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Showing results for tags 'Random Ramblings'.
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There's a word people love to throw around when it comes to MOCs, artwork, and sets. But not just any examples, oh no. It only really pops up when the subjects are female. You don't get to be surprised that's what this blog entry in this blog is about. I've seen some great female MOCs get posted in BBC. Streamlined yet well-armoured, minus the woefully out-of-place ponytail, and in footwear you can actually fight in. I often regret not publically recognizing them as they come up for just plain getting it. Something always comes up and before I know it, I've lost the chance. And believe me, it is regret. It is a deep regret that I never manage to post in these topics and applaud the builders. I can't tell you how much I regret not offering a voice counter to what's heard instead. These MOCs are great, you see. Maybe some general technical and/or aesthetic qualms, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any MOC without them. But that's rarely the problem. Instead, I see people talk about how these MOCs are 'great, but not very feminine'. These MOCs, with silhouettes and lines of movement that have captured je ne sais quoi in a jar and put it on a shelf. These MOCs, already a step ahead of the general crowd. These MOCs, that for once, are actually feminine. And then it dawns on me like a smoggy sunrise. These MOCs also tend to avoid the trend of putting two things on her chest just 'cause girls have two things on their chests. And believe me, they're things. They're not breasts. They bear no resemblance. Sometimes they're round? But that and the numbers are the only resemblances. They stick out terribly. Did I ever mention in this or any other entry that they always stick out? There is no room for anything less than a D-cup in Bionicle, it seems. Even that's on the small end of things. And then, the MOCs with spine-shattering chest tumours are the ones deemed 'feminine'. Really. Never mind that they could have shoulders that'd be out of place on Onua. Never mind that they could have the hips of an especially elfin 10-year-old Matoran boy. Never mind they could have all the grace of a herd of half-tranquilized gorillas. I guarantee you, the vast majority of posts in topics like these will praise the 'femininity' of the featured MOC. So near as I can tell, according to the Bionicle fandom at large, 'femininity' isn't a set of subtle qualities that work together to convey a general aesthetic sense. To be 'feminine', all you need is huge round things on your chest. That is the definition I have determined from countless posts and topics. That's the definition that seems to be on the books. That is an absolutely terrible definition.
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It's straight. Just for a little while, it's not going to be frizzy or curly or hard to control. It's straight, and I feel free. ;u;
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Tomorrow is the last day of school before Spring Break starts for me! I'm so pumped for this break. I've been stressed out by schoolwork lately so this will be a wonderful rest for me. Of course I still have my Saturday program this weekend, but then I don't have it the weekend after! ^^ (I should be writing a research paper for that right now) But I have lots of plans for this break: - Going to the art museum for an art report. But I'm going with friends so I'll have fun doing work! - I need to restock on certain acrylic paints and buy a spare pad of palette paper. I ran out of the paper today ;-; - Write! I have something for this blog to write, and then a story I want to get down. - Practice poetry. My English class will be making a publication of our works, so I need to fix up my poems. Plus, we're having an in-class poetry slam, so I need to memorize my poem for that. - Draaaaw. I have had almost no time to draw stuff that isn't for school or that is a doodle in my notebook, so this time will be opportune. - Watch anime. Besides ongoing shows, I want to start on some other completed show. Please recommend something to me! - Order stuff for my piece of the mosaic for Brickfair. Whatever the case, I am going to enjoy this break.
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Ask me questions and I'll answer.
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Bionicle's rules about elements and what genders they can be are like the racing spoiler on a Honda Civic. At some point, you thought "what my car really needs is a racing spoiler." So you went out, bought the spoiler, and installed it on your car. They're not exactly naturally-occuring things: you kinda had to take the initiative on this one. Point is, you stuck a racing spoiler on your Civic. Why? Because it gives a great performance boost, that's why! It reduces drag and increases speed or something like that! If you didn't have it, you'd struggle to drive. It's absolutely critical to the operation of your car, and you simply won't hear otherwise. And it just makes it look cool. It's totally one of the high points of your car. By simply adding your spoiler to your car, you've given it a life and depth that you simply could not get otherwise. It just... it just adds something. Nobody likes Civics without racing spoilers! Everybody knows this! Sure, some of your friends totally dig the spoiler. They totally nod along and talk about how important the addition of the spoiler is. And then there's all the rest of your friends, who just ain't having it. They really don't know why you had to go and stick a racing spoiler on your Civic. They really don't see the point. Remember when your engineer friend had to excuse himself that one time you were talking about air resistance or something like that? He had to go clear out a hastily-arrested spittake. His drink went up his nose, you made so little sense. Not in, like 'guys who put spoilers on their Civics-sense', but more 'sane people-sense'. You know how you have a harder time seeing out your back window? That's the only effect your spoiler has on your Civic. A hinderance. And it's a heck of a lot less attractive than you think. Why do you think hardly anyone ever wants to go with you in your car? They're worried you'll get pulled over for going through yet another stop sign, and the cop's gonna see them, sitting in the backseat of a Civic with a racing spoiler. "Officer, I promise, I try to pretend that thing doesn't exist." They'd really, really rather go with Ted. You know, guy who bought a Civic but didn't put a racing spoiler on it, Ted. Ted with a beard. And yet, you just won't hear of any talk of removing the blasted thing. It's a part of your car! They're just looking for things to hate on! They're really in the minority! Why should you remove it? Because the beyond-arbitrary rules behind elements and genders are pointless, hindering, and so very much not a selling point of Bionicle. Even a racing spoiler on a Honda Civic has more point.
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Today after school was fun. I went with some friends to the Apple Store near my school, but it was closed until 5:00 PM for a little tidying up. The reason was because there was a long line outside the store of people waiting to buy the iPad. But the staff outside said that if you're not buying an iPad, you'll be let into the store at 5 anyways. So we chill until 5, which wasn't for less than an hour. We got there just as it opened. Funny thing is, for like the first twenty people on that line that stepped in, the employees clapped. When we walked in there, with all that clapping, it felt like we were royalty. ._. I checked out the iPad, it's actually really neat. I wouldn't mind owning one. In fact, I logged onto BZP with it, and BZP looked beautiful as ever. <3 Then my friends went crazy with Photo Booth on one of the computers, and I was forced into it. woohoo~ And I've been doing so many things in the last hour or two that I can't think straight. I've had the "Add Entry" tab open for at least an hour to write this entry. Aaaaah.
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So. New serial update, I see. 'First' canon instance of romance, I hear. Sahmad's got a lady in his life? Wait, no, had. She's dead. Long dead before we ever got to her. Dead, nameless, and seemingly only around to provide angst for her living, named guyfriend. She needs a name. I propose we call her 'Fridgey'.
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food entries ahoy Today in science, despite having a test (which I think I aced~), it was a very good period. First, I had brought in some Ukrainian/Russian biscuit cracker things that were vanilla-ish, and the three people who sit near me were eating them the whole time. One of these three brought in a pack of dango, and it was really my first time trying it. It was delicious. @_@ I want mooooooore. So yeah. The other day I had brought in some Russian gingerbread cookies so that was cool too. I love science class. <3
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He's the one you call, Dr. Feelgood~ Tomorrow is going to be pretty awesome. It'll be a half-day due to afternoon parent-teacher conferences (which my parents never go to) so I'll get out at 11:30. But they did cut out a ton of periods from the middle of the day so I won't see several people. ): But afterschool, I'm meeting with several friends, and the plan is: Pizza, Alice in Wonderland, and then art museum for an exhibit on Tim Burton. It's going to be fuuun~ also does anybody know what kind of vision problems someone would have if their cornea was damaged? I also hope to pump up the art block with links to school artwork as well, so it'll be just a general art content block. I'll probably get to that during my spring break soon, or on some weekend.
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Days ago I added a content block under "Beautiful hair!", for your information so you can enjoy it. The Open House was okay and left me tiredtiredtired. I'm very thankful a kind old lady staff at school let me out half an hour earlier. Other than that the event isn't very interesting to blog about. Red velvet cupcakes, on the other hand... yum. Also, a friend and I are entering a contest to write and illustrate a children's book with the theme of diversity and tolerance. Friend is going to illustrate, and I'm going to write. It's going to involve cats. B) The prize for the first prize winner(s) is a scholarship, publishment of the book (2000 copies, I think?), and a grant for your high school and English teacher. Smaller scholarships to second and third placers. But the deadline is tight because my teacher told the class about it late. It's due March 8, but I think I can do it in enough time to also have my friend illustrate scenes.
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So you got yer fan-made groups of Toa, right. Doesn't have to be Toa, really, but that's what you're most likely to run into. And then, of course, there's the ever-so-delightful patterns Lego has set up. And then, because you're reading a Tufi blog entry, you know which one in particular I'm gonna mention next. It can range from two guys/one girl to five guys/one girl to seven guys/one girl or even six guys/two girls, if the creator is outrageously forward-thinking. But wait! There's more numbers! There are so many numbers yet to come! From the rest of the group (because guys can be distinct and girls are just, to kick off an entry of trope-dropping, The Chick), you've got the leader. Or you've got the self-insert. Sometimes they're the same guy. For the ease of writing, and because there's no real difference in how the two operate in this phenomenon, we're gonna suppose they are in fact the same guy. He can range anywhere from a straight-up personality port with the occasional superpower and Stuish tendencies to full-on raging Gary Stu. You will always know him when you see him. He isn't necessarily the creator's explicit self-insert, but you will always know him. Know also that there is a 94% chance the girl!Toa will be his girlfriend. 1% of the time, they'll be out-and-out married. Alright, I'm fudging the numbers a bit there. Sometimes there's just really heavy romantic tension. And I haven't actually seen any that are married. But that's fairly irrelevant: all I'd have to do to correct it is change 'girlfriend' to 'some kind of romantic thing going on'. And maybe add that one percent back. To say 95% of The Girl Ones exist for some kind of romantic deal with the Self Leader Guy is an overstatement of mere thousandths of percentage points. This is the Happy Funtimes List portion of the blog entry, and what I want you to do is take this with you next time you run across one of these My Bionicle Girlfriends. Take the list and a moderately-to-extremely caffeinated beverage of your choice. I do not, in fact, want you to incur liver damage. Take a sip every time one of these is true: She is romantically attracted to the Self Leader GuyShe is his girlfriendIt is even admitted she is based on a girlfriend or a girl the creator fanciesEvery single word used to describe her that means attractiveTake additional sips at personal discretion if she is continually described as attractive throughout the given work/description/topicShe's the 'emotional centre' of the groupShe's the wisest of the groupShe's always supportive of Self Leader Guy's leadershipShe's feisty, but never too spiritedShe's 'mysterious' and may as well be a different species from the rest of her (male) groupShe has a mask that serves no practical offensive purpose, barring the presence of mindblowing writing/mindrending writingThree if she has an elemental power along the lines of 'love' or 'light' or 'spirit': five in addition (for eight total) if, god help us, it is loveShe's got pink somewhere (most likely in non-MOC incarnations, naturally)Despite all logic, she is the only one for miles (which is how long it'll take to find another woman, and surprise surprise...) with any sort of hair or hair analogueExtra sip for a given point if it is described in terms that describe it as 'unlike the men' or 'better than the males' or other similar language Once finished the given item (or if out of pop: this is a very real threat), start the stopwatch. The final score is how long it takes for the world to stop shaking, measured in hours:minutes:seconds. Have I yet mentioned how incredibly likely it is she's gonna be Self Leader Guy's girlfriend? It is so very likely. Why, she might actually be based on his girlfriend in real life. But why stop there? Why not base her on who the creator would like for a girlfriend? There ain't no law. Might be kinda creepy, but ain't no law. You will know when the Bionicle relationship is not based on an actual relationship if the Bionicle relationship is utterly, crystal-perfectly idealized. Then there is the event horizon past which even an idolized crush has been raised to such a point in the work where she can only be said to be utterly fictional. It is as terrifying as it sounds. Lovecraft would have written about this, if it wasn't for his issues. And she's always pretty. Or beautiful. Sexy? Alluring? Take your pick. It's been used. The key point is how the narrative describes her. A character or two going on about her atrractiveness is one thing. When everyone, even the narration, can't shut up about how mesmerizing she is or something, you got a whole other ball of wax. Clearly, in the Bionicle universe, there is only one option for female characters: attractive. Unless there's old women or more bestial races, but don't expect them to be spared from the lookswash. Bonus points if she's called on to use her sexiness for some end. And god help us all if the word 'wiles' ever hits the screen. Actually, at that point, we're beyond divine intervention. Don't get your hopes up over any real subgroups of Bionicle Girlfriends: they're all basically the same character. Imagine, if you will, a control board. The biggest feature on this board is 'emotional sensitivity'. To the left is the label 'tough but with a chewy, care-y centre'. To the right is 'absolute pacifist who's more in touch with life and things than those barbarian men'. You quickly find that the left label is a sterling example of an informed attribute and, if a work goes on long enough, blatantly lying about the toughness. There are more things wrong with the right label than you wish to consider at the moment. Cringing a bit, you check out the rest of the board, whisking your gaze away like children in the wrong place. The 'wisdom' slider. You find quickly it will not go below a certain value of 'wise'. Squinting to read the words carefully, you see 'far more enlightened than the males of the group' at the top. You recoil a little bit, wondering if you didn't just leave behind the section on antiquated notions of gender. Maybe the one next to it is better? 'Assertiveness'. Yes. Here we go. You feel hope once again. On the one side, 'totally passive'. On the other side... 'Sometimes She Says And Does Some Things, But This Is Not To Be Mistaken For Actual Independence Or Spirit Or Any Of Those Uncomfortable Things'. The board does not survive its encounter with the trendy brick wall. It became all-too-apparent that the Bionicle Girlfriend occupies a neat little role as 'accessory'. 'Sidekick'. Not quite on equal footing with Self Leader Guy. We need to maintain those gender roles, you know. It also becomes all-too-apparent you picked the wrong day to stop playing caffeine drinking games. Speaking of, here's a bonus round for artwork. Extra sip if she's portrayed all snuggly or fawn-y with Self Leader Guy. It's hardly mandatory: inclusion in the game proper is probably going to push you to dangerous levels and/or tax your drink reserves. And in that same vein, be ever-wary of toa!Huki/Maku art. Ever wary. And then, Narrator preserve us, there's the little issue of her powers. It is where you cry 'what kind of a lame power is heart, anyway', but never conclude that 'heart is an awesome power'. There's her mask, typically something mental in nature. The telekinesis is never used to awesome ends. Or sometimes she's saddled with the just plain useless ones. It's never anything offensive: apparently, the shapes of those aren't nearly as 'feminine' enough as the fandom might like. And oh, the things I could go on about there. But what about her element? But what, indeed. Usually, it's something from the scant handful of 'female' elements. Sometimes, someone has the guts to stand up to canon (I like to think my being Empress means canon will never rule in BBC) and give her another one of the standard elements. There is a third option, though, and it is far more common. Apparently, having people tell you 'but fire is for boys' is far more dreadful than freaking spirit or 'light' or love sweet Jason people make love an element with a straight face. Ahem. Never forget the old gods. That said, the third option is woe-inducing. It's always something so blandly, sterotypically 'feminine.' Like 'spirit'. Or 'light'- but not the normal light tribe. Oh no. It's usually more angelic in nature, because blah blah purity (another one!) blah blah too good for this wicked planet blah blah angels. And then we get to the unspeakable horror that is Toa of love, and I just puked in my mouth a little. I'd like to think that says it all. Please. Please tell me that says it all. All these things and more (so, so much more) combine to make Bionicle Girlfriends. And they're everywhere. There's no escape. Even the rare 'second girl' has a 70% chance of falling into this category, though generally with another character. While maybe not fitting the classic definitions of Relationship Sues, there's no mistaking what they are in form and intention. So yes, guys, we did in fact see what you did there. And you can't see it through the Internet, but we're cringing. Or you could, you know, not do this and just make good characters that happen to be female. That's always been an option.
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Latest FMA Bortherhood ending = B) Okay, with the midwinter break (Valentine's break, President's break, free time, whatever you want to call it) approaching, I have several things to get down to during that. - I've started another character art piece, of Takashi Natsume, only I'm thinking of painting this one. The paint mediums I have are watercolor (tubes) and tempura (tempera?) paints. I heard tempera can flake off after a bit of time, but I'm not sure on that one. And today in art class my teacher noticed that my tempera technique works well for watercolors, so dunno. I'm also not trained in watercolor, so *shrug* halp guys? - Since Spink suggested it, if I'm tough enough I'll write out an entire SS (or longer if my mind goes crazy) on Valentine's Day. So I get two days to plan it out now, and then it's game time. That is, if I get good ideas. >__> - Still haven't found a Valentine. lol - For my club, Girls Learn International (GLI), we have to do a movie screening project to raise some moola. We have two movies that we narrowed down from a long list, but we need to watch one of the movies to check for its content (hence I won't be saying which movies we're talking about. But they're documentaries). The only issue is that it could happen on Sunday, killing off my story-writing plans. - Possible karaoke trip on Tuesday, depends on how I feel. If I go, I am in nooo way singing. It could be terrible (oh gosh the nightmares from fifth grade choir) - And of course I'll have some homework. Today I handed in a Italian project on Valentine's Day where I wrote about my awesomesauce brother. (remember seeing that dude, Spink? Yeeeep, that guy ) So yes. Enjoy the rest of your day.
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So two friends and I were totally pretending to be major otakus and comic geeks when we went to various bookstores. We went to a Strand, so I was able to score two manga volumes for a dollar and fifty cents each. And then we went to some comic store and I got another manga volume. I also bought my friend two comic books she really wanted. The volumes I got were: Code Geass: The Nightmare of Nunally (First) Yu-gi-oh original manga (seventh) Magic Knight Rayearth (first) combined these make the very first manga volumes that I actually own. My lucky friend also scored an original Japanese FMA manga for two bucks. In other news my friends and I had a marshmallow war with some marshmallow guns, and it was epic. We also watch FMA, Hetalia, and Psych. And ate grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade chocolate chip cookies. And watched a computer crash seven thousand times.
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It's February! The shortest month of the year! To-do list for February: - Get a Valentine (I have 14 days to accomplish this! ) - Start off the second semester of school well - Finish watching Natsume Yuujinchou - Wriiiiiite more - Put some more effort into my schoolwork - More stuff I can't recall? Now just how will I find a Valentine ;_; I also had another FMA lunch today. Just so you know.
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That was fast. Although my teacher said that February would go my faster, especially because of midwinter recess and the fact that it's short overall. And then March would slow down a little, which disappoints me because that's my birthday month. And after that it's just wheeeee~ Today I went shopping for art supplies for the second semester of school, which starts this Tuesday. These supplies were watercolor paint tubes, cans of tempera paint, brushes, ink pens (<3), drawing and watercolor pads, palette, artist's tape, and masking fluid. I bumped into a dude from art class, who I followed around to get a bunch of the stuff. xP Speaking of school-y stuff, I can't wait until Wednesday. That's the day I have my literary essay (on a book that was, in my opinion, horribly written). After this essay, we go into poetry and then mythology, two subjects I love very much. This also means no more essays for a little while. =D
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dudebot5000: Bored D= me: D= dudebot5000: How can has fix? D= me: Burn something? D= dudebot5000: I lack things to burn D= me: There a tree over there D= *There's dudebot5000: But its alive and kinda wet from yesterday, methinks D= me: Oh D= Let us fix this! Also: dudebot5000: Lol I'll put up a sticky note somewhere =P me: Ooh Ooh Ooh I have three different colors on my desk =O Pink, blue, and green =O dudebot5000: I only has yellow =O me: Four colors altogether! =O dudebot5000: Zomg =O Four colors! Wooohoooo!
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It was back to school today. Not a single person had a good sleep last night. At all. Including me. D: But yeah, so I had made a CD of Fullmetal Alchemist opening songs for my friend who very much loves FMA. As a late Christmas gift, she gave me a patch of Ed Elric. It's so cute (but I dunno where to put it). <3 After this week and next week, it's going to be Finals week. And the week after Finals week is the week of State testing - but that makes me happy because freshmen generally don't take these tests in January. That means... no school! =D And blog theme. Kanda is pretty awesome, I think. B) (Yes I will improve the text in the pics when I have more time) also my mom is cooking mushrooms right now. I find this fact necessary to mention. =O
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Someone in my fencing club told me I had an accent. A different response from when most people notice I don't have one even though I was born in Europe. So shock? *talks about random stuff now* I still need to come up with present ideas for people... It seems everyone's been singing Lilium recently. I guess I'm not alone. Happy Hanukkah to those to celebrate. =D For art class, we're going to draw the flower that we think represents us best. Help me pick a flower, guys!
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My hair's been hard to brush lately. D: And when I wash it, it's even worse. And in other hair news, I've come up with a character for this brand new crazy idea I got, but I can't figure out her hair. I have the bangs down and all, but should her hair be long and straight? nicely cut and short? two pigtails sticking out from the side? a bun? *in before crazy hair suggestions* And I feel stressed out lately for no reason. Maybe because I feel I can't get my work done in time for its deadline, but I eventually end up doing it. Or I'm missing a necessary resource. I don't know... I just feel like that. ;_; And I haven't written anything fiction in a while... I feel I need to get back to that. Maybe over Christmas break since like above, I feel I have so little time. so yeah.
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102%. That's my Global History test score. Second best in the class (103 was highest >__>). HAHAH And I have my first meeting for Fencing club tomorrow. I'll be able to learn the sport finally! With these skills, I can get my.... revenge on a certain man.
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I saw it on Friday... For a movie from 1968 it is scaryyyy ._. I was not expecting that. But then again it also addresses interesting issues from the time period, which was the topic of discussion at the museum place I watched it at after the movie finished. And I was with friends too so I had a shoulder to lean on during the movie. xP
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10/30/2009 Promises to be an epic day. So yeah, on the 30th our school is letting all the students dress up in Halloween costumes (masks aren't allowed though), and there'll be a competition and stuff (I find it impossible to pick a winner from several thousand students). And it'll be a shorter day, hopefully (I get the schedule tomorrow), and after that will be a parade of us students. But... forget about the parade. I'll be going with friends to the local art museum where there's an event for teens every Friday. Free pizza, and that Friday we're watching an old horror movie. And we'll be coming in our costumes when it's not actually Halloween, so bwahaha. So next Friday is a day to look forward to. B) And my costume? It'll be made from materials in mio casa... You'll see soon. >D
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Tomorrow's Friday. > So today was the Club Fair at school, and I signed up for several clubs. The Asian Student Association (you don't have to be Asian to join), Anime Club, Fencing Club, Printing and Crafts Club, and this club that works with a school in Brazil and some fund-raising program (name slips my mind at the moment). Not necessarily gonna do all the clubs, just waiting for emails so I could see what days they are on. Would've signed up for the Kendo and Martial Arts Club but waay too many people, and the majority are just people who like swords and fighting. =P Have an Italian test tomorrow, but I feel I'll do good except the city terms and classroom expressions. I'll be studying in free period... cuz I'm lazy tonight.
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I'm back. an homework lol ;-; Will write a huge entry on weekend upon completion of homework. EDIT: Just noticed the Bleach movie so I'm watching that. Plus I'm reading FMA. Woot excuses for no entry. =P
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(in the park at around 6:30, at least) So I'm on my new computer. As a Russian XP, it's faster and I like it. =D Took a long time to set up (sorry I wasn't on, Dudebot =P), but worth it. Also in WB3 today was kinda funny. I was playing on a map, and had an ally Daemon AI whose hero I set to Level 50 for no reason (I figured out how to edit AI heroes in skirmish). So when I managed to build a Dragonliche (Undead dragon), I put him to guarding the allied hero, who ran around the map endlessly looking for people to kill. Ultimately, in the end, when my dragon gained up to level 8, the hero was assassinated. Funny thing is, right when he died, my hero gained a level. It's like he passed down some XP through my dragon (even though I doubt he knew why the dragon was stalking him =P). And I also have a new story idea! As epic as it would be as a manga, I'm sticking to having it be an epic for now. Once I get down the concept and several chapters, I'll post it. I call it.... "Magic Police." (It's way better than the title implies) So I liked today. Especially since I got to make another one of my long blog entries.
