joudama scribbling

Dear fic brain,

It's great that you want to work on Harrow Children. It is.

But.

Can you want to work on it when I'm not, y'know, AT WORK? Or not when I'm at lunch but a good ten minute walk away from my computer? Thanks. I know, I know, I'm not giving you much time to work with, since my little spare time has been eaten up by trying to not be a giant fatass and starting to prep NOW for the JLPT1, but still.

And also, could you want to maybe work on part two instead of part three? I know writing the love-hate-dash of UST relationship between Zack and Tifa is fun and all (especially this one scene, oh MAN), but I really DO need to write the boring plot bits in part 2 so I can get to the interesting interpersonal stuff.

Five more pages, no work done since lunch (thank god we're in the process of moving at work and so everyone is packing instead of working, and I finished packing this morning), and no love,

jou

Time spent: 1:02
Calories burned: 286
BMI: 29.09

So I booted up the Wii, decided, "I'm gonna do some yoga today. I feel kinda bleh." I went to the yoga menu, pulled up the crescent moon pose, then went, "Wait, what the--?" at the male trainer being on the screen.

"I'm doing it instead of the other trainer!" he proclaimed, and I went, "OK, what? First it changed hairstyles on me, then genders? Whaaa-?" and rolled with it. Or tried. But it was too weird seeing a guy with no ass and oversized thighs on the screen. I figured, though, hey, one day of a change.

No, it was just one exercise, then it went back to the chick. And I was like, "Hunh, just when I got used to the idea of using the guy trainer." And decided, "Oh, why not? If nothing else, it'll help with with understanding guys speaking Japanese," and went into the settings and told it to use the male trainer, and popped open an easy yoga pose.

Y'know, I don't think you're supposed to point and laugh at the trainer, but I did. Literally.

The male trainer? DOOOOOOOOOORK. I was yelling, "Dude, you are waaaay too perky!" at the screen when he was giving praise (I swear, he sounded like Koyasu Takehito's in seriously-need-of-ritalin little brother with ADHD or something), then I got four stars and he gave me this DORKTASTIC thumbs up (the woman claps, so you know) and I literally pointed and laughed at the screen. I got as far as, "Dude, if you start clapping--" with a warning finger waggle when he gave the thumbs up, and I swear, I lost it. I went from you-better-not finger wag to POINTING AND LAUGHING.

And it wasn't that first time, oh, no, it was every time, because it never stopped being laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaameriffic. >XD

I honestly thing that every time he went, "Gambatte!" I went, "Pffffftahahaha~ *snerk*" Which was really unhelpful in the middle of exercises. >XD I got some pretty crap scores today all because I was too busy laughing my head off at the trainer than to keep my balance. And ohhh, it was so worth it.

I did more muscle training that I normally do just so I could laugh at the dork. My arms currently want to fall off and die, but yeah, worth it. >XDDDD

Time spent: 1:05
Calories burned: 300
BMI: 29.09

Yeah, gained weight technically, but I am caring not one jot because my clothes are looser and it's also ~the mooooooost wonderful tiiiiiiiiiime of the moooooooonth~, so yeah, whaaaaatever.

Although I am looking askance at how my body seems to really and truly like staying at a BMI of about 29. I mean, honestly now. :p

The obstacle course is still pwning me and hard. ARGH. I was, once again, SO CLOSE. asdfghjkl;bastard.

I also tried the golf bit in the Training+ section and was so bored out of my skull that I will never do it again, not unless I'm feeling uuuuugh and need to do something completely non-taxing.

I got a "perfect dance" for the first time with the step dancing thing, so GO ME~. I then proceeded to completely botch the march thing, though. XD

Today was also mainly muscle training--I figure next week I'll be a masochist and move up to 30 jackknifes. And try the pushups again and hate life. XD;;

My best friend, who's been in Japan as long as I have, is moving back to Canada.

She hated her job, and the guy she really loved and had for years, even when she should have kicked him to the curb instead of fighting to keep, broke it off with her permanently.

She decided yesterday, and is moving back in two weeks. She handed in her resignation at work and everything.

I might get a chance to see her, since we're flying out of Narita the same day. I'm going to take the Shinkansen up that Friday night and will stay at her place. And then she's leaving, and probably for good.

The chances are really, really low that I'll see her more than maybe once every couple years, if that--she may come to Japan again on vacation, but the chances of me heading to Canada are really low, because if I fly out to that side of the world, I pretty much have to see my family, and I only get about a week off at a stretch, which is why I haven't visited any of my friends not in Georgia when I go to the US.

She'd sent me an e-mail saying she was going on the 15th, but I thought it was just for winter break, to get out of Japan for a while--not forever. She called me tonight, and I swear, it was like a punch to the stomach, because it's so sudden.

So...yeah. In a very short span, I'm losing all my good friends--one to that fight, one is going back to Canada, and M, whom I just bonded with instantly, is going back to Korea. So...yeah.

I'm not feeling depressed, thank goodness, just really sad. I feel lonely already.

It's going to be a really sad new year. :(

This dog is cat, yo.

Time spent: 1:08
Calories burned: 290
BMI: 28.66 <--I do not trust this worth a sweet goddamn. XD

Yesterday's Wii Fit Challenge~ started to happen. I changed into my workout clothes, turned it on, winced as I remembered, oh yeah, I needed to buy batteries for the Wiimote while I was out!, figured it could make it one more day, and did the weighing and balance stuff.

...and then, before I could push the A button to tell it to save, the screen went black with ominous red letters, and it informed me it had lost connection with the Wiimote, and to reconnect the Wiimote and press A.

The batteries were so dead it would not turn on long enough for me to save. So I had to change out of my workout clothes and messy workout bun into real clothes and bun made with my actually looking in a mirror, and traipsing to the convenience store just to buy batteries. It took me about twenty, twenty-five minutes total, and I grumpily decided that walking time was my exercise for the day, and saved. It gave me a BMI of 29.9, so I was like, "OK, fine."

I don't trust today's mainly because it was another "forget to eat" days--I spent all morning playing Hikari no 4 Senshi and forgot to eat, aside from a breakfast bar. I stuffed myself full of ramen later (I'm going to make more after my bath; eating late being bad for you be damned), but yeah. That BMI is so full of lies. XD

I was quite vexed by the damn pata-pata chicken game (I was Right. At. The. Goal! when time ran out--I started yelling, "NO! I was SO CLOSE! NO!!") and the obstacle course. Both of them like giving me the finger, but one day, oh, one day, I will emerge victorious. XD

Yeah, so, new pics of the new Cid.

Hellooooooooooo, nurse.

Between Cid and Yun Fang, my PS3 is going to overheat. XD

I went out today with my friend M, who I have nicknamed "the devil," and for good reason. That girl is the little devil who sits on your shoulder and tells you to do bad things, I swear. XD Any weight I've gained is mainly that girl's fault. XD

Anyway, she's taking the JLPT tomorrow, so we got together to study (I'm not taking it, since I was so sick most of the year when the application was due I didn't know if I'd be healthy enough for it, but I need to start studying now for next year) and met up at a Starbucks. Unfortunately, my glasses finally gave up the ghost before I left home, so I was glasses-less. But there was a glasses store near the Starbucks, so I took my glasses in and got them fixed, but they were at the end of the line, and even though the woman tried to fix them, there were still lopsided. I saw cute glasses there, so I dragged M in later, and she helped me pick out new glasses.

After she declared she'd studied enough, we went shopping. And it as under her influence that the unthinkable happened.

I bought makeup.

I...hate makeup. I also hate shopping for it, since my right-smack-dab-in-the-middle skin color apparently does not exist. As it was, I had to buy foundation and beige face powder, and have to use both--the face powder is because the foundation is a smidgen too light (and my undertones are screwy). Just the foundation is a wrong, but both together works.

....It was also at Givenchy, so it was EXPENSIVE. It was around ¥12,000. Between that and the glasses, I blew ¥20,000 in one day, and my wallet is crying. asdfghjkl;

But the makeup will be used very sparingly (going out clubbing, days I have a demo that will be on TV).

So, yeah. Here is something y'all will never see again:

1) a picture of me online

2) me wearing makeup.

( I photograph so badly. Also, my hair was being difficult. Yay, high humidity days! Bleh. )

Time spent: 38m
Calories burned: 185
BMI: 29.10
Feeling: tired

I am le tired tonight, so short workout. And since I'm off meds but my throat is still acting up (I'm gonna make an appointment again before I leave for vacation), I decided pushing it too much would be a bad idea. On the plus side, I did the really high level punching game--it's ten minutes long, so my arms kind of want to fall off...but I did better at it on my first try than I have the other punching games--I got a four stars. I think it's because it's twice the tempo as the first one, so it's a lot faster--I tend to rush, so the faster tempo worked for me. :D

Also, the trainer's hairstyle went back to the old one. Eh? :(

Now to call my mom (about my trip back to the US) then hit the bath. I learned the hard way, that i I don't take a nice, long soak after I work out, I hurt, hurt, hurt the next day.

Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

1:06
275
29.14

I know I should weigh myself in the mornings, to avoid the "my belly is full of food" thing, but yeah right. XD

Anyway, yeah, my belly is still omfg SO FULL from the Korean ramen and real Korean kimchee my friend M stuffed my full of that I'm frankly amazed that I can even move. It all feels like a leaden in my stomach, so color me unshocked and my weight going up. XD I feel plumped. XD;;;

On the plus side, though, Korean instant ramen is pure win for spiciness, and the hottie working at the Starbucks we went to (I'm drinking so much coffee now, OMFG. Blame M and the yumminess of Doutour's caramel marron latte and Starbuck's gingerbread latte) made the trip out to study with her totally worth it. :D

The obstacle course still vexes me. I'm getting closer--I was yelling, "So close! I was SO CLOSE!" at the screen because I was a jump away from the end of the level I was on. *screams* I would have tried it again, but the game decided, "Oh, hey, it's tomorrow, so let's erase your time and calories burned! :D"

Yeah. ,|,,

Also, totally random, my "trainer"'s hairstyle changed. I was doing jackknifes and all of a sudden went, "Wait a minute, her hair wasn't pulled back before, was it?" and was so confused and trying to puzzle it out when I was coming up on the exercises and cold see the screen, until I realized yeah, the game had randomly given her a new hairstyle. I thought maybe she always had that hairstyle during the jackknives and I never noticed before because I was usually working on not dying during those. But when I jumped over to yoga, I realized, yeah--new hairstyle.

This is why I like Nintendo--the little touches. Last month, there were fall leaves blowing around one of the menu screens, and this month it's snowflakes. And if you "poke" your Mii on that menu, it trips the hell out. You poke its feet and it starts stomping and jumping; poke its belly and it flails, and poke its head and it starts trying to swat it away like a fly. XD

I'm still irritated about my "friend", and what's got my goat today is remembering how in her e-mail, she bitched about me "drinking her beer and her chuuhai." That's pissing me off because she offered them to drink. (And her whole thing was I apparently guzzled her booze, but oh, when she wanted to go out for a beer, I was too tired. Yeah. Fever? Sick? Breathing problems? Pshaw, I'm just being self-centered and ruining her fun. Oh, and yeah. One beer. I don't even remember drinking a chuuhai, and also, I'd have rather had juice or tea. -_-)

Bitching at someone for taking the drinks you offered...yeah. That's a great host, right there.

I still haven't read her e-mail back.

Time spent: 1:03
Calories burned: 280
BMI: 28.90

I skipped yesterday because I wasn't breathing well and also, yeah, I was too ragey for it. ^^;; But I definitely was going to exercise today. My throat is still kinda bleh, which is why I was, I thought, completely off on the rhythmic boxing thing--so imagine my shock when I got my second highest score.

I also got a "Perfect march!" on the marching-band game--a major step up from one time when I did it and the cable from the wiimote to the nunchuck thwapped me in the face and knocked my glasses off (I got l33t m4d SK1LLZ, y0~). I also tried the obstacle course, again...three times. There is something to be said for sheer, unbridled determination to not lose. I finally figured out how to work with the ice, so that's a major hurdle cleared, and I am very, very close to beating the bastard of a game.

I also noticed that jackknifes do not kill me as much as they did a week ago--oh, I still laugh at the game for even thinking I'm ready for even thirty, much less "challenging" the trainer--AHAHAHAHA, no--but I got up to fifteen before I wanted to die. Before, it was around ten. So, yeah, much improvement. I might bump it up next week. :)

The big thing, though, was my weight went down, quite a bit--I'm finally under 29 for my BMI! No more giri-giri obese! Just firmly overweight!--and it doesn't feel like the times when I would look at the lower BMI it spat out and go, "You lie like a lying thing. LIES!" The last few days, I have actually had that same "getting into better shape" feeling I had when I first started. So this lets me know my reassessment was right, and I'm on the right track. I do want to add more yoga in, but I think that's going to wait until the obstacle course is no longer rubbing my face in the dirt. XD

Harry Potter Redesign - The Harry Potter book covers to look like classic Penguin Books.

I love the one for the Philosopher's Stone and Deathly Hallows. :)

Yeah, it's been a day.

People who know me in RL know that I get angry--truly angry--pretty much once a never. Pissed, yeah, I get pissed at the drop of a hat, but angry? No. I control my temper and let a lot of things slide precisely because I know how bad it is when I get mad. In the last ten years, I can count on one hand how many times I've gotten angry. Last time I got truly angry was in 2006.

( Until today. )

So guess who deigned to e-mail me out of the blue yesterday?

Yup, the "friend" from September. And how did she e-mail?

"holy crap. having a life is great and all but i'd like to stop for a minute. [emoticon]

how are you doing?"

...

( Yeah, I'm done. )

Patrick Stewart: the legacy of domestic violence - As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother. Here he describes how the horrors of his childhood remained with him in his adult life

And for the creepiest domestic abuse PDA ever, staring Patrick Stewart's voice and hand. D:

Time spent: 1:09
Calories burned: 324
BMI: 29.2
Feeling: HULK SMASH AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR

The obstacle course is a punk ass bitch. Do you hear me? A PUNK AS BITCH.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH.

I beat the beginner level--I started it, yelled, "I am going to make you my bitch today!" and proceeded to pwn it. No, it wasn't as high as the first and only other time I beat it, but this time I beat it at a walk and felt confident I could do it again, unlike the first time, which was sheer, unbridled luck and panic.

Since I had beaten it, it gave me the option of the advanced level.

PUNK. ASS. BIIIIIIIIITCH.

*froth at mouth*

I am not even kidding, I was screaming at the game, calling it every filthy name in the book...and calling it filthy names because it obviously calculated the calories burned based on the "meters" you had progressed, not how much you did, because there was no effin' way I only burned eight calories one particularly bitchtastic time.

And what, you may be wondering, make the advanced level that much more of an evil bitch of a game?

The ice.

That's right, there are points where the platform is ice, and your Mii will slide right off if the next platform you need to jump for is out of position. All you can do is watch as your Mii slides right off the edge, because your other choice is to commit suicide and leap into the sea.

I was literally making infuriated screaming sounds that sounded like they should be coming out of the Hulk.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE.

And to top it all off, I redid my BMI reading (because I was stuffed full of coffee and bibimbap when I got home) and when it finished the "balance" measures it told me..."you should do the obstacle course to help you!"

Thank god you can't really rage quit the Wii Fit, or else I so would have. XD

Time spent: 1:04
Calories burned: 289
BMI: 29.07

This game is a dirty, rotten cheater! ARGH!

As an addendum to the "likes to kill you by making you plummet to your death" thing. I learned today in the CHEATING ROTTEN obstacle course game that it also likes to flatten your Mii like a pancake by making logs roll over it.

And I cry FOUL FOUL FOUL to some of my Mii getting clobbered by a pendulum; I said to jump, dangit. And WTFBBQ to me supposedly losing 1.1 kilo in a day. A day I spent stuffing my face with grits. I'm going to chalk that up to me having not had dinner, since the aforementioned grits left me stuffed to the gills. I didn't even get hungry until, of course, two minutes after I started exercising (I popped a sweet potato in the oven and let it bake while I was exercising. Mmmm, sweet potato.)

Also, my arms and legs want to fall off and diiiiie. *death*

Time spent: 1:00
Calories burned: 287
BMI: 29.44

Yup, weight went up again, but I ate a Southern Breakfast (tm)--cheesy grits and real sausage and ate ramen for dinner; this is not a shock. It's also not that upsetting, since I'm viewing things as a restart--I slacked off, I did exercises that were ineffective, and so now I'm starting over. I'm not going to worry unless I start going up for a week straight.

The cycling game can blow me. I'm not even kidding. I wandered around the area trying to find the last two flags, then said "Fuck this," and quit the game. I had been doing it for about fifteen minutes, and it counted none of that time. asdfghjkl;

I'll do the short course; the long courses can SUCK IT. GAH.

( Also, Wii Fit has a perverse love of making your Mii die spectacularly )