*sniffle* If there should be a second "Great LJ Outage of 2005," I will rant about it here. It is fun. Sex is fun. Therefore, I would be ranting about sex. Is that how it works? No wait, I think it goes more like, It is fun. Fun is sex. Therefore It is Sex. Aristotle is spinning in his grave.

...I leave you then, ladies and gentlemen, as convinced of my insanity as you were when I first made your acquaintance. Let us not say goodbye. Let us say, go click on the last link in that little box to your upper left.

I wonder, do they not have special teas for lunch, or dinner? How come there isn't Irish (or English) Luncheon Tea? Or Supper Tea? Or Tea Time Tea?

High school chemistry came back to haunt me in the form of a wet oven mitt. You can imagine the result of trying to take a scalding hot cookie tray (with potato skins on it, not cookies) out from the oven. Granted the thing was only wet on one side, so I didn't realize it when I picked it up by the other. No, I am not quite as dumb as you might otherwise believe.

Slowly, slowly tweaking the LJ page. Font now black and more readable. Have figured out how to add extra links, so can give my background creator her (?) proper due. Forcing myself to stop for the night so I can read some orgo (UGH).

Flurried today. Uplifting. Laughed at my attempts to walk through snow, slush, and ice with sneakers that had no traction (read: very funny).

Environmental group meeting in 45 minutes. Wonder if I can finish a mug of tea in that time.

Still have to buy ink cartrilege. Will probably do that tomorrow *ponder*. Yeah, I should have time.

Whoa there. I'm ok. Just a little jot of a breakdown in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing that immediate sleep couldn't fix.^^; Will be emailing profs about summer intern/paid research opportunities, will receive my 40 dollar paycheck (-_-) this Friday for last week and the week prior, WILL switch to LJ but will worry about the layout during the weekend instead of now. Will also worry about the dance thing later. Blogger eating my post was probably some voice telling me that the post wasn't worth making, or something.

Now to finish my Korean semi-instant noodles in 6 minutes! Whoo!

(Bonus points to people who can guess what song I'm quoting from in the subject line.)

I'm going insane. I'm going insane. I need to regroup. I'm going insane. I need to regroup. Oh my god.

I just typed this entry about how over the next few days I will be testing the waters out at LJ and seeing if the stubborn layouts will let me do what I want to do. And how everything was worrying me from orgo problems to what I'm going to eat to the fact that I'm only making 20 bucks a week right now to taking dance classes to an animal communication paper topic to THIS WHOLE FUCKING JOURNAL ISSUE and how I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE that what journal I want to use is taking up worrying space in my brain AND THEN BLOGGER FUCKING EATS IT!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I'm going insane I'm going insane I'm going insane I can't stop crying I need to go to bed.

Lately I've been working myself up over very little things. The current one is whether or not I should fork over 25 bucks for another session of ballroom dancing on Sundays. They're really a lot of fun, but I can't really retain what I've learned because I don't have time for practicing, and I'm not on the dance team (the Sunday classes are these extra sessions that the dance team holds). And just this little thing had me sitting in front of my computer agonizing. It's really the money factor. Do I want to spend 25 bucks on something I won't be able to remember after I leave? I still have no idea.

I'm contemplating whether I should switch over to LJ. But the sheer...well, connectivity of it scares me. With the blog it's more anonymous, and I feel less pressure. No one friends you and you don't feel the pressure to friend people back (since, you know, there's no friending in the first place). There's more danger of trolls and hurtful people on LJ. And, you know, there's the scary thought of your friends' moms reading your insane musings.

On the other hand, LJ has definite pluses. For one, you can comment in a different language (specifically Chinese). For another, there's the ever versatile cut. And...well, occasionally comments are nice.^^;; Plus my buddies already on LJ wouldn't have to check another blog, they can just read through their friends list.

Dilemma! I'm going to drive myself insane someday. At least the snow outside is very beautiful.

It's always bugged me that people never give spoiler warnings for classics. No, I did not know what was going to happen in Anna Karenina, thank you very much, and I did not appreciate everyone telling me that **SPOILER WARNING!!!** Anna was going to jump in front of a train, dying in the same place she was introduced, bringing us full circle.

Before I continue then, I will give you all fair warning. In the following section you will find spoilers for the following: Secret Garden, The Little Prince, The Little Princess, Little Women, Sense and Sensibility.

The classics are raised to the heights, so one forgets that, in the end, they are just stories, meant to be miniature worlds in which we discover things for and about ourselves. Why are they classics? Because they have driven deep into the hearts of readers for years, because every generation of new readers pick up a book and discover magic from within. I'd appreciate it if I could discover this magic on my own, instead of finding out from the back of the book that Colin learns how to walk finally within the secret garden, that little prince is bitten by snake in the end, that Sara Crewe's father dies, that Beth dies.

One of my first best friends gave me The Secret Garden as a farewell gift when I moved away. She covered up the back of the book with red construction paper and tape, and wrote with strict instructions that I was NOT to remove it under any circumstances. Faithfully, I read the book without even thinking of glancing at the forbidden "back." It became one of my all time favorite books, ever. When I finally removed that piece of construction paper, I thanked my friend for having the foresight to keep that nasty ill-natured thing hidden. The stupid summary would've ruined EVERYTHING for me. I would've gone in knowing that Mary's parents were going to die, that she was going to be relocated to "the moor," that she was going to hear crying at night, that the crying came from her invalid cousin, who soon learned how to walk due to the magic of the garden. In other words, I would've known what was going to happen before it happened. The back of the book would've robbed me of the mystery, the delightful confusion, and quite a bit of the fun.

The moral of this story? Don't assume people know a book just because it's a classic. ALWAYS ask if they've read it and if they intend to do so in the future. If the answer is yes to both, restrain your desire to yammer away about how Willoughby from S&S turns out to be SUCH AN ASS. Instead, prompt them to read the darned books, already! And then snicker behind your hand as they sigh over how romantic the man is, little knowing what would happen later!

"It is the new HOMO*, the HOMO of the excited molecule." (5th edition, Wade 665)

Am I the only one who finds that inordinately hilarious?

And also, here's a question: if you stopped time all around you on a cold winter's day, would you stop feeling the cold?

This post brought to you by Randomness, Inc.. Our motto? "His name is Hitsugaya Toushirou."

I don't have one. But that's not important.

One thing I really like about Bleach is that all the shinigami wear split-toed Japanese socks (tabi, I think). This allows for all the graceful lines of the foot without subjecting us to the hideous, fungi-infested things called toes and toenails. They also all wear straw sandals which are tied securely around their ankles. I find this very practical and much more preferable than, say, wearing geta or zori. If you should decide to jump in midair, they'd forever be falling off and clocking your enemy's brains. You'd never have a real fight because people would always be like, "Abarai-kun, your geta fell off again!"

I shouldn't be making fun of Abarai (despite ridiculous eyebrow tatoos). I should make fun of Byakkuya (or whatever the heck his name is, that stupid @$$hole), but he is just so freakin' boring and typical "mad powerful cold-hearted bastard with stick up the fundament" that I never remember him.

Today it is snowing! SNOW! Beautiful wonderful exquisite snow! I am tempted to write a short about snow except the urge to doodle Hitsugaya hasn't gone away. Maybe I'll do both after I finish a jot of homework. A big jot.

SNOW! I would extol your virtues and wax very poetic, except I'm too tired and hungry to do so. I think I will break out the hot chocolate in celebration of this momentous occasion though.

I wonder if guy Shinigami get guy swords and girl Shinigami get girl swords. I mean nearly all the guys have sword names with the "-maru" ending (ok, except Shinsou, and Zangetsu, and...maybe I am just hallucinating this observation).

SNOW! It makes up for the random phone call at 4:30 AM (which woke me up) and the prank fire alarm at 8:30 AM (which also woke me up). If it weren't for snow I'd be telling you how my day is BLAH. Instead I am telling you the reasons I like Bleach and wanting to procrastinate on homework exert myself creatively. Snow. It's good for the soul.

1 AM and I've yet to begin the Japanese composition homework due tomorrow...today. Got far too carried away reading Emma Thompson's S&S screenplay + diaries. Fascinating. Both book and movie are excellent excellent things. I must get that DVD.

Burned tongue horribly on spring rolls. I feel no regrets, and will proceed to burn tongue on a mug of Irish Breakfast tea while cranking out an imaginary letter to an imaginary former Japanese teacher.

Rug burn on left index finger, courtesy of Sunday's kempo class, now semi-scabbed and turning pukish brown-green color. Hope this doesn't mean infection.

Dying to doodle Hitsugaya. Will (probably) refrain and resign myself to giving that fictional Japanese teacher in my soon-to-be-written composition his name.

冷死啦！老天爺真是在發神經。

I figure if I go all trilingual and stuff, more people will understand me. Or I am just showing off practicing. It is too damn cold for me to write anything coherent. His name is Hitsugaya Toushirou. YES, I haven't forgotten it yet! Now I wish I can find the darned kanji for it, I'm sure I'd get a better feel for the name in general if I could have a visual. That doesn't involve the English alphabet.

Too...damn...cold.... Thank the great deity of *insert religion of choice* that the lightbulb exchange is cancelled, because if I have to stand outside for an hour I think my limbs will detach from my person.

**edit** His name goes like this (note to self, his chapter pic is in 102): 日番谷 冬獅郎 (ひつがや とうしろう). DEFINITELY not a common name. I had to resort to typing "hi," then "ban," and then "tani" for the last name (when you put those three kanji together you get Hitsugaya. Don't ask me how that works). The first name was easier, since those alternate pronounciations actually existed in my computer's vocabulary. Trying to imagine Hinamori's little nickname for him in Chinese is now hilarious.

しろうちゃん=小獅郎??? At least it's not 小冬獅。 Ah yes, my little lion of winter...! *dies laughing* (Another note to self: confrontation between Hinamori and Hitsugaya, chapter 130.) **end edit**

**edit edit** Further breakdown. Discovered that another pronounciation for "ban" (番) when it's combined with another kanji is "tsugai" (as in "蝶番" or "choutsugai," meaning "hinge"). Another pronounciation for "tani" (谷) is "ya." Hence 日=hi, 番=tsuga(i), 谷=ya. Hi-tsuga-ya, whoot!

Uh oh, I'm analyzing his name. This is a BAAAAAAD sign. Obsession impending. **end edit^2**

Here's a question. If you were in the same room as a guy and he suddenly announced to you that he was a misogynist, what would you do?^^;

No, it didn't happen to me, but my mind is sometimes fond of coming up with painful questions. I think I'd just kinda stare and say something like, "...so I think it'd be better if I leave right now." *cue exeunt* ^_^; It always surprises me when I hear about encounters with misogynists and racists. I mean like the real ones, not the "OMG Tolkien is racist cuz the Dark Lord is DARK" types. I guess despite my growing cynicism, a part of me still thinks we've advanced past that point. *shrug*

If I keep thinking about this I'm going to get really depressed. So it's back to orgo for me (like that's any less depressing! XD). Oh yeah, and Judy, you signed off before I could reply, but essentially I was going to say, "I've been busy all week so I forgot about it over the weekend when I actually had time to watch it." I have no excuse. I think you're just gonna have to sit me down when I'm back home and make me watch it then. I also have the first Digimon series up to episode 6. I am very amused by the fact that every episode ends with Random Laughter (TM) from the gang. It is so campy but wonderful.