Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

I do believe I'm starting to cramp. I figured it would be happening around this time, but I had really hoped it could hold off for a bit. I hate it when it happens on the weekend. Then it means I'm in agony on Saturday morning. I suppose I can be grateful that the worst of it will be over by Monday.

I did finally type something for Alister again. XD; I don't want his journal to die. It's fun, writing a journal for one of the most underappreciated yet fascinating, complex, and wonderful characters on YGO.

That Doom poster is on eBay right now, and for a good price, too. I think I just may have to snap one up. wwwanimestuffstorecom has a really awesome selection of anime products. I've bought CDs from her about three times now, I think. The prices are always reasonable.

Media Play sold that Alucard wallscroll. XD Not that I would have considered getting it. I was just curious. Now they have some cool T-shirts of Cowboy Bebop and Rurouni Kenshin. I may consider getting one.

I honestly have not known much of anything to ask for for my birthday. Most of what I want is online, and Dad doesn't do much online shopping. But it wouldn't be practical to ask for books, because I already have so many around that I need to read once I get my school done. Most DVDs I prefer buying myself. And most of the music I like is foreign. XD; I did think of a few things to ask for that can be found around locally, but eh. ^^;

Blah, I wish there'd be more cool YGO merchandise released. There hasn't been much around for a while. There are those interesting figure sets each with Yami Yugi, Seto, or Marik, accompanied by their respective God monster, but I already have the Marik figure, and my versions of the Yami Y and Seto figures are better than the ones that come with the God monsters. XD;

Okay, I went to Yu-Jyo because they have the summary for #185 up now. I just remembered a day or two ago that Siegfried is sometimes called "Jeek/Jeeks/Jik" and it says on #185 that the butler calls him that. My question is, Where did that come from? XD; His name is Siegfried in both versions. Is "Jik" a nickname or something? Darcy was getting a kick out of it. XD **completely confused now.** I should have asked Amelda-kun about that when she was on. . . .

Also, his last name was given as Schroider instead of Schraider. I've heard both, but if one's incorrect, how did that get started? XD;

And http://www.advfilms.com is having a huge anime sale through the 7th! Many of the things are around $6.00. @__@ They have several Saiyuki volumes for that, and I'm definitely getting a couple! I'll consider it an early birthday present to myself. ^^; I think I want 9, 10, and maybe 12 out of the ones on sale.

I think I'm finally starting to develope my opinion on Dartz. For a long time I've had that love-hate relationship with him and I haven't known what to think. But I'm becoming so fond of him after watching him interact with Alexander. I was listening to Dartz's Theme in the morning and really thinking about how sad and melancholy it sounds. He really is a tragic character, any way you look at it. He ruled over the people of Atlantis and knew nothing of the corruption that could enter in, until it did. He had to kill his own wife after she turned into a monster, because if he hadn't, she might have attacked and killed others, even perhaps the rest of the family. Obviously he couldn't have been in his right mind during Doom, whether the Orichalcos was completely controlling him or just influencing him. After ten thousand years of either option, naturally he would have gone mad. To do what he wanted to do was complete insanity. I don't know if he could ever really recover from that disaster, but I like him better when he's stable rather than schizophrenic. I think that may be another reason why I've stalled on Candy Clouds. He's in Life After the Tears, too, but he's of sound mind in it. XD;

List 5 reasons why you are a dork. And make them good reasons. Justify them. Explain them. Be loud and proud of how big a dork you are! Then pick the 5 biggest dorks you know and have them do the same.

1. I am a hurt/comfort junkie. Always have been, always will be. **whispers.** Though I don't like random h/c that's just there to move the plot along and doesn't have a real purpose. I hate when I get so bored that I actually use that twist myself. ^^;

2. I love to collect things, especially YGO shirts and figures. There haven't been a lot of either lately that I've been interested in, though.

3. I don't know whether this is evident of being a dork or not, but I love details and philosophical things and psychological things. X3 Journeys into characters' minds and beliefs is extremely fascinating to me. Sometimes I even learn things about myself along the way.

4. I adore the Internet. I can feel free to express my true self and meet like-minded people.

5. I adore some of my OCs too much sometimes. XD Nothing can come of them, since they're fan characters for YGO, but I adore them anyway. **cuddles Alexander.** So cute!

**shrugs.** And anyone who thinks of herself (or himself) as a dork can choose to do this.

I got the manga for The Cat Returns today. It's quite different from the movie. I think Haru's relationship with Muta is cuter and more developed in the movie, as well as her relationship with the Baron, but her relationship with Yuki is much better in the manga. So I'm definitely happy to have it as a companion piece to the movie.

I was looking at Saiyuki mangas, and I realized how lucky I am that the F-word wasn't in volume six. It's in all three of the following volumes. XD; I think maybe I'll concentrate on the anime version.

And I think I'm starting to convert Lisa to being a Saiyuki fan. X3 She watched the first DVD and seemed to enjoy it. ^___^

... Come this fall, KidsWB is going to have a show about talking fruit, among other odd shows. What the HECK?! **weeps.** I do believe its programming is going down the drain. When I first was up watching the shows three years ago, I watched almost the whole block on KidsWB. Now I prefer the Fox Box, save for YGO.

Speaking of YGO, the episode earlier was 179. That one is so heartbreaking, when Dartz reveals the truth behind what happened to Raph and the others. Raphael just looked so shattered! **cuddles him.** I actually felt sorry for Dartz, too, that he was so delusional. One thing I still am not sure of is whether he was only influenced by the Orichalcos or whether it actually took over his mind completely and controlled him. The dub gives the latter explanation, but I dunno how well I can trust that. XD; I've heard both things.

I've been thinking about this for a while, ever since someone made a comment about fantasy writers being realists. I agree with the statement. I know that I, for one, am a realist. I know that the world is often cruel and cold and that things often don't go the way you want. People die, friends drift apart, etc etc. That's exactly why I write the way I do, because I'd prefer to create a little place where things actually do go right in the end, since it rarely happens in real life. XD; And you know, it's strange. I was musing to myself about what things would depress me the most and I think the answer is friends going their separate ways. I'm not sure even death would depress me as much as that, if the death was portrayed in a noble, beautiful way. (Though, technically, if someone dies, they're certainly going a separate way from their family and friends. XD; Character death definitely does depress me, but I'm wondering if friends all staying alive but going different ways depresses me more.) That's why I'm so anti-romance, I think, because if girls came in and interfered with the bikers and they all wound up with girlfriends, then they'd probably all get married and move away to various locations. They wouldn't see as much of each other, nor would they have much time for each other anymore. That's how it generally goes in real life, even if the people don't intend for it to happen. Sure, they'd still feel as close to each other, but they wouldn't be all that each other would have anymore. And I'm just in love with the idea of the three of them being a surrogate family. XD; In my little universe, I don't intend for anything to separate them, including death, for that matter. **smile.** It's my little escape from the real world and I'm entitled to that, just as romance lovers are entitled to what they want. **shrug.** I don't have to agree with them, nor they with me.

I had to go fix a glitch with my library card on Tuesday. I found that I couldn't place holds online and it was annoying. A librarian tried to fix it over the phone, but it didn't take, so we had to go in. It turned out that they had actually forgotten to replace the old card's barcode with the new one's. O__o;; **shakes head.** It's fixed now, though.

Afterward Dad let me investigate the new Star Wars stuff at Toys R Us. Then I bought Enya's A Day Without Rain album at ShopKo in hopes for inspiration on Candy Clouds, as Enya seems to bring about much inspiration for that. XD; We also went to Dollar Tree (where I bought new headphones, as the others conked out without warning on Saturday and I had to borrow Dad's, and sunglasses, as the sun was bothering me) and Wal-Mart (where I bought some more black nailpolish, as I'd run out, and the paperback version of the Star Wars Episode 1 adaption. Yes, I like the prequels). I still want to go to Borders, but we weren't really near it on Tuesday and it was getting late, so I wanted to get home.

Did I mention that our TV is so awesome? It has a headphone jack. >3 So I always watch TV with headphones. It's my own private little world. I can watch stuff in peace without waking people up. **smile.**

And I must mention this: I'm so proud. XD; I've been getting my durned math problems done correctly without having to ask for help as much. I completed the rest of the section myself and now I'm working on the exam. ^^ Then I'll only have two more books to wade through. ^^; Of math, that is.

Some idiot actually posted a poll at Janime's on whether Alister is a guy or a girl. O__o;;; After all this time, you'd think it'd be obvious! There's three pages (last I checked) of people trying to set the person straight. LOL.

And the other night I was watching a tape of Yami Y's duel with Noa, and I dunno why it happened right then, but I got remembering my pic of Alister as the Cyber Commander and I wanted to draw the other bikers as Duel Monsters characters. I knew right away that I wanted Shine Angel for Raphael (though I didn't know the name of the card at first), and later on I decided to add Dartz and have him be Witty Phantom (hey, they both wear purple suits. LOL), but I couldn't figure out what I wanted for Valon. I knew I wanted a Warrior card, and one that would allow his hair to show, but I couldn't think of anything. Someone at Janime's suggested Marauding Captain and I decided to try it. ^^ Currently that picture is half-finished. XD; I did the Raphie pic, though. I love how it came out. And I have a plot bunny to go with the pics, something involving someone sending them into a Shadow Game where they're those card characters.

I also have a plot bunny involving a couple coming and claiming to be Valon's parents. o.o That should be interesting. I dunno whether I want them to be a couple of con artists and not related to him, or for them to be a couple of con artists and to be related to him, though. XD; I figure Valon's real parents were probably jerks, if they're alive. I made up a thing where they purposely abandoned him when he was little. So saaad!

I finally did chapter 6 of the mystery fic yesterday morning. I still haven't figured out what should happen to Runi, though. And now I should work on chapter four of Candy Clouds. ^^;

My CD came and I adore it, but I can't read the track listing. ^^; Is there anyone who can supply me with an English track listing?

**EDIT.** Never mind. ^^; Windows Media Player has now translated for me. XD; Real Player would not. **frowns at it.** There's still two tracks Windows Media Player couldn't figure out, however. ^^; And . . . I do not see a track labeled "Varon's Theme" or anything to do with Varon. XD; And there's at least two people who want his theme. Anyone know which track it is?

In other news. . . . Valon went byebye. ;__; But they dubbed things quite well! His partings words were pretty much what I'd been told he says in the Japanese. ^___^ And I loved when Seto and Mokuba encountered a whole horde of Orichalcos soldiers. XD; "Evening. Is there something I can help you boys with?" Priceless. I also loved when Valon's hair popped out in every direction. XD;

I've already got chapter 3 done on my Phantom of the Theatre fic. It's moving along very very nicely! And I love doing the Phantom in-jokes and such. XD I'm having a lot of fun with the thing. ^^

I'm so glad I've seen some of the original Japanese of Tokyo Mew Mew. XD; The dub for that really is bad at times, though I like Reneé's voice and sometimes they've gotten the dialogue pretty correct. They took out the part in the first episode where Ichigo bonded with the kitty, however, which was kind of important. XD; I was expecting them to edit it out, though. ^^;

I loved the episodes on Saturday, but the first one, of course, made me sad. XD; Still, as I speculated in my biker club, I think things had to end the way they did to be the best for all included, especially Alister. He needed time alone to ponder and sort out his feelings of anger and pain. If he had won, that most likely wouldn't have happened. Besides, we need Seto badly in the plotline at the moment. XD; The second episode was great, especially when Seto and Yami Y get surrounded by Duel Monsters. "I think you're nuts, but this isn't really the time for an argument." Classic line. And oh yeah! Poor Raphael. He was so upset when Dartz told him about Alister and was so blasé about things. I hope they haven't taken out the part where Raphael wants Valon to duel on Alister's behalf. . . . **hopes that will be at the beginning of the next episode.** Raphael did call Valon, but they had such a short conversation that it doesn't seem there would have been time for Raphael to say what he wanted. And he did say, "Valon, wait!" as the brunette was hanging up, so maybe he intended to tell him then and will call back at the beginning of the next episode. XD;

I just posted chapter 17 of Crimes for Christmas. I'm really proud of this one. ^^; It's got an interesting scene with Mai and Valon, which is interrupted by the arrival of the next disaster. XD; But I know how to finish up the scene that was started! =3 I'm looking forward to writing that piece. In fact, maybe I'll just type it down quickly in WordPad before I forget it.

I think we're going out later today to take something to my nephew. If so, I must buy some more blank tapes at Big Lots. **hugs Big Lots.** They have big brand name tapes for only ninety-eight cents each.

Oh yeah. ><; This person emailed me and asked which mystery story it was when Marik had amnesia. I told her Stolen Memories and then she went "Is that a story? -__-" I'm not sure whether she was just being rude and meaning "That was a story?! It was pointless!" or if she was just meaning something like "What kind of title is that?!" or if it was something else. It mildly irritated me, though. I replied something along the lines of "That is the name of the story, my dear. There is no need for faces of exasperation."