Update

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House, on the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch

I decided on Friday that I was going to cheer up (or else!) and events have more or less conspired to make me feel better. Kendo social on Friday, ostensibly to introduce ourselves to the new members, although it devolved into veterans lounging around and watching TV shows, while telling the three new members who showed up all the usual stories. Isn't it odd how you hear the same anecdotes over and over for the millionth time and yet you still laugh as hard as you did for the first? As if anticipation adds spice to the joke, even when the novelty has cooled. Then on Saturday, my roommates and I decided to marathon the first season of Spongebob Squarepants and spent the evening laughing over the silliness. And then on Sunday, I watched the first three episodes of Ugly Betty, to which schwimmerin and I are now firmly addicted.

Of course, the good mood couldn't last. Today, I found out that the funeral service is tomorrow. I dropped by lab and learned that my experimental schedule for the week will be put on the back burner so that I can help organize the lab's various rituals of mourning. It's awful and selfish, but I almost wish that everything was over with so I could move on and forget, instead of being repeatedly reminded every time I walk into the lab.

Still, I'm glad that Christine trusts me to handle these matters. The responsibility is keeping me levelheaded.

The other awful, selfish thought that haunts me lately: I've had such a null effect on the people around me. If I were gone, what imprint would be left? What memories would people have? What would there be to miss? I know so few people on campus, and most of those are such fragile connections, aside from my roommates and the kendo club. Have I really given anything of myself to anyone here?

더 따뜻한 사람이었으면 좋겠다.

Enough of my whining. Change of topic! Everything that I intended to post more than a week ago before I got derailed:

1. Legend of Condor Heroes (2004): Eve was gracious enough to upload the series onto her server for me, and I finished watching the first eighteen episodes. First of all, Guo Jing is adorable. I don't usually like the "dumb hero with a heart of gold", but for some reason, Guo Jing is an exception. I think the main reason is that he's the exact embodiment of the type of man that my mother would want me to marry, i.e. someone who is compassionate and will do the right thing even at his own expense. I can definitely see why Huang Rong falls for him. Speaking of which, Huang Rong wins the prize for being the best female protagonist ever. *_* Guo Jing/Huang Rong OTP! Whenever they appear together, I heart madly at the screen. ^_^

I've also watched up to episode fifteen of Return of Condor Heroes, and indeed the action has gotten better. Although I think the action in LoCH is more exhilarating because they rely less on wirework and special effects (except for the occasional cheesy CG dragon or lightning stroke). RoCH wins at visuals though. They really are two very different stories, despite being set in the same continuity. RoCH at its core is the love story of Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu, while LoCH sets up a hero and anti-hero (Guo Jing and Yang Kang) and has more of an epic feel.

I'm actually picking up some Mandarin words because there are hanzi subtitles in addition to the English ones. Mostly simple ones like erzi and shifu. Also, people seem to say "hau" a lot. (I have no idea how it's supposed to be romanized. By the way, why does pinyin look so different from the way the word is pronounced? Not that Wade-Giles seems any better to me.) Reading Ravages of Time helps as well because you can recognize terms like gongzi and daren.

2. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, part 2: I'm still not finished, but my incoherent reactions while reading:

• "Space Ripper Stingy Eyes"--I...I have no words. ::falls down laughing:: Also, the posing is just hilarious and quite possibly the best part about the art.
  
• "Mexican Nazi Information Center"?!
  
• Wow, cool bike. (Why is it that motorcycles sound and smell so foul and yet look neat when standing still?)
  
• Did the mangaka know they were going to make video games based on Jojo? Those stats are quite precise and all in the right units too.
  
• "He just suddenly vanished." Spontaneous combustion!
  
• Hm, so Santana is basically like Plasticene? Wait, he's like a metastatic tumor!
  
• "Pultarkos"? Do they mean Plutarch?
  
• Hey, this Jojo is smart. ^_^
  
• Stone as the ultimate lifeform seems kind of ironic to me.
  
• "He caught my ripple-infused pasta with macaroni." And, and soap bubbles! AWESOME. (Looks like I'm turning out to be a Zeppeli fan.)
  
• ...When did he have time to put a ripple-infused pigeon into her mouth? And why didn't she notice? Pigeons are pretty huge. (Then again, why am I expecting logic?)
  
• I really like the backdrops of Rome and Venice; they're quite gorgeous.

You know, it really does boggle my mind that according to everyone, the series keeps getting weirder.

Oh, I downloaded the LJ Talk client. (Ack, cynic_in_charge, sorry for not replying to your message; I was off in class and you were already gone when I got back.) I'm also on Gtalk fairly often as well. I'm, um, notoriously bad at initiating realtime conversations, and it takes me a while to stop sounding like a robot. But if you don't mind these drawbacks, please feel free to message me!

Yours &c.

Comments

[zoesque.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you had a brief moment of happy, at the very least. And there is nothing awful or selfish about wanting to put such matters behind you. How would anyone cope with anything, otherwise? *hugs*

Hopefully I'll see you on LJTalk sometime - I'm kind of getting to be addicted, so likely I won't be difficult to find. (But seriously! It's my flist - in real time! How can this not be awesome beyond all reason?!) XD

[troisroyaumes]

::hugs back:: Thanks, Zoe~

LJTalk must be the most awesome new feature LJ has rolled out so far. I'm trying my best to stay off it while I'm supposed to be doing work, but it's hard to resist the temptation. ^_^

[cynic-in-charge.livejournal.com]

You saw my post, right? About where to get the rest of the eps?

(I'll upload the next batch this week. Expect at least another 10-15 eps. XDXDXD)

And s'fine. I was at school and fiddling with ljtalk idly in between classes. We'll talk next time. XDXDXD

[troisroyaumes]

Yup, I saw the post bookmarked the URL. XD Thank you again! I think I'm addicted to the series already. ^_^

I have a bad habit of leaving my IM programs on and forgetting to mark that I'm away. -_-;; But I hope I can catch you online again sometime! XD

[offtheshoulder.livejournal.com]

I had "Ugly Betty" on in the background last week as I tried to do work. I approve!

Also, what bars do you recommend in Harvard Square? My friend and I walked around for ages last week and couldn't really find one that agreed with her (she's not the easiest person to please, thogh). Thanks!

[troisroyaumes]

Hm...I'm not exactly the best person to ask, but the ones that I've been to:

- John Harvard's: best at serving beer, next to the Garage
- Grafton Street: pub but probably best for cocktails, on Mass. Ave. just past the Kong
- Daedalus: supposedly a nice bar often frequented by students, have no idea what they serve since I just had dinner there, on Mt. Auburn next to Unique Pizza (just across from Quincy House)
- Rialto: really, really expensive but very high-class atmosphere, have no idea what they serve there either, at the Charles Hotel

[offtheshoulder.livejournal.com]

Hmm I've been to John Harvard's and Grafton Street, but I will check out Daedalus sometime and ... probably not Rialto anytime soon :).

Thanks for the tips!

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

You're not whining. That kind of thing is always difficult to deal with. :\

And you're watching Ugly Betty too? YAY! XD

Re: LoCH - you should've snagged it from me when I had it up! Hmmm, I suppose I should pimp the series I put up more, huh? Go snag Five. It's campy!

Ah, and now you understand why Tin's future daughter is named Huang Rong. XDD

Also, yeah, you can't really compare the two. They're two different beasts. (And Eve is horribly, horribly biased. Not that I'm not inordinately fond of LoCH - I AM. But I like both series for different things.)

You mean "hao"? (I think. Haha, I never understood why pinyin was so stupid. T___T)

And yeah, Joseph's pretty durn smart. Though Jotaro's actually pretty smart too.

. . . we should ALL be Zeppeli fans. No, I'm serious.

And Araki LOVES Italy so you're gonna enjoy Part 5! XD

[troisroyaumes]

Ugly Betty is such love! Betty is my new hero. I also think the people at Mode are hilarious. XD

Ahhh, why is it that I miss all your great uploads? ;_; Will indeed download Five. I remember wanting to check it out after your televida review. I also should remember to snag the rest of RoCH, now that it's all up.

Yes, I think I mean "hao". Do people use it often now? My roommate seems to say "dwei" (again, no guarantees on correct romanization there) a lot instead and I thought that meant yes.

I think the two Zeppeli are my favorite characters so far. ^___^ Actually I am really looking forward to part 5 (it seems it has the most fanfic/fanart for it). XD

[tokyofish.livejournal.com]

LOL. I realized the other day that I am basically Betty with better teeth and slightly better fashion sense (and I know when I look ridiculous ^^;). So, am wondering whether this is a good or bad thing? XD

XDDDD I dunno! Yes, please watch Five. No one else is! ;__;

Hao = good. Dwei = right/correct. So they're two different words and you use them in different contexts. And you can also use hao like hao tian (very sweet), hao mei (very beautiful). Si = yes/is. (not, uh, the Spanish version, maybe ci? That doesn't look right OR sound right. I PHAIL at pinyin.)

The Zeppeli in Part 7 is also TRULY OUTRAGEOUS AWESOME. Part 5 has gangsters! ^___^

[emblem.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I still intend to visit Boston before you leave it. :D

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, please do visit! Would love to meet you in person! ^_^

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

I'm going to comment even though I'm in the next room and should go to bed, MWAHAHAHA.

We didn't finish the first season, you know :P

And IIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii would miss you tons and tons :(((((((( I would remember your postcard and letters when I was in Germany and all the biology silliness and just life in general. !!

[troisroyaumes]

;_; Me being in the soppy mood that I am, it's really touching to read that. Thanks~

[ladydaera.livejournal.com]

I would miss you. I do miss you and our late night talks and griping about kendo troubles together and, as Jenny puts it so well, just life in general. We should call more often! You were an integral part of my college experience and I'm certain (as long as you want to!) that we'll be friends for life. :-D

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks Jenny~ Actually, you have no idea what a relief it is to me that you're visiting soon (tomorrow!). Missed you lots as well! And of course we'll be friends for life.

[ladydaera.livejournal.com]

Me too. I can't wait to talk to you, and Jenny, and Nan in person. I'm really sorry I haven't been more supportive over the last few days. My only excuse is that the med school application process has pretty much turned me into a nervous wreck. I have so much to tell you. Can't wait until tomorrow (night)!

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

Waahh! I'll be so sad if you die! If you die I'd have to find a way to bring you back from the dead even though I hate zombies, and together we go on a vigilante rampage and hunt down bad guys and after a series of wild misunderstandings, I go down in a blaze of glory in a shootout with the police, the FBI, and the Russian mob who happened to be in the area. Then you bring *me* back from the dead, and we continue to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers but more subtle and the police never catch us. Then years later they'll make a movie/TV show out of it called "Lord of the Vigilantes: The Return of the Zombie" and it'll be protested against by the Right-Wingers for witchcraft and excessive violence until they realize it's really just a documentary. Yup. I have the Necronomicon all ready and everything. Though I'm still terrified of zombies...Maybe I'll find a vampire instead.
I'm tired and need to sleep. The Japanese text I'm translating is scary. The lady has these waking dreams or something where her dead brother and all the other dead people press in against her window as if to ask to be let in. God I hate zombies.

[troisroyaumes]

I'm very touched that you would brave your fear of zombies for me. ::nods solemnly::

The short story sounds nightmarish. Hope you got a good sleep after that.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

I don't think he knew at the time, I just think that a lot of shounen mangaka are just gamers.

Yes, actually, the smrtness of the Jojos after this point does become one of the selling points of the series.

Oh, you'll see MUCH more of the ultimate life forms later.

Shall poke you on LJ talk, although I'll be on at weird times.

[troisroyaumes]

Ah, I see. And um, more ultimate life forms...the mind continues to boggle. I'll have to hurry up so I can get to the next parts. ^_^

Do poke away! Hope I catch you online sometime.

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

Greetings once more, just stopping by since the girls said you had got through some of part 2, so I came to be supportive or... something (okay, I just like to see what people think. It is truly fascinating, the insights people have upon reading! Like Sabina thought of all this stuff I didn't imagine...)

There are only games for part 1 (this year on the PS2), part 3, and part 5, but Araki does faithfully record all sorts of statistics and information for every arc. Because he is a freak.

Zeppelis are uniformly great. XD And there's basically a Zeppeli in every part, which is to say: all Jojos have a best friend who is competent and helpful. And yes, if you haven't got past the retarded fight between Caesar and Joseph, then you have not yet begun to see FAAAABULOUS posing or ultimate life forms. XD (Or cyborgs.) And yes, as Charmian says, the tricksy nonsense that the heroes come up with is definitely a selling point of Jojo. Especially when Stands appear. Stands fight amongst themselves and all have a specific set of abilities, so the physical strength of the user becomes less important, and thinking becomes more important. I look at it like this: in Jojo, the battle is mostly mental, and the winner's reward for outsmarting his/her opponent is getting to punch that person in the face. (Though of course physical stuff comes into play... some people's stands are physical in nature, and then there are cases like Johnny, who is paraplagic and can't run away. XD)

Also: more people than me should write part 2 fic, so I hope you're inspired by later events. ^^

In completely unrelated news, I am sorry to hear you've been sad lately (I reviewed all your recent entries while I was here) and although the support of random people you don't know on the interwebs is not worth much, I wish the best for you and hope your equilibrium returns soon. Sounds like your friends are being supportive, and I don't think you can beat that. Except by winning the lottery or something. Okay, I've become stupid again. Ta! ^^;

[troisroyaumes]

Hi! Er, I don't know how insightful my thoughts are, but I am really enjoying the series. And oh, the posing is just hilarious; I love the way they all seem to grope themselves or each other unnecessarily. XD I'm really curious about the Stands; I read a little bit about them while looking through the meta and the FST posts, but I guess I won't meet them until part 3. ^___^

I've also read through the fanfic archive (despite not knowing many of the characters). XD Actually I still have no idea how to write Jojo fic, but I definitely want to read more fic for the series. XD

And thank you for your kind wishes; it actually means a lot to hear that. I'm feeling much better now. I was also wondering if it would be all right to friend you? I've read through most of your Jojo posts and found them to be a lot of fun. ^_^;;

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

oh, the groping... did you see the scans of Squalo and Tizziano in the new FST? Yeaaaah. Anyhow, the groping becomes even more wrong when stands show up and start groping their owners. (I think of this as masturbation?? XD)

eh? yeah, friend away! XD; I don't really understand why it offends people. It's not like you can STOP people reading your blog amirite?

Did you really see all the jojo posts? Even the really long one full of our retarded nonsense? XD; That's probably the best one. I think I'll grab all the text and stick it on the archive or something. I thought it would annoy people because it's just our commentary from IRC, but I've never gotten such a good response. Even people who don't read Jojo at all thought it was funny. XD;;

As for the archive... actually, most jojo fics aren't up there yet because I keep telling people not to post anything there since I'm trying to figure out how to export the mysql database (and then import it again on the new server). There are a bunch more fics that are just in people's blogs or something. XD (Like my only part 2 fic.) I was gonna try to move it this weekend but I was busy and now I have to do homework and play video games. D'oh. Maybe later this week. -_-

[troisroyaumes]

In fact I did download the FST. XD The fanart is hot. XD I've read some of your Jojo-related IRC posts, although I'm not sure if I've read the really long one in question...do you have a link? ^_^

repost due to html errors

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

Well, it's here (http://angrybabble.livejournal.com/77815.html#cutid2), with some minor spoilers (you should probably at least finish part 2 XD), but that is a link to a cut tag, DO NOT PAGE UP unless you'd like to see some massive part 5 spoilers, which I don't think you do. XD Mostly it's just stupid nonsense. It would probably make more sense to look at later though. XD

Oh and here (http://angrybabble.livejournal.com/78398.html) is the one about how to get a detached finger out of a vagina.

Oh and Puu posted some more on her blog here (http://jokersama.livejournal.com/382247.html).

Aaaaand here (http://angrybabble.livejournal.com/80455.html) is another one. >_>; god wtf.

I dunno if you've seen those more recent ones... there may be more but I'm tired of looking and I think those are all the big ones? XD You can see that I turned some of them into fic later... XD;;

[klio911.livejournal.com]

w00t ugly betty! i've been watching on the internet. it's cute and amusing, but i'm not completely hooked...yet...

[troisroyaumes]

schwimmerin and I are hooked and trying our best to convert our roommate. ^_^

[youkofujima.livejournal.com]

*loiters* Hello. XDD;

Joseph is probably one of the more interestingly smart JoJos out there, I think XD or at least really, really sly/cunning. ^^

And yes, Zeppelis are awesome; there's one in every part, which is even better. I think. XD;

[troisroyaumes]

Hi! ^_^ Yes, I love the way Joseph looks dumb but ends up predicting his enemy's moves. XDDD And yay for more Zeppeli! There can never be enough! XD

I've really loved the fanart on the FST covers by the way; they look fabulous! ^_^