Thank you so much, everyone who commented on my last post. It means a lot to me. And you'll be relieved to hear that later that day I had a whole breakdown/cryfest that resolved a lot of the lingering issues, and I have been up and about for well over a week. Just in time for a CRAZY MIDTERM WEEK OF DOOM.

As proof of my gratitude, I will not complain about the midterm madness and will instead move on to lighter topics.

Things I have been doing with my time that you might actually be interested to hear about:

Merlin fandom (through Delicious) - I think I need to have Delicious taken away from me. It is a terrible and addictive timesuck and my network is far too enabling of the crazy fangirl indulgence. My Bradley James love continues to reach new heights of creepitude every day.

( Anime-related bold points: Code Geass, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, Earl and Fairy )

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Okay, so I am watching the show for the first time? I'm kind of in the middle of season 2 right now? I'm enjoying myself, but in true Elizabeth form failing to really love it because it has been over-hyped? However, I've heard the show doesn't really get truly awesome until like, season 5 or so? And Bradley James is a huge fanboy, so I figure this is just another way I am succumbing to the insanity of my love for him.

Antique - As in the Korean movie adaptation of Antique Bakery with the general hotness factor, and in particular the gay text/subtext quotient, turned up to 11. Basically, already awesome Antique Bakery now with SMOKING HOT GAY LOVIN' with a French Jonathan Rhys Meyers look-alike. And THREE-DIMENSIONAL(!) insanely delicious-looking pastry. And insanely GORGEOUS set designs and cinematography. And INSANELY INSANE RANDOM MUSICAL INTERLUDES. I basically watched this movie with my mouth hanging open the entire time.

Also, I had another Merlin dream where I was traveling with the gang in a kind of modern world, where we all had monster companions. Like, I'm talking digimon/pokemon, Japanese fighting familiar, amalgam-ish monsters. There were stock poses and cg sparkle effects and shit. My subconscious is an amazing place.

OH MAN, NEW EPISODE OF ZOKU NATSUME YUUJINCHOU, YOU GUYS. SOOOO GOOD. I like Natsume Yuujinchou best when it is like this, when it makes me tear up and appreciate all of the people in my life who make sure I never spend a day alone. The new season is really good so far, I am so gladdddd.

Also, I am really, REALLY excited for next week's ep. Totally polishing my slash goggles, hahaha! *rubs hands together*

ETA: Listening to this song (In This City, thanks thisissirius! <3), it actually fits reaaallllyy well with Natsume Yuujinchou. Like I needed another fanmix bunny. :(

So I've kind of been ignoring the Intranets in favor of being with people in RL. How strange! How new! I've reached this strange plateau where I am consistently about 70 entries behind on my flist.

Well, behind on everything except thremedon and mistful. Speaking of, NEW COVERRRR. Speaking of, LASSST CHAPTTTTEEEEEERRRRRRRS.

( Some DDG fangirling and some fandom-related ranting. )

Moving on to other aspects of my geekery, I have finally seen the original Star Wars trilogy and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. My nerd cred has received a major boost!

As for other endings I've experienced lately, ( cut for some anime fangirling of Itazura Na Kiss and Natsume Yuujinchou, minimal spoilers for series/season finales. )

On the RL nerd front, I went to (1) Equus last Wednesday for a pre-season showing and only paid $30 because Columbia is very good to its students. I loved it. I loved it so much I didn't even pay attention to DanRad's exposed package. I also went to (2) NY Anime Fest on Saturday, which was a nice time. I got to hang out with some cool firsties and splintercat and her boy-thing. And then, (3) Neil Gaiman's tour stop for NY was at Columbia['s Teachers College]! I take inordinate pride in this. Yay for Columbia supporting the geeky side of book-learning! So I went and had a lovely time listening to Neil be funny and wise for two hours, and now I have a signed copy of The Graveyard Book to show for it, even if I don't know when I'll be able to read beyond the first chapter.

Which brings me to the actually real RL front, where school is sort of getting away from me. I have a paper due for Romantic Poetry on Monday, which happens to be the day of my Psych midterm, and I am not ready for either. Can I write five pages on the use of the word "minstrelsy" in Coleridge's poems? I like the idea because it allows me to explore interpretations we already touched on in class (automatically know I'm not doing it wrong!), but still, writing an entire paper on one word could present a challenge.

(Also, I really want to drop Psych? The readings are unbelievably boring, it really does nothing for my transcript, and I have discovered I have issues with being awake at 8:30 on a Monday morning, surprise surprise. However, I've already promised my friends in that class that I would do a share of the study guide, so I am forced to stay on until the midterm, which is the day before the drop deadline? Dilemma...)

Also, one of my friends--previously referred to on this journal as Paypay--is in the Sign Language Club and has been teaching me things. Today, I learned how to sign "L-U-K-E, I (AM) YOUR FATHER" and "NOOOOOOOO." Also, "What's up, zebra?" is our new unofficial catchsign. You heard it here first.

And thus, this tl;dr post to break all tl;dr posts has come full circle at 6 o'clock in the morning. It is time for me to put this and myself to bed.

So... Natsume Yuujinchou is pretty darn cool? I hate the fact that I have this HUGE HUGE WEAKNESS for characters like Natsume. Lost characters who are just aching for a kindred spirit. I hate that I identify with these kinds of people, but I can't help but love them despite myself. AND OH MY GOD, MADARA/NYANKO-SENSEI, WHAT THE SHIT, WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME?

I'm so behind all my other shows, what is wrong with me.

Anyway, I recently finished the Librivox recording of Pride and Prejudice that's done by Karen Savage. HEARTILY RECOMMEND. She has a smart English accent and she "does the voices," but not in a hammy way, which is just how I like it. And then I went nuts and re-read all my favorite P&P fanfic and also maybe Mr Darcy Takes A Wife. Oh self. You so trashy. Although I found it funnier this time around? I'm mildly disturbed saying this, but I actually enjoyed it more having read P&P just before it. Does that make any sense at all?

I have been listening to a prodigious amount of ABBA and ELO. I bought their greatest hits CDs with the last of my iTunes gift card money. ABBA is rather self-explanatory, but oh my God, Electric Light Orchestra. When put up against my recent hardcore classical music immersion after Nodame, their classical touches just send thrills through me. Also, my Dad stole my CD backup of the ABBA and has been playing it non-stop. This included hijacking the mix I painstakingly created for my mother's party, and telling everybody how awesome they are and how they should listen to them, which, I can't even explain how unnecessary that was in my pop-oriented family.

Actually, regarding the party, we were rained out of our usual outdoor location, which rather literally put a damper on things, but we made due at the house, even if it was in no way prepared for visitors. It also put a strain on the theme, seeing as we were no longer in the park, but everyone took that better than my mother. Half of them didn't even get what the theme was, hahaha. It didn't stop us from making them wear (New Years, plastic) top hats!

I also reread How To Marry a Marquis and Sorcery and Cecilia, and in my fit of Regency love, I dragged my mother to two separate libraries one day when our true motive for going out was to acquire a Personal ID card for me from the DMV, since I've given up even the pretext of acquiring a driver's license in the near future. We went to one library before the DMV which required doubling back, and then after the DMV we stopped at the other library which was 20 minutes out of our way. My mother is a saint.

So I acquired To Catch An Heiress, the "prequel" to How To Marry A Marquis, as well as Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberly, the sequel to Mr Darcy Takes a Wife. To Catch An Heiress was AMAZING. The ending didn't quite live up to the beginning or middle, but SUCH a beginning and middle! I had to put the book down multiple times because I was laughing so hard I couldn't read for my shaking. Most of those times involved something with Blake's butler who was HILARIOUS. I made a start at Darcy and Elizabeth, but I got 60 pages in with no humor, intrigue, or truly, anything of interest sighted which was about the time I consulted the reviews on amazon and saw that even people who 100% enjoyed the first were thoroughly disappointed by the second and I put the book down like a hot potato. Sigh. I've also acquired Mr Darcy Presents His Wife, which I'm hoping is at least marginally more interesting. Also, These Three Remain (twice in as many months!) and have been rereading favorite passages. My love of Dy only grows upon reacquaintance. And to round out the numbers, I also took out two Heyer books, even though they are in large print, which annoys me. They're Heyer; that should count for everything.

I've made a (very) unofficial goal for myself to have finished 15 books by the end of the summer. Just for reference, I've read 9 books so far: Aidan's Darcy Trilogy, Victory of Eagles, Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy Takes A Wife, How To Marry a Marquis, Sorcery and Cecilia, To Catch An Heiress. Don't think I don't see the running theme, it will be broken by Breaking Dawn whenever I get around to that. Speaking of, I avoided the release frenzy on principle, but I'm chafing at all the spoilers on my flist. I swear, when Deathly Hallows came out I barely stumbled over spoilers even when I was looking for them. What the hell, Twilight fandom.

So uh, yes. My week. There you go. OTAKON THIS WEEKEND! I realize I never posted about it here, but I semi-solved the problem of companions. Two of my friends are coming along, even though neither of them is any kind of anime fan. One is intrigued by the novelty, and the other's boyfriend is going to be there. Plus, I'm deep discounting their fare in the hotel since I'd rather have them there than be alone, so it is a cheap weekend away for them. I figure they can ditch me for a few hours if the endless parade of panels and merchandise begins to bore them. They have assured me they are up for a laugh, which is all I really care about. I'm excited! :D