I DID IT. I finally finished all the top 5 lists. And here, my friends, they all are. Warning: this post is huge, both word count and size wise. ( Cut for MASSIVE amounts of text and many, many, MANY pictures! )

I was considering writing up my thoughts on the American Idol finale, but TV Without Pity pretty much summed it up.

Okay, flist, could you help me out with a fic? I could use some opinions. Here's the deal - there's a character in this fic that I really, really relate to. We're similar in a lot of ways, but of course, we're not the same person, so I try to be very aware of how I'm writing her and make sure I don't fall back on just using my voice. I think it's going well. Anyway, the problem is, at one point in the fic, I'd like her to get her hair cut short. There's a mission that involves her passing as a boy, and I'm planning on having her go ahead and chop it all off rather than tucking it up in a hat or something, just because she feels like it. It's not essential to the plot, but it fits nicely. I think her boyfriend's reaction in particular would be pretty humorous. What I'm worried about is that I used to have long hair, but I chopped mine off, and now I keep it short. If I make this character who canonically has long hair cut hers off too, am I just subconsciously writing her to be more like me? Is it possible to pull off an appearance change like that without it throwing the readers off? If you need more details, see my icon. Like that wasn't already obvious. Le sigh.

Even if I decide to ditch the hair cutting, I think that bit of the fic will be fun, especially since the main plot is rather serious. Hope it all turns out as compelling as it is in my head.

- That monkey couldn't be named more appropriately.

- Just when I think I'm over my Ichiro crush...

- Snitched from middlerelief: Give me a pairing (/threesome/moresome) from any of my fandoms and I'll write you a porny one-sentence fic about them. The porn part is optional; if you want it, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just go with whatever seems right. Multiple prompts welcome - comment away!

Or so - I relied on MS Word's wordcount, so it might be a little off, but oh well. Anyway, I wrote ten drabbles, all about Persona 4. Warning time: there's some Souji/Yosuke, a bit of Chie/Yukiko, a bit of Kanji/Teddie, an overload of fluff, one vague and very much not explicit instance of sex, and no semblance of order or continuity between them. As far as spoilers go, if you know who all joins the party, what the "beauty" pageant is, and don't mind mention of spending one holiday with the guys, you're safe.

( Here we go! )

This makes me want to practice knitting. It's just so adorable! I covet! It seems like it wouldn't be TOO difficult of a project, either. A little cabling, a little shaping, but not too much else that's complicated. It is knitting, though, which turns me off a bit. Once I get some little magnets, I plan on starting an amigurumi project I've been planning for a while. Crocheting sounds pretty good right about now.

As much as I like the free time, I really want to go back to school. There's only so long I can read textbooks on my own before the monotony gets to me. I need classes again, and labwork OOO LABWORK. I wouldn't object to shopwork either. I miss the machine shop. Once I'm back in school, I'm sure I'll be posting here about how I wish I could just ignore my obligations and play video games. Isn't that the way it always works?

I've been trying to write lately (The Anglerfish isn't sure whether it wants to be a standard short story or something more freeform; either way, it craves attention), but I'm just not satisfied with what's coming out. I'm sticking to fanwork at the moment, since that carries with it the motivation of being able to post it online, but the prose... Ugh. Work with me, Yosuke! Work with me!

Anyone have any light-hearted prompts? I'd love to have a go at some fluff tonight.

I'm sure nobody gets the joke in my userpic except me, but I find it funny, so... phbt!

I went to bed at 6:30 this morning. I just wasn't tired. I'm pretty sure I'd thrive on a schedule of being up for forty hours, then sleeping for eight. *shrug*

Finished my Harvard app, finally. I kinda had to wait on cash for the fee ($90 to apply, fuuuuuck), and since it forgot some fields everytime I logged out, I couldn't really fill it all out until I was able to pay. But! It's done now, except for financial aid, which is probably also due in a couple days, and I have yet to finish my fellowship stuff for UF either, but screw it, I'm not thinking about that now yay!

Did some fanlisting updates too. I'm still not done, but it's getting there. Well, for this round, at least. I'll still have tons of FLs left to find homes for. One step at a time.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but some weeks back, Jaime started getting headaches. We think it's a combination of oxygen deprivation - his hemoglobin hasn't reached 11 since all this started, and normal human range starts at 14; plus, it regularly drops below 8 when his other counts drop - and inflammation of the brain lining, which is a potential side effect of intrathecal chemo. Which he's had about ten times. I'm so glad he should be on his way to recovery now. He hasn't had the scans yet, which means he's not officially in remission, but he's done with his scheduled chemo regimen at the very least, and everyone thinks he should be cancer-free. Fingers crossed so tight they might fuse.

On to happier and less important things, I love Persona 4 so much I want to feed it pie and give it sloppy kisses. It is a beacon of awesome in my life at the moment. It doesn't hurt that I completely ship the four characters you start with neatly in two pairs. Guy with guy and girl with girl, no less. Chie and Yukiko are meant to be, no lie, and Main Character (Henry Smith in my game, to go with my James Smith from P3) and Yosuke are just too perfect. I may also be slightly in love with Yosuke. To the point that Jaime calls him "Yo Sucky" in response to me declaring I would totally do him. Jaime, as an audiophile, has been trying to figure out what headphones Yosuke's remind him of. He's also told me he'll graciously wear headphones around me all the time. I'm torn between my desire to have him listen to me and my weird adoration of characters who wear them. It's a tough choice.

I need MC/Yosuke fic, but I'm TERRIFIED of spoilers. I'm in early June in the game (and have spent 30 hours on it already. How do I do this?!), for the record. Help?

Edited to add a new userpic - my husband Yosuke! <3

Jaime's bones are hurting less, I managed to catch a few extra hours of sleep, I finished my statement of purpose and submitted one general app, and I have four letters of recommendation lined up. Life's pretty sweet at the moment.

When you see this, post a little weensy excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.

( Eight Little Excerpts )

Working on grad school apps. After that, will work on fanlisting adoptions again. Heading up to Moffitt again on 12/10. By Christmas, I'm hoping to have a few days without any stress. It might happen. Sure would be nice. For now, phbbbbbbt to everything. ;p

And how are YOU doing this fine day?

My initial NaNoWriMo project was just too depressing to work on everyday, so rather than not write at all (as I've been doing), I've decided to compromise by working on it and FFVIII fic and count them both towards the total.

2,895 / 50,000 (5.8%)

I know, I'm way behind, but I'm having fun. Isn't that what counts?

I didn't start until after midnight, promise.

1,101 / 50,000 (2.2%)

Good luck to everyone else who's working on NaNoWriMo!

Snitched from terra, as I am moderately bored and looking to babble:

a) I want to talk about how my ships and concept of shipping varies with fandom, so name a fandom and I'll discuss what I ship and what shipping means to me in that fandom.

b) I have a lot of fandoms. Have you ever wondered about one of the fandom I sometimes mention on my journal which you don't know of? Ask me any question you want about them!

Let me throw in an extra part: ask me anything. No, really, anything. I'm up for interrogation.

As you may have noticed, my life's been thrown into an unexpected amount of turmoil the past few months. Once this stuff resolves, I'll been getting some of my own health issues fixed, trying to find work again, and getting grad school apps out, and... it's just too much. So, I've decided (at length, and with much trepidation) to adopt out all of my fanlistings. I'm going to be making posts at TFL and TAFL and e-mailing previous owners within the next few days or so. For now, I thought I'd open it up to people on my friends list and let you guys have first swing. Now open to everyone! If you see something you'd like to adopt, please e-mail me at rinoaheartilly[at]gmail[dot]com with your name, e-mail address, sample URL (a FL, your collective, whatever), the subject you'd like to adopt, and your reasons why you'd like it. Please do not hold back! These will all be getting closed if they're not adopted, and that would just break my heart. Ideally, I'd love for them all to find new homes. So please, apply apply apply!

For the curious: the TFL post and the TAFL post. Did I forget anything?

( The Big List of Fanlistings )

A few different people on my friends list have filled this survey out, and so now, I think it's my turn. ( The Controversial Survey (which really seems less controversial and more 'well, duh' to me) )

Phew, that was fun! No questions about stem cells, though. Or the green movement. That's a real shame.

I've always been a bit insecure about my Neku voice, and yet I'm in the middle of a TWEWY fanfic that is 50% Neku talking to himself (kinda). Why do I do this to myself? I have another TWEWY idea that focuses on two characters I've never written before. I wish I could come up with a good idea that has Joshua dialogue in it for once. Aaaaaugh.

I also have a bunny for an FFVIII fic that would end up being lengthy and potentially epic, so chances are I won't get motivated enough to write it. Pluuuus, it's got a lot of Selphie, and in very odd circumstances, so I'd need to reread some dialogue to get her down pat beforehand. Oh hey - advice time! If I did end up writing this, it would involve a monster not currently in canon. I'm thinking a bird type creature, so I was considering using Garuda. Thoughts? Any other ideas?

Yet another idea I have is for the prompt that terra submitted. Gotta make sure my Terra voice is good before that one for obvious reasons.

And hey - I actually started my novel! It's going roughly. I wish I could just jump into the middle, where things pick up and I know what I want to happen, but I have issues writing out of order, and so it's slogging through the beginning for me. At least I'm looking forward to writing the middle and end, so it should get easier as I go, yeah?