I don't know who lurks in the vast reaches of the faceless internet, so my posts are "friends only" by default. I have a number of posts that anyone can read, though most of them are reports of TV shows and movies. More personal accounts, such as concert goings and my opinions of various things, such as "life," are locked. (If you want to know where my ♥ lies, it is here: to_ki_o.)

For my friends who don't have an LJ, if you happen to find yourself bored on the internet one day, make an LJ and tell me I will gladly add you.

A reminder to myself: If someone is being a bitch, just remember Childhood Lesson #312: Your enemies are enjoying life while you're too busy hating them.

I'm going to grad school because I want to do this...I think.

Photo is...

(May 16, 2007 I recently made all of my posts "friends-only" in one sweep. Sooner or later, I will be going back through them, making some of them public.)

JE=Johnny's Entertainment=Record label, NOT to be confused with Johnny & Associates.

The one-day content strike is on for this Friday, March 21, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT.

For 24 hours, we will not post or comment to LJ. Not in our own journals, not in communities. Not publicly, privately, or under friends-lock.

This is a protest that will have long-lasting effects, showing up forever in the daily posting statistics.

This is a protest that will not harm LJ in the long run, as leaving LJ might do.

This is a protest that will demonstrate the power of community, as all users unite to support Basic users and the concept of adfree space.

This is a protest that will educate the new owners that LJ is driven by user-created content.


How Can I Help?

DO post about this in your own LJ.
DO post and comment about it in appropriate communities.
DO remember that it's based on Greenwich Mean Time, which may not be your local time.
DO turn off LoudTwitter and your RSS feeds for 24 hours.

DON'T forget to get permission from community mods before making an off-topic post or comment about the strike.
DON'T be spammy with your posts or comments about the strike.
DON'T forget to turn your LoudTwitter and RSS feeds back on when the strike is over

Check for start time in your time zone here.


LJ is not what it used to be. Things change. I don't have a huge problem with the changes or the monetization of LJ, really. I like my LJ and I like my friends list and I don't want to bother with rebuilding with yet another blog and I love to_ki_o. These are reasons I have a permanent account. I'm not leaving here. But the way they decided to not tell anyone about changes while proudly boasting that they had LJ users totally involved with the changes is just plain stupid.

Sure, this one day might not accomplish anything. But then again, it might.

A day of LJ silence won't kill me. Actually, it'll probably be good for me and my papers. (^_^) Speaking of good for me...it's past 1am again. I'm going to bed now. I'll respond and stuffs tomorrow...today...you know what I mean. Good night.

No, seriously. What would I look like? ( The boring reasons behind the question )

I'm really curious about how people see me, even if it's just through the internet. If you know me in real life, even better. You can even answer with what kind of business card you'd think a sexy librarian would have. Or just describe what you think would be a cool business card.

I want as many people as possible to answer this poll for me. Tell your friends who don't even know me but like answering questions. I'm making this entry public to get as much feedback as possible. (^_^)

Poll #1127496 Mel as a business card
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

The look

Color(s) (or Colour(s) if you will)

Image

What kind of design?

Moo cards or regular sized cards?

Make my title 'Future sexy librarian'?

Any other comments, suggestions. If you run out of space, please comment!

THANK YOU!!!

Edit: Totally forgot to add "Name in Japanese?" But then again, Japanese is pretty much a must. It might open some doors that weren't visible at first glance.

Tags: sexy librarian

What do you imagine mixing these two together would taste like? Most likely all of you, like myself and my parents, cringed at the thought. According to Taichi, it tastes fantastic. One person on the comm tried it out with the expectations of it tasting horrible, but it turned out to taste good. Hmmm. We have soy milk at home. I almost want to buy grapefruit juice just to try it out.

On a completely different note, I totally forgot about the pirate pasta dinner from when the girls were in SoCal, so I'm going to upload those in a bit. (^_^)

When people spell イノッチ, Innochi.

Especially if they call themselves V6 fans*.

Look at the katakana.

It's obviously romanized Inocchi; the small "tsu" is before the "chi" not the "no".

DUH.


While ignorance is annoying, widespread ignorance makes me sick.

And when I find that I've accidentally typed it that way...it makes my head hurt.
Found I used it at least three times.

*sigh*

*hangs head in shame*

*And claim(because some only say they can) to understand Japanese.

This was probably my most meaningful birthday. And the first birthday where I didn't put energy in parading around announcing my upcoming birthday (I still mentioned it when I had the chance, but this is the first year I didn't throw it into people's faces). I guess it comes with getting older. I've finally hit the mark where I can no longer say "early 20s" but can get away with "mid 20s" and still ward off "later 20s". Not that there is anything wrong with being 26. My five favorite guys in the world are less than two years away from all being in their 30s. And time is treating them well. So why not me.

Turning 26 doesn't make me more responsible, though it gives me less of an excuse for my irresponsibility. I gotta start sucking it up and doing what adults do. I always considered myself more adult than my peers, but that also kept me from growing up as I should. So I'm still the same that I was when I was in high school. Well, not completely the same, but not that different. Part of me doesn't want to change because I don't want to lose what all adults lose as they grow older. But without changing, I stay in the same damn place I've been in for years.

I'm horrible at letting go of the past. I never forgive anyone for anything. Especially myself. And I still don't see that as a bad thing. Because I'll have to forget if I forgive. And I don't want to forget. I like keeping my scars, as morbid as that is. It's that vicious librarian sense that things should always be preserved. Things happen for a reason. I never want to say "I wish I could do it all over". I am the choices I've made. I do regret some of those choices, but I don't want to. A lot of the good things that have happened to me happened because of those bad choices. They are all me.

I grew up without many restraints. I was the only child of a middle class family in suburbia; it would be strange if I didn't. Somehow I ended up asking for only what I thought I needed or really really wanted. I gave my parents as little trouble as I could. I learned how to take care of myself without relying on others to a relative degree. As I see more of the world and interact with more people, I see myself as more of an ignorant princess. I take a lot of things for granted and while I know I shouldn't, I still do while I can. I have confidence in myself to deal if life throws me a curveball. (Though one time it sideswiped me with a mack truck. I still have deep scars from that one.) There is a scene in what I think is the last episode of Evangelion where Shinji is floating in emptiness. True freedom. But he desires more and a line is drawn and that line is the ground and therefore he must stand on it. The loss of a freedom, but he gains a sense of direction.

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah, so all these years of not having many restraints and things going pretty much my way, I never had the experiences that would make me a better person. The difference between a "good girl" and a "good woman" (while "fine woman" fits better, I'm opting for symmetry here). A good girl pleases others. Praise and attention are her greatest rewards. And she'll do anything for them. A good woman lives her life in a way that is respected by others, though she lives her way of life because she must answer to herself. A good girl is a reflection of light; a good woman is a source of light. I am far from the ideal woman I want to be. This is partly the reason for my rings. (The other being that I love sparklies. I should add "materialistic" to the only child description.)

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I wear a lot of rings. I love my rings. They all mean something, as I believe rings should. I could never wear a ring just because; I have to give it a reason, a meaning. Even if the meanings change, each of my rings are the physical representation of my thoughts and hopes. I won't go into all of my rings because it'll take a while, but my two newest I wear in hopes of self improvement. Each has a Japanese phrase that I recite when I touch them to remind myself. One is 「人にやさしく」 the other is 「自分を磨く」. "Kindness to others" and "Polish myself" would be the literal translations. To not speak ill of others, to be patient, to hold back hurtful words, to look for the positive (even if it can't be found), to give thanks, to not let pride get in the way. And to put in effort, to not be lazy, to become active, to not be satisfied with just thinking and planning.

My birthday this year has given me a lot to be thankful for as well as enjoy the beautiful coincidences that make life so much fun.

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. The comments on the previous entry, the Facebook wall writings, the emails, the cards all made me feel loved. Drunk on the aesthetics of being an introverted person, I often forget that I am surrounded by a lot of people who care about me. Thank you for having me be part of your lives.

Second, a special thank you to samiancha and happygoluckycat for all the good times. It's been a great extra year in Japan and a lot of it is because of you guys.

Third, after reading BLEACH 30, rekindling my interest in the story with the return (kinda) of my favorite non-main character, I came home yesterday to a postcard from Greece (Thanks emidala!!) and the newest TOKIO fanclub newsletter. Instead of the usual style, this time the guys answered questions in their own handwriting. There's something powerful about seeing their actual handwriting on the pages. I'm really glad I could see one more before I left here. And the fact that it arrived on my birthday is an extra Happy Birthday to me from TOKIO, which makes it all the more sweet. (I just had to end on TOKIO, didn't I?)

feeling: grateful

It's amazing how if you see them enough, they start to look cute. The same way if you look at a word too much, it looks like it's spelled wrong. I still would never wear them because I much prefer my Reefs, but they don't look as hideously ugly as I first found them. And then I found an article on the front page of CNN.com. "Crocs, kids and escalators a bad combination?" (At first I honestly thought they meant actual crocodiles and I read "escalator" as "elevator" and had this image in my head of alligators loose in elevators and if kids were there, of course that would be a bad combination...) Long story short, they can get stuck at the end of the escalator, especially the kid ones. The article also mentions Japan had 39 reports of accidents invovling these shoes between late August and early September. And I haven't heard it, but the government apparently warned consumers of it recently.

Complete unrelated: Not watching りの君 right now because I got home at 9:10, so I'm letting the VCR do its work, then enjoying it in its entirety. After whatever mayhem happened on Iitomo today. (^_^)

( Rough translation )

Tags: heyx3, tokio, translation, tv

First, I'd like to ask a few questions to everyone:
Poll #1015191 Borrowing from FujiFilm. Please complete the next few sentences.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Photo is...

I like photos of...

I take photos (because/to/for/etc)...

(At the FujiFilm exhibit, Nagase said, "Photo is おもちゃ")

( Personally )

Tags: photos, poll