inkdots

Yesterday was a good day for badminton. Funny, and I got to play with good people in the second half. It was pretty crowded though, and the only open lane between courts was right in front of Coach, so I never got the courage to actually practice serving. Which was too bad, since I can't serve short distance anymore. Gahh!!
I was surprisingly happy when I started to play though. My partner was not very good- lots of waiting- but I was totally cheered up by the vibration of the racket. It was very comforting/yay-ness. I wasn't totally messing up even after...3 weeks? Whew!

They were radically different; she was quiet, he was obnoxiously loud. She was anxious to please, he was anxious to flip someone off.
And before someone started snickering about a resulting match by meddling Fate, she would love to point out that their classrooms were at opposite ends of the hallway.
Their lockers were on opposite sides of the row.
Their houses were on opposite sides of the town. (And no, she did not stalk him there. She set her neighbor's dog on him instead. Slip a treat on the target and Fido was the perfect tracker.)

Except they kept running into each other. In the mall. Which she coincidentally only enters once in a blue moon, under threat of torture.
In the streets. Of a city thirty minutes away.
In the attic. Which was dusty, infested with mice, and generally inhospitable to anyone who ever dared its space.
In moments like these, she wonders if Fate really is meddling with them. She would keep those facts to herself though.

----
Maybe I'll expand this. Prompted by the little line of "they were next-door neighbors." Yes, the fated couple-to-be often ends up living waaaay closer than they would like. So what if they lived far away, but still couldn't stay far away from each other?

After three- two and a half?- days of powering through 103 (or is it 104?) chapters of the manga Nononono (1, 2, 3, 4) I'm left with a decidedly mixed feeling. I actually liked it, though I remember thinking 'ski jumping? what kind of subject is that?' That's the only reason why I would spend so much time on getting up to date with the raws (from ch. 11-103...a long way) but the feeling was very different from the beginning to the end. The beginning was pretty descriptive- training, compete, training, bonding time, compete, etc. Some parts were painful to see- especially the...more...awkward/mature/...downright horny moments but they were thankfully isolated and the exception. Other bits were also very funny and 'oh, no waaaay!' so it made up for the...uncomfortable pages. But then the concept of 'fear' was brought in, which I found kind of hard to believe considering she had no such problem in the beginning and what was it doing later on-- deep breath. It irritated me. Plus her past, angsty as it was, fell slightly short of my expectations. I think it was too- blatant in her life. Like in Shinkuro, Haine angsts so coolly in the last half, but it's totally buried in the beginning except for a couple pages here, a chapter there...In Nono's life, it's blow after blow that seems unusually cruel and energy-wasteful. Why go to so much trouble harassing a stranger for one mistake? Yeah, no.
Furthermore, the ecchi scenes are spawning. Impossible to escape! The interval keeps shrinking from 20 chapters to 10 chapters to 7 chapters- and it's getting less of the 'accidental flash' and more full-out 'appeal to hormones' everywhere.
By ch. 60, I was getting bored with the plot (when will she stop freaking out suddenly?) and waiting for some actual 'awww, sweet' interaction between Amatsu and Nono- which almost never appeared after that happy ch. 10. That was the chapter that gave me the idea in the first place! Hellooo, you do not just end a chapter on that meaningful hint and wait for 40 more chapters to pass before tacking on a conversation that doesn't end with  'how you doing, good jump'! And 20 chapters before that, there's a really obvious hint that he likes the girl that likes Nono (sooo strange) so...spoilers, help me out here? No? Fine, be like that!
And of course, right when I'm on a 'Yay, he talked to her for longer than 5 sentences!' happy cloud, he sends a jealous glare at Nono because the skating girl (I never knew her name, and I don't want to know her name) was hugging Nono. And the only words I could understand (why can't there be more kanji in Japanese?) was a triangle. Oh. So this is a circular, 'he likes her who likes her disguised as a him who likes the first him?'
What?!
Hey! Hey! Unfair! Un! Fair! (This is coming right after the first full-length 'oh ew' perverted scenes, so I'm already not pleased) How can you raise hopes in chapter 10- 10!- and then totally abandon that track?!
Hmph. Still, maybe...
Maybe when he finally gets her gender (I thought she was screwed for the last 3 times- turns out she isn't) he'll have a change of heart? *crosses fingers*
In the meantime (the raws stopped last month! Where are they?!) can someone send that skating girl off on a trip?

No AOD yesterday. I was really looking forward to it too. First volunteering time; I was curious and nervous, and hopeful.
But last-minute, my parents decided it was still too unsafe. And what about your homework? You need to finish that project due next week...
Oh well. There's still Fanime, and at least my money is still intact.
Just five more months...

Outside, the light was fading like the blush of a rose. Lightly and fleetingly. Sad, like the lines on an old man's face.
"Are you going?" The woman touched her other hand, rubbed her fingers lightly against the skin where light blue veins disappeared into a butterfly-wing softness. Wrinkled.
An old man's face.
He tapped his fingers lightly on the upright, shiny-new suitcase, ready for travel Captain sir. He was off, gone and away to someplace her eyes couldn't see.
She blamed it on the thin cloudy mist floating in front and to the sides, wherever she looked. Smog was especially bad that day.
A car honked suddenly. His head turned, completely missing whatever the woman was about to say.
"I need to go," he said brusquely. Her face crumpled and sagged into deeper lines, but she nodded understandingly.
"Will you come back?"
"Maybe," he tossed out. She doubted he will. He was facing the future, and when the road stretched out in front of him, why look back at this provincial backwater.
"Bye," he mumbled, one foot already out the door. The car honked again impatiently. He shut the door without waiting for her farewell.
"Goodbye," she said to the wooden door.
The lock turned.

Wow. Yesterday, I heard the chinese version of spongebob's opening, and I laughed til I cried. It was that funny. Which is strange, considering I don't even like spongebob, and the spongebob opening (in english) even less. But in chinese, it was hilarious.
I want to find it again.

I reread Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder again, and for the first time ever, I wondered: How old is Valek? (How do you pronounce his name is another old one) One sentence started it: "I've known the Commander for twenty-one years..." That's a big number. That is, in fact, Yelena's age, if you're pushing it. If he's known the Commander for twenty-one years in his career, that would make him, oh, 30-up? 30-up, compared to Yelena's 20/21 years old? Oh, ew.
But at the same time, I was protesting: He can't be that old! That's, that's old for an assassin, and the author wouldn't put in a couple that's 10+ years apart right? That's just weird!
Then in one of the other books, the number was revised down to 15 years. That's better, but the minimum age he had to be when he met the Commander was 13. (And minimum as in, he hates the King and within a year he's a pro assassin and meets the Commander. That's really pushing reality). 13+15 = 28. Better, but still- still- eww.
I'm hoping this is just a mistake.

"Here. Gimme that." The little boy cried out, then modulated it into a whimper. Kicked dog impression.
"Oh, you wimp. You wimp. Show me your hands. Come on, it's not that bad, just slap on a band-aid...oh. Oh, uh, sorry about that. Med's inside. Well, come on."
The two of them patter into the quiet shack. The taller boy pulls out a drawer, smacking his hand on the corner of a half-closed cabinet door. He hisses, sticks his hand under the opposite armpit. With his good hand, he paws through the mess of tubes and rattling medicine bottles and the occasional key. He pulls those out and absently sets them on the counter.
"Here, the Neosporin. Only...2 years old, still good. Stop crying!" he commands awkwardly. He picks the boy up with a muffled groan and sets his bottom on the counter. The child shifts, uncomfortable on the chilly porcelain tiles.
The older teen gently peels the bloody, tightly curled hands open. The little one sheds a few more tears. With gentle fingers, the boy blots away the blood with a nearby towel and blows on them. The sitting boy nearly jerks them away in self-defense.
"Look, you have to clean them, or they'll get infected and swell up- hey, hey, I'm just saying that could happen, not that it will-"
The young kid continues to bawl.
"Shh, shh! I'll, I'll buy you an ice cream later! Just shut u- I mean, quiet down already." He glances at the nearby door warily, alert for any rasps or thumps. Silence settles in again as the cries dwindle away, teary eyes already perking up with interest.
"With all of the usual toppings?"
The teen thought longingly of the new World of Warcraft magazine for a second before sighing. "Sure. But you have to help me first."
The boy, completely happy again, nodded enthusiastically. He dropped the small yellow tube back into the mess and hopped off the counter. "Are we going to finish mommy and daddy's present?"
" 'Course we are. That's why we got up so early right?"
On cue, the upturned face nearly splits along the fault line of a massive yawn. "Yup. They'll love our box!" he said confidently. Suddenly, he wilts and looks up for reassurance. "Right?" His face is full of uncertainty.
The teen tousled the short mop of hair. "Right." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, hold that piece down, and don't let go until I say so..."

Yes! Yes! Yes! yes~
Kobato's drop 20 is already out- raw was released yesterday and scanlation is up!! And hooooooly shi-mackerel, the Fujibatonesssss! YEEEESSSS!
(Secretly, a few moments felt really melodramatic and shudderingly OC but the entire Fujibato atmosphere was just- Eeee!)
First, a Moment between Kobato and Fujimoto outside, and then the kids interrupt (at first I was all- no, you're breaking the atmosphere! Go away! Gahh!) but then they pick up on Kobato's desire to sing for Fujimoto (Holy shiz yes! Do it! Nows!) and better yet (eee!) they call for a organ-singing duet. (eeee!!) And that page was just EEEEEEEEEE! *flails helplessly* My day was made right there, despite an old-granny back and sore muscles everywhere! That..that...can't be put in words. It was true fangirl flailing. Eeee and awws in the same chapter- yay! And even though nothing hugely important happened, it was so sweet that it felt totally complete in only 15 pages. EEeee!

Today hasn't exactly been a good day, but I'm in a good mood anyways against all reason. But now I finally do! The anime (seriously?) epi 13 had a moment! A really cool moment! And on top of that, it had 2 lesser moments and a 'ooh drama' moment that made it all good. : D ^_^   = >   *.*
A string of happy emoticons. It was cool.
Actually, I hadn't watched epi 12 and epi 13 sounded even less appealing, so I wasn't even thinking about the episode But! I happened to see haine_asakura's epi icons and I went  O.O!! I have to watch that! I mean, the background looked like a leaping fire, all orange and glowing golden, and then Fujimoto pulling Kobato away, kinda off-balance--- It doesn't do the moment justice in words. But when I saw that, I was bound and determined to see that moment in action.
For preparation, I checked out inma's bit on the epi and she had a full screencap of that moment! (Win!!) and it just looked woooow. wooow. Ooh-hoo! More description of moment's context (made more sense) and then finally watched the epi.
Which was more...magical like than usual, because there were a lot of glowing leaves, mystical 'feelings' and interesting interpretation. The Moment was also...less squee unfortunately, becuase it went by so fast. Still, there was the rest of the epi to be happy about!

Next manga chapter coming out on Thursday! Yay!!

Sweet, he thinks she is. Sometimes pouting, sometimes worried, but always gentle. Her smile isn't a blindingly pretty teeth-flashing grin, but an understated pearliness. Something to be treasured for a bad day.
He believed she was weak, the first time. Pink girliness (brittle) and not much power. Easy, he judges. Very much the man, he wrestles her down in competitions.
So he assumes. He wins (ignorant and brittle), but she does not lose. No progress is made.
Instead, he is backsliding.
He helps her, slipping into her way of easing fish-like through conflict (coward, fight me! harsh boy's challenge ringing through the round courtyard, dust taking flight--) without meaning, meaning to. Unconsciously, one eye always stays on her lithe form (whooa! applauds the class at another perfectly executed gymnastics routine) in the middle of battle, in the middle of class, in the middle of silence.
He is the knight protecting his flower. (Thank you, Syaoran!)

Clear, he thinks she is. So clear, she is opaque. A sheet of the finest glass, revealing everything around it and nothing of itself.
And sharp, razor sharpened to a blessing. Hesitance does not become the avenging angel.
Glass protects its ward behind its smooth surface, a lake impossible to disturb; then it reflects the disturbance. Himself as an outsider.
It is one of the few times he is discomfited.
And then, like the Cheshire Cat (a smile without a face- go anyplace you like, Alice, you cannot get lost) he comes back for more. A curiosity, a bauble. It runs, he chases.
(Or is it: he runs, it chases?)
The ultimate puzzle in its mysteriously simple way...it calls. Undeniably. (You're a very-- Yes. I know)
Until he can solve it, he will not let it go. (You're thinking inwardly again, Hiiragizawa-kun, aren't you? Ehhh?! I-I couldn't tell...Eriol-kun?)
(...Nothing)

I looked for an idea, rummaging through random thoughts and images. Nothing good; too insubstantial to grab ahold of and play with. Others had already been picked up and adopted (adapted?), coaxed out of their shells into full-grown, curled-up pets secure in their corner of the carpet. I clasped my hands together, noting absently that once again! my right hand was clammy and a lot colder than my left hand, unlike skin should be.
Like something else.
A connection to someone, a setting; this was coming together now! Quickie picture check for reference- wouldn't do to mess facts up now, would it? Yes- details are straight, first phrase landing-!
"Bef-"
Sudden stop. It was as grating and unwelcome as tires screeching on the asphalt before a cliff. And when I'm four inches away from fear and embarrassment- who wouldn't look askance at a truck leaping off a sharply dropping cliff at 67 miles per hour- I am not going on.
If I was being paid for this- no less than 35 dollars!- maybe I would...
But I'm not, so no. Nuh-uh. Not ready! As bad as a splash of cold water (and jeering 'cowards') but at least safer! ...Right?

Isabelle is taking her driver's permit test today! (The lines...ooh) So during lunch, she was reviewing like she was possessed, and alternately panicking. It didn't help either that Jen kept hedging and saying, "Well, it depends on who you are and how much you studied."
(Example conversation)
"How long did you have the book (the driver's handbook)?"
"I...took the classes, then got the book."
"How long did you-"
"About, a month." Jen didn't look very sure, but her conviction was growing.
Isabelle panicked, breathed faster, high-pitched whimper, the works. I was trying to help calm her down, so I asked, "How long did you study?" I was assuming she didn't study everyday, but...I forgot this was Jen, the model student.
"A month." She looked surprised that I even asked. We were doing a lot of repeating here.
"Like, did you study every day?" I was starting to get an inkling that yes, she was that diligent.
Pause. "Well...yeah." She had an eye on Isabelle as she said that.
Cue even more panicking.

Yeah.

(I should start my own lessons. Eventually. I think I've said that since this summer, and...yeah. Procrastination happened.)

Oh, and since Isabelle was rattling off facts out loud, I learned a few rules! Such as the fines you must pay if you injure a person, and how much if you injure more than one person. In California, I think its...$7500 for more than one person? What was really funny was that afterwards, Isabelle said very brightly,
"Apparently, you can put a price on life!"
Choke. Then I started laughing. It's probably not the right response, but it was funny! I should make that into an icon, though it wouldn't make much sense without the lead-in...

"I need a tissue, guys. Someone has one around here, right? Come on, people. I could drip this paint on you too!" The man wandered around the set, royally displeased. His right hand disconsolately followed along, dropping a trail of red blots on the way to the witch's gingerbread house.
A new girl proffers two hanks of tissues, and he grabs it gratefully. "Thanks," he said absently like a busy customer and went on his way. The mop of curly hair bobs a "you're welcome" in return, but is ignored.

"Hey, someone hand me that prop!" he shouts to his crew milling around. People look up and shout out in acknowledgment, but the request is bumped out of their minds by the next crisis, the next urgent errand. He resigns himself to waiting. Someone stops a second, a half-second more to shove it under his nose. Hands brush. It's another worn, crusty hand, just like any other on the set. He uses the prop just in time to jam open the mouth of a cardboard animal. The current swirls the momentary helper away. Curly hair disappears beneath the surface.