It appears my fic has been somewhat uncanonized by the release of xxxHOLiC chapter 180. Sorry 'bout that.

The rest of you (other than the wonderful and lovely eoedad, who was my beta) will have to wait a bit to read the fic, but it'll be soon enough, I suppose. :D It'll probably go with my huge fic dump.

Last night I had a dream that I had a fever, and the only prescription was more cowbell.

That's right.

It was AWESOME.

Yuuko sets down her spoon and fork and says, “I was to have two traveling companions, servants of mine if you will. But one took ill quite suddenly and the other insisted on staying behind to care for him.” She smiles the mocking smile again and beckons the servant to refill her goblet (for the sixth time, and they’re only on the second course). She giggles, and even that is elegant. “They have a deep connection. It’s a shame that they couldn’t be here.”

“Your servants are married to each other, milady?” Morgana asks curiously.

“They are not,” Yuuko says, “Just connected by the red thread of destiny.”

Merlin goes white. Arthur has discovered that Merlin hates destiny. “Destiny,” he says.

Yuuko finishes her wine and the servant hops up to pour another glass without her even asking. She swirls the wine in the glass, looking down at it for a moment, and then she smiles, slow and dangerous in a way that makes Arthur a little afraid for his sanity. “Destiny,” she affirms, voice low and full of certainty. “It is a fabulous thing, isn’t it? But there is not just destiny; there is fate, too—how some things are certainly to be, and how some things are not, and you cannot change that.” Her smile grows. “In my country, we call it hitsuzen.”

Merlin is looking at Arthur with a very certain Look on his face. When he catches Arthur’s eye, he mouths, fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Arthur is suddenly inclined to agree.



Guys, it is Merlin/holic crossover because sapphirestar_ just happened to put a Merlin icon up when she replied to a comment of mine and we had this big discussion and she's finally forced me into actually thinking about what would happen when Yuuko and the Great Dragon meet and WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING.

Someone stop me. PLEASE.

...or don't. I can't decide.

Changed my layout a couple days ago. We have moved from MirrorMask to Delacroix and Hugo. xD It's also, IMO, easier to read. And easier to decipher my flist to boot. xD

Um. Not much going on. I've been really lonely and down recently, and then realized that I've been forgetting to take my meds. So hopefully remembering those will help me feel a bit better. Gymnast is coming over tonight too, so that will be fun. I can't wait until she gets here.

was thinking about that, actually, my names for my friends. MBF and HLBF (MormonBestFriend and HorseLoverBestFriend), haven't changed, thank God. But DrumMajor is no longer a drum major and Gymnast no longer a gymnast. gothsocks changed her name so many times that I just eventually stopped, because it was confusing. xD And then I realized I haven't really talked of my friends a lot recently. I blame Costa Rica, I was kind of out of the picture.

BUT THE NEWS OF THE DAY

Today, at 8:30 this morning, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously voted to

LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE!!!!!!!!

I'm SO HAPPY!!! Guys, it's awesome! It goes into effect in 3 weeks and IA will be only the fourth state in the country to do it, after Massachusetts and California (and they struck it down fuck you prop 8) and Connecticut, and it's IOWA. MY state! I'm so happy!!!!! My little, hickish, 3 million people, farming, mixed-up-with-Idaho-and-Ohio-all-the-time state. WE DID IT!!!! :DDDDDD

If there's any external event that could pull me from depression, for at least a while, this is it. There are not words for how happy I am. :D

This is the most wonderful thing ever.

ARGH I am having the hardest time with buying contacts for Bonten.

Finding contacts isn't the issue. Deciding what color Bonten's eyes are aren't even the issue.

No, but Takayama-sensei sometimes colors his eyes green, and sometimes blue, and on one interesting occasion in the artbook (as everything else seems to be real color), indigo-ish.

Screenshots I dug up from he anime had his eyes as blue. And more of Takayama-sensei's pictures are definitely blue. On the other hand, I've always had this feeling of Bonten having green eyes, and so it feels weird to buy blue ones. I found a couple nice teal-colored contacts, a perfect mixture, but the problem is, they're non-prescription, and the last time I checked, canon Bonten wasn't blind as a bat. So, since I've been arguing with myself about this for the last hour and a half ("just suck it up, you dummy, and buy the blue ones!" "no!"), those of you who read Amatsuki: should I get blue contacts or green ones?

Look! I'll even be professional and make a poll:

Poll #1363380 Contacts for my Bonten (Amatsuki) cosplay: blue or green?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Should my Bonten contacts be closer to blue or closer to green?

So vote! And ease my weary mind. :)

Quick thought on holic and trc (finally caught up)

( uh, yeah. spoilers. )

I WAS I AN EARTHQUAKE, GAIZ.

SERIOUSLY.

IT WAS THE MOST EXCITING 10 SECONDS OF MY LIFE.

Apparently it was a mag. 6.2, and now all of San Jose (including Alajuela and Heredia), is on red alert. And no one is allowed to go upstairs. And the study abroad office (which has better internet than the university) is closed. D:

BUT IT WAS AWESOME. SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME.

I was lying on my bed watching FMA eps that I'd downloaded a million years ago (read: they were like early first season XD) and suddenly the window started shaking and I thought it was a car or something but then everything began shaking and I was like "HOMG IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE AND I'M NOT GONNA SLEEP THROUGH IT OR MISS IT THIS TIME (I missed a minor one yesterday, sadface D:) !!!!!!111!!!!!!!1"

I was so excited. XD I was like Dane Cook when he realized he was gonna see a guy get hit by a car. That's how excited I was. XDDDDD

And it was great. I'm sure once you have experience it's not nearly as awesome, but I thought it was sooooooooooo cool. :D

I WAS IN AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!! *SQUEE*

...

Ahem.

Onto other things. Last night I saw Marley and Me, and it was fantastic. I've never seen Owen Wilson in a role that wasn't ridiculous humor/slapstick, but he was so good. And Jennifer Aniston was great and it was just awesome. :) Definitely go see it.

I love my new roommate way more than I liked my old one. I think we may actually keep in touch after we go home. She's way cool.

Class is good...yeah. That's about all I need to say about class. But no. It really is. It was exciting because Marley and Me was dubbed in spanish, but I understood almost all of it. There were just a few things that I didn't know the specifics of, but I'm gonna have Maman mail the book and I'm sure I'll watch it again in English when I get home.

But seriously, if you have a dog, if you love dogs (or pets in general), you have got to see this movie. It's great. :)

Um...yeah. For those of you who follow my fics, I'm probably gonna have a new part of barcode up today and a holic oneshot up this weekend. :) So that will be great.

HEY. GUYS. I WAS IN AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!

First of all:

Merry Christmas! Happy fifth day of Hanukkah! I hope your holiday was a good one. :)

Secondly:

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU bombaycake!! I was so happy when I got home to get your card! I can't thank you enough. :D

Thirdly:

My internet connection is acting up and we're moving, so I'm a bit behind. I'm trying to keep up with my flist but I'm not doing too well. Anyway, hope you're all doing well, and I hope to talk to you soon! :D

Agh, stress.

I should be at home right now, but actually I'm in a hotel at Houston, because my plane was delayed an hour and a half and then we spent almost 3 hours on the tarmac. We left San Jose at around the same time we were supposed to get into Houston. So I missed my flight to Des Moines.

Gah!

But I'm going to bed, and I talked to everybody--god, it was so good to hear their voices. :) I may voice post tomorrow just because I can because I can use my cell phone again. XD

I'm tired. Bedtime. XD

I'm almost home!

been quite a while since I posted, huh? XD

I go home in 3 days!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED.

SERIOUSLY. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!

Okay, so now that I've gotten that point across, I am coming back for jan. and feb, but still, 2 weeks at home will be really nice. Not to mention like. Christmas. And real winter. And I'm just so excited!!!!!

I don't have internet at home right now. D: So I'm up at school every afternoon after working out (see that? I'm working out! :D) doing my internet crap.

( anime ranting that has nothing to do with Costa Rica but a whole lot to do with Code Geass )

Um. SO I'M GOING HOME!!!

I'm so sorry. I can't think of much else right now. Spanish is going well, thanks. Subjunctive is a bitch. It still makes more sense than imperfect vs. preterit, though. XD

Last time you were the stupid!villain in the superhero meme, and now you're the pet. I don't understand. DX

I had these plans. They're starting Supernatural season 4 here tomorrow at 8, subbed in espanol. So, I was going to take my test Friday morning, relax/internet/watch season three in the afternoon, and go to the final symphony concert in the evening.

That all went brilliantly. The concert was fantasic; the national orchestra is as exceptional as the Ticos claim it is. They have every right to be proud of it. Also, I got to see a piece writted for the OSN in its debut last night, which was really cool. I was part of the first audience ever hearing that piece, and I really liked it. It had a lot of aspects of modern classical music, but I love modern classical music just as much as the good old stuff, and it was really good.

So, then, on Saturday, I was going to go to Volcan Irazu, and then relax/watch more Supernatural. And on Sunday I was going to go to Volcan Poas and get back in time to shower, eat dinner, and then actually watch Supernatural on TV. For once. XD

But whatever. Today.

So I get down to downtown San Jose at 7:45 to catch the 8 o'clock bus (the bus comes back from Irazu at 12:30). That all goes brilliantly, and I meet this girl who just graduated from UKansas in Manhattan (Kansas). She's with her boyfriend, and they're in CR for two weeks because her boyfriends from Mexico and they've been doing the long distance thing. That was cool.

Anyway, so it's an hour and 45 minutes or so to Irazu, and by the time we get to the gates it's rainy and windy and (when we get outside) probably around 40-some degrees, maybe less with wind chill.

Whatever. I'd totally hike anyway.

The problem is that there was a rockslide in the park. A ROCKSLIDE. So the park is closed today and tomorrow, and for good reason: not only is it dangerous, but none of the frickin' place has power or water or anything.

So we turned around and went back to San Jose.

On the way home I talked to a guy from Taiwan (though he lives in Florida now), who's here for a week. He was pretty cool. It was nice to talk to him. He'd been to a lot of countries in Latin America, and it was cool to hear about that. Apparently, the traffic in Brazil is even crazier than it is here in San Jose. I'm not even sure how that's possible. XD

So I went and got white grape juice and cookies from the automercado, and I guess I'm gonna start the supernatural marathon early. I think I'll try Irazu next weekend, and go with Susan, because she wants to see a bunch of the volcanoes.

Whatever. As soon as I go home (since I'm at UVeritas right now because I don't have internet), I'm changing into my pajama pants and dry socks and curling up in bed.

It's cold. And rainy. I love it, but I really wish I was in Irazu. D:

hmm. What's going on.

It's cold here! Which is weird! But I'm outside in a sweatshirt and my feet are FREEZING (because I'm wearing flip-flops) but it's cold!

I don't have internet at home...the router's screwed up, dunno why. I may not have internet at home for the next month (oh my!). Ummm...hmmm.

So. I gave up on the nanowrimo thing because when my computer crashed it ate it all. I'm contemplating having a NeNoWri10 (nebulia novel writing 10 days) and just totally ruining my life and destroying what little sanity I might possess by writing 50K words in 10 days.

Let's see if we can get back on our feet, hmm.

hahahahahahahano. It's not gonna happen. But I'm gonna give it a shot. I'll plot until nov. 20, and then it's off to the races. When I start babbling like a maniac, you might want to give my mom a call, k? XD

So it's cold here, and I don't have internet and I'm homesick. I'm happy about the cold though. I'm also sad because my spanish class for this month finishes on Friday and I really like my teacher. Que lastima. D:

Also, my new favorite thing about Costa Rica:

Age at which you can marry: 15
Age at which you can have consensual heterosexual sex: 18

…wait, what?

XD

um...yeah.

Oh, wait! Here:

You're The Guns of August!

by Barbara Tuchman

Though you're interested in war, what you really want to know is what
causes war. You're out to expose imperialism, militarism, and nationalism for what they
really are. Nevertheless, you're always living in the past and have a hard time dealing
with what's going on today. You're also far more focused on Europe than anywhere else in
the world. A fitting motto for you might be "Guns do kill, but so can
diplomats."


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Obviously, they didn't have Les Mis among their choices, because...really. :D

haha, no. But seriously, it's pretty accurate. If I were to be more politically active than I am. XP

So it's not like I miss home so hard it hurts. But I will be really happy to get home and see everyone again. Like...I really, really REALLY miss my friends, and my dogs, and just the normal comforts of home. I love it here, I really do, but I am homesick. Very much so.

Of course, I'm only home for about eight days until I go skiing and then I'm back here for 2 more months. But two months isn't four, and I get a little bit of time to recuperate. I just. Wow. I just miss home a lot.

It's to be expected, I think, considering I've never been away from home this long. It's just, I haven't really been feeling the desire to be home until now.

Bah.

So, I went to the Apple store to get Shin fixed. I managed the first five minutes in Spanish, the next three minutes in English, and then the guy and I ended up speaking in this really odd mixture of Spanish and English where he would ask "You necesita this ahorita?" And I would say, "Not ahora pero...soon?" And he would say, "Dos hours?" and I would say, "Si, esta bien, thanks."

Anyway, it was amusing.

But he replaced my hard drive, and now I have Leopard, which is kind of glorious, and 40 gig more of hard drive space, which is also glorious. :D

Spanish is going well. I'm beginning to understand things in general, more often. Not all the time, but...I can follow a conversation, for the most part. Which is cool. :D I'm hoping that understanding stuff will start to pick up as I gather more vocabulary; that seems to be my biggest problem now. I think I'm getting the hang of imperfect tense, thank god, and maybe para and por as well, and hopefully that indirect pronoun thing will just kind of randomly insert itself into my knowledge (the se la, etc. part before the verb is still a little confusing. D:

Hmm...tonight I saw the James Bond movie.

HOMG GO SEE IT. It's fantastic. It's just...fantastic. I would totally go gay for the chick in that movie, seriously; she kicked butt and she was beautiful and her voice was incredible. I love voices, the way they sound. Hers was lovely and low and feminine with a great accent...women with low voices are great. Like Rachel Weisz? She has such a low voice and yet she still sounds feminine. My voice is just a manvoice. XD Oh, and M was great in this one too. And James was exceptionally great; Daniel Craig is definitely my second favorite Bond. Sean Connery will always be first, though; you just can't beat Sean. You really can't. But Daniel Craig's fantastic. And hot. And he has the best blue eyes...dear Lord, the best blue eyes. I would very much like him to marry me. XD

But I digress. Anyway, it's awesome; go see it.

So. There's that...hmm...what else?

Tomorrow is Maree's 21st birthday; we're going to dinner and then dancing for it, so that should be fun. Whether or not I actually dance is up in the air, but I love to watch dancing, so it's okay. On Saturday I'm going to the ballet with a bunch of people too. I love watching good ballet; it's just gorgeous.

So that's the news from Lake Wobegon--er, I mean, San Jose. XD Not a whole lot going on; just kinda kicking back right now, I guess. I dunno.

Have I mentioned how much I love my roommate? A lot. A LOT a lot.

We'll never be best friends--at least, not as I'm seeing it right now--but we might keep in touch for a few years or something. But she's way cool. At first I thought she looked down on my 'cause I was younger and SUCH a dork, and not just nerd, and she does look down on me because I'm younger. But not in a condescending way, I mean, I AM younger, and I haven't experienced college yet, and she's cool with that. It's not condescending at all.

And she's so smart and even though we differ in some opinions, we think in very much the same ways, and we're amused by the same things, and we both like Bones, and she's fun to hang out with...so she's cool. I really like her, though at first I didn't so much.

Also, we both desperately miss the people at home, which is just kind of...nice, to commiserate with her on that. And we both don't think in overly girly ways--like, yeah, I fangirl over everything, but when it comes to actual real life, all that girly drama crap just isn't my style. XD So we commiserate over all the girly drama that goes on in this place. Honestly, it's cliquey like stereotypical high school stories are cliquey. XDDDD

Today at lunch I just had the most sudden, base, deep desire to be home. To be in my own room on my own bed with my own weather and my own dogs and everything. It was odd; yes, I'll be happy to go home, but I'm so happy I'm here. But I'm not going to be homesick, because I can't take a chance like this for granted, I really can't. It was just odd.

Sometimes taking three years of Latin really helps me.

Other times it doesn't.

Like the imperfect tense. In Latin, the imperfect tense is used to describe a verb you starting doing but never necessarily finished, or you were interrupted, like "I was talking to Susie and then I got shot" or something. "I was talking" is in imperfect. It's generally a "was/were + verb" kind of thing.

Which is something entirely different in Spanish; just a basic gerund. Which in Latin gerunds were not basic at all, but in Spanish they are. D:

No, the imperfect tense is used to describe something you used to do but don't do now, I think. I'm still trying to figure it out.

I'm also having problems with indirect pronouns. I'm beginning to follow them when I read them or have to use them for homework, but I can't even fathom putting them into actual sentences during my conversations. Good lord.

Somewhere between 1500 and 2000 words, I think. I will continue! I will persevere! I will be awesome! :)

Sometimes I forget that I'm in a second-world-bordering-on-first-world (or perhaps it's the opposite?) country. San Jose is a very modern city (as a matter of fact, it was the third city in the world to get electricity, after New York and Paris), but it has power outages frequently, but not nearly as frequently as the rest of the country.

We just had one such outage...at this time of night, since it's dark, you're kind of screwed; there's no internet and you really can't read all that well...it lasted perhaps half an hour or so, though, so not too bad. Most of these outages, though frequent, aren't much longer than that, as opposed to in Iowa, where when we get a power outage, it lasts like four hours. Like the one in early December my junior year, when I got home from a choir concert to find that there was no power--and thus, no heat. This was like 9 o'clock Sunday night, it was fucking cold, hell, it was even snowing, and I still had homework to do. I tried to work, but had no internet, so I couldn't do the research I needed to do and then my laptop battery died and so for like three hours Maman and dad and I sat downstairs and listened to Christmas music before we finally decided to go to bed. It was like 1:30 and I was almost asleep (under like 15 blankets) when the lights, heat, everything came back on. God. That power outage, so discourteous.

But here it's a very normal thing, power outages--which is very much understandable, given that a) it's presently the rainy season, and so thunderstorms are frequent, and b) it's a high-seismic activity area, so though there are rarely earthquakes that people notice, there are still tremors that can disrupt the system. Not to mention--and I don't mean to sound condescending or anything, but the power as a whole is not as high-quality here; it's more expensive and it's more volatile. This isn't to say I don't have fabulous internet connection or the lights go off every night at 9, but it's just a little fact in the background. It's not a huge big deal--in fact, I'm almost as used to it by now as my host family--but this is the first time it's happened in the evening like this and rendered me...without much to do, so it just reminded me that I was somewhere else; I'm still having a hard time believing I'm in Costa Rica. XD I couldn't even write, as the fic I'm working on I'm researching right now too. Alas!

Haha, I'll finally be all used to being in a different country and then like three days later i'll go home. I can just sense it. XD

Thanks to the wonderful bel, I have a new layout: nebulia nebulia nebulia.

It's quite nice, I approve. XDDD Only problem is my icon doesn't match the colors on the layout, XD, but whatev. Dude, I'm not THAT anal.

Right. So, you know, I realized I should probably update my Costa Rica status. Which I'm doing. Right now.

So, I've been here for almost two months, and this weekend, I managed to conquer public transportation. As in, a bus, not a taxi. I caught one downtown, and then took it to the mall. I was exceedingly pleased with myself, especially since I never use public transportation at home. EVER. The dart system in Des Moines is...not rapid transit, let's put it that way. It doesn't help that the nearest stop to my house is a good half of a mile away, and across two crazyinsane roads. Yeah. I am NOT doing that, thanks so much.

People here are like, "Why'd you take the bus when you live a mile and a half from your house?" Yeah, well, with 40 lbs of books on my back in 10 degree weather (or less) for four months out of the year, a forty-minute walk is not my style. And then they say, "Well, why don't you bike?" And obviously, they haven't gone biking when it's -2 out, because your chains freeze. And then you're walking anyway. Hence, school bus.

But anyway, I've got some pretty good friends now. My roommate's not so bad (speaking of, she's been in Puerto Viejo all weekend, she should be home soon), and I've got three other friends I really like. One of them is SO COOL; she moved from Japan to Nebraska to go to school, without her family, knowing NO English. That was three years ago. Now she's pretty much fluent. It's incredible. And her Spanish is excellent too; she's really, really good. She's majoring in international relations, with an emphasis in diplomacy and conflict resolution. I think she's gonna save the world. XDDDD

One of the other girls is a huuuuge manga geek, and we both love Kenshin, so that's pretty sweet. And CLAMP, we both love CLAMP, though I'm waaaay more of a CLAMP whore than she is.

Spanish class is going well; I'm learning okay. I've been having conversations with my host mom, so I think I'm picking it up. I still can't understand when they talk so fast, but I'm working on that. I need to improve my vocab.

Last weekend and the weekend before I went to Arenal and Monteverde, respectively. Arenal is a volcano, the third most active in the world. It erupts 5-6 times an hour, and at night you can see the glow of the lava, which is sweet. During the day, you can see the smoke, and, if you know what to look for, the lava flows as well. We took a hike around the mountain and it was really cool. Monteverde is a cloud forest and it was cool and beautiful there. Soooo green, because there are a lot of epiphytes, and everything was covered in moss and vines. It was gorgeous. I loved them both, even more than I loved Bocas del Toro in Panama.

So, that's the basic news in Costa Rica right now. I need to start updating more about it, XD

Yeah. That's what we need. Participation.

So. New experience of the day?

Smoking hookah.

While not exactly related to Costa Rica, I suppose it's part of the experience overall.

I actually didn't mind so much; it tasted pretty good, actually, and it was interesting. And I've got this buzz (trust me, I left the bar like...5 minutes ago and just got home, and I took a hit just before I left), and it's not overwhelming. It's just...easy.

It's kinda nice. I'm not planning on doing it a lot, because it's really odd, and I really don't think the alcohol I had is making it better (so maybe sober? Hmmm...), but it was interesting. And I'd rather smoke something Lewis Carroll (and occasionally Yuuko as well) used in something of a literary masterpiece than anything else.

So.

Class today--basico dos! Hey! I'm moving up in the world.

Panama last weekend. It was fantastic. Maybe I'll post some about it later or tomorrow, but I left the bar because I still had homework to do, so...later.

So I have an oral presentation, right? And this week it was on a local fruit and vegetable, one we don't have much of in the US. Mine were chayote and jocote. The chayote wasn't a problem at all; I got some at the market on Friday. But I ate all the jocote I'd gotten at the market, so on Monday I went to an Hipermas to get some.

No jocote.

Well, I thought, that's cool, my presentation's not until Wednesday, so I'll just go the automercado tomorrow and get some.

On Tuesday, I went to two Automercados and another supermarket and NONE of them had jocote. And by the time I got home, it was too late for me to go to supermarket No. 4.

So I begged my teacher for forgiveness, and she was cool, and she was like, Oh! I saw jocote at the Mas por Menos in San Pedro! And I was like okay, I'll go there tonight and get some.

So after dinner I called for a taxi. And the woman was an idiot. And I said my phone number, like I'm supposed to, and she thought I said seis uno, instead of tres uno, and so she sent a taxi to some other poor soul's house. And so I called her again, and she said, once more, sies uno instead of tres uno, and I tried to correct her ("No, no cuatro ocho seis uno de McDonald's, cuatro ocho TRES uno de Veritas!") but she had hung up, and so taxi no. two went to that poor guy's house, whoever they are.

So I was standing outstide, waiting, wondering if I should go in and call again, when a red car shows up and pulls up next door. And eventually he was like, "Do you need a taxi?" and I was like, "Yeah," and he was like, "Where to?" and I was like, "Mas por menos in San Pedro" and he was like, "Oh! that's on our way!"

Now, this was a REALLY REALLY dumb thing to do on my part. But I was kind of desperate, and I really needed jocote. But first of all, I'm a gringo in Latin America. In Costa Rica I could pass for a very light Tica, because I have really dark eyes, but my Spanish is not all that great. On the other hand, I wasn't just getting a ride from some random guy off the street, but from a friend of my next-door neighbor, who is from a decent part of town. But still. A dumb thing to do.

But they took me to the Mas por Menos in San Pedro and I got my jocote, and I managed to get a taxi home, even though it was like 9 at night, which is not a good time to be wandering about in San Jose, and it was all good. But still. Dumb thing to do. Really dumb.

Last night a bunch of us went to Hanna's house and we watched the Grey's Anatomy premier. And OMG, I need to get back into that show. It's insane! And so high school in a hospital! And I forgot how much I loved its soap-opera ness, even though I miss the funniness of the first to seasons. And Addison. And Burke. But Cristina's trauma surgeon...God, that was brilliant! And seriously! What was she doing, sending him away? She likes when guys do that sort of shit!

But. brilliant. And thankfully, there's no new show next week, because next week Juanes is in San Jose, and we have tickets (excited!), so we'll all be at Hanna's again two weeks from yesterday to watch another episode. XDDD

This weekend we're going to Puerto Viejo again, but only for a night before we go on to Bocas del Toro, which is in Panama. So that should be exciting.

On Sunday I'll have been here four weeks. Jesus, it doesn't seem like it's been that long AT ALL. I mean, I was only at CC last summer for three weeks, and it felt like a lot longer than this. Four months is gonna whiz by.

Every Monday, the International Department students get together at 12:30 and play ghetto soccer.

Now, I'm sure somewhere someone is playing soccer more ghetto than we are, but for us being a bunch of mostly white americans in suburban San Jose, it's pretty ghetto.

The park is across from my house (read: literally across from my house), which is nice for me because I can get home from class that finishes at noon and still manage to eat lunch before going to soccer at 12:30.

I suck at soccer. Up until the first Monday we played, I hadn't played soccer in eight years. I was kind of bitter to the game, even though I enjoyed it, because I played in league soccer in elementary school and I was okay--not great, but I did my job--and we were a great team--always first or second the in the league. I played defensive positions, stuff like midfield and sweeper, before we had totally set positions. But I was defense.

And the team hated me. I got blamed when forwards missed shots. We were elementary school bitches to each other, but I was really too nice in elementary school to be a decent bitch most of the time, so mostly they were bitches to me.

So I quit. I couldn't take it. And I hadn't played soccer until three Mondays ago.

I forgot how much I enjoyed it. It's very much a pick-up game; we're playing on a basketball court, and not even a full court--it's about the size of a half court, with cracked concrete, not grass, and when it rains (and it's San Jose during the rainy season; inevitably, it always rains), it gets really slick in places, not that it's exactly nice to play on before it starts to rain.

But it's fun. We play six on six--five players and a goalie, and usually have three or four subs, and everyone's really just kind of happy about it, and if you mess up, it's no big deal, and if you want in, it's no big deal, and it's just fun. I really enjoy it.

It makes me look back on my old soccer days and wonder why I lasted so long.

Wow, a whole week and I didn't update. Bad me!

Well, Puerto Viejo was beautiful, of course, and very hot and humid. We hung out on the beach. Also, we rented bikes, which I really enjoyed. It was very pleasant. We stayed at a hostel, which, while very nice, was not quite as pleasant, mostly because, damn, it was humid. But there were fans, and I ended up being pretty comfortable, though both mornings I woke up hot.

And then last week...well, a couple days I walked around, trying to get my bearings (Still working on that, by the way...) and slept, and watched TV, and did my homework...oh! And I played soccer with the other university students, which was fun, even though I totally suck at soccer.

In class, on Wednesday we had a presentation, which I got an 86 on, and then our midterm was on Friday, and I got an 86.25. But I'm learning a lot and retaining a lot, so I really don't care that I'm not getting an A right now. Well, actually, I don't know how I'm doing--they don't post grades, which is totally aggravating, since I got so used to that in high school (damn you, infinite campus!)

This weekend we went to Montezuma and Santa Teresa. My host mom said that Santa Teresa had the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, and I think she was right--well, I haven't seen a lot of Costa Rican beaches, but man, they were soooo beautiful. Saturday night we stayed in this apartment place, but we didn't have air conditioning or a fan, and it was hotter and more humid there than in Puerto Viejo, so Cayla and I were absolutely miserable. So the next day we forked over $30 each to stay in an air-conditioned hotel room at a luxury resort. Yeah. $60 dollars for a room that would be at least $150, if not more, in the states. Also, it was clean, and well, even though they try to keep hostels clean...not so much, and the apartment place was a bit dodgy as well. So the gloriously wonderful night in the hotel room was fantastic. Also, there was a swimming pool, which was nice because we were hot but didn't want to get sandy again.

Then we wanted to get back to San Jose early, and it's a seven-hour trip, so we left on the 6 o'clock bus. Which was fucking early, man, but most of the bus home was air-conditioned and I slept, and it was really okay. Then I took a nap in the afternoon, and I was planning on going out, because every monday Cayla and her Tico friends are at a bar nearby at like 9:45, and at about 9 I was ready to go, and I said, "Okay, in half an hour I'm going to ask Maritza to call me a taxi" and I settled down on my bed with a book.

I woke up this morning.

Oh, well.

Today I have to go get new headphones, because mine up and died on me, and a fan, because I miss having air moving in my room, and a couple of other things. That'll be my outing for the day XD. I'm leaving soon.

Anyway, so that's the update this week. No major adventures, though we were all very pleased that we got to Santa Teresa and back. It's a bus, then a ferry, then another bus, and then another bus.

Also, Hanna and I made plans to climb Cerro Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica, near the end of October. I'm very much looking forward to it. :D

So.

This weekend I'm going to Puerto Viejo. Naturally, this means I'll have no internet.

I'm learning. Spanish, I mean. I'm picking it up a little bit. Hopefully this learning curve will continue...XD

I'm kinda tired; sorry I haven't been posting. I'll have lots of stuff to talk about when I get back!

Have a good weekend!

No major adventures today. I had class. It was good. I did my homework and everything, even the optional stuff (so, Ms. D, if you're reading, you should be proud!).

This weekend, a bunch of us are going to Puerto Viejo. I tried to call for reservations tonight and failed miserably, alas. I'll have to ask for help tomorrow from someone who's more phone-card ept than I. (What is the opposite of inept anyway?)

Anyway, so I might have a little bit of a life soon. At least, as much of one as I really want. I don't really fancy going out every night, but the weekends are okay. And Puerto Viejo will be a lot of fun, I think. Not to mention it's beautiful. And cheap. Bikes: $5/day. Hostel (4 beds/room, shared bathroom, bedding provided and cleaned): $7/night. Seriously.

San Jose is insane! We're in Zapote, which is like a suburb, so today we went into San Jose. It's nuts, seriously. Like just crazy. Like one-and-a-half lane roads and everyone driving on top of everyone and random crowded pedestrian-only streets...like taking New York and cutting out six lanes on every street, seriously. It was cool, but man, it just reminded me that I would be so bad in a big city. Like a rave, with lots of people, is one thing (even with avoiding all the high kids), I mean, it's so anonymous and everyone is there to have a good time (or relieve stress and an opportunity to dance without someone saying, you suck at dancing XD), but a city, with so many people all the time, I'd have nightmares. I'd be claustrophobic.

But it was insane! Kinda cool, like just to go down there, but so crazy. Seriously. XD

It didn't rain as much today. It did tonight, but not during the afternoon. My host family has a chihuahua, Jadi, who is in love with my bed. I've kind of given up on making her stay off the bed. She slept with me last night and the night before. It is the first Chihuahua I've ever met and thought was adorable. I'm not a huge chihuahua fan, but Jadi's a sweetheart. Even if she is always on my bed.

She's like Mape, my big dog, if Mape was the size he thinks he is. (fyi, Mape is 105 lbs and thinks he's a lapdog. Seriously.)

So that was today.

I'm still tired. I think it's just kind of exhausting, being in this country where you don't speak the language, I mean, actually living in it, not just visiting. I've only been here three days, but there's totally a difference; I mean, I'm not just doing touristy stuff, I'm doing living stuff. And it's just very tiring, trying to communicate, or not being able to understand what's going on.

Which, I suppose, is definitely an incentive to learning Spanish as quickly as possible. :D

So. I got a charger at an Apple store in the Multiplaza in Zapote.

Oh, but if it were only that simple.

Today was fine--orientation and that was about it. But I found out that there was an Apple store not far away (about 1000 colones--2 dollars--cab ride (taxis are so cheap here!)) and that my charger could, even if we UPSed it, get stuck at customs, which means time and money.

So I finished orientation, walked back home, and then asked my host mama if she could call me a cab.

Well, her niece is staying here as well, and she had just called a cab to go the San Pedro mall, and so she dropped me off at an electric store that sold Apple supplies.

Well. I looked around, and looked some more, and looked some more. And I couldn't find a charger. So finally a worker asked me what was going on, and so I said, "yo no hablo espanol," and he managed to speak a little English, and between the two of us, he told me they didn't sell chargers but there was an Apple store in the Multiplaza in Zapote.

So I asked him if I could use the phone to call a taxi, and he offered to do it for me, but couldn't, because he'd never called out before. So he asked a guy for help, and he called the cab.

The first company didn't have any cabs in Zapote, and the second company didn't answer. After about ten minutes, he finally found the third company, which had a cab nearby, and he left me with the security at the front of the store.

It was as I was standing there waiting for him to get me a cab (he was my hero; I'll love him forever) that I realized I'd forgotten to put on my shoes and was still in my slippers.

Yeah. Shit.

The cab finally showed up, and I got in and he said where to, and I said the multiplaza and he says, there are two multiplazas. He spoke no English at all, and finally he said the one in Zapote or the one somewhere else, and well, we're in Zapote, so that must have been the one our director and the worker were thinking of, so I say Zapote for sure, and we're off.

So I get there, and I pay him, and that's all good. And I get in and there's a map, and it turns out the Apple store is right there, so that's not a problem.

So I get in, and guy asks me if I need help right away, because that's how the Apple store works, and so I tell him "yo no hablo espanol" again and he has to find the guy who speaks English.

Well, the guy who speaks English comes up, and even though his English isn't great, we have a common interest: Macs, right? And so I say I need a Macbook charger, and he's off to get one and it's all gonna be good, it's gonna be great--

Except. Except they're out of Macbook chargers.

But! He has a Macbook Air charger! And so he checks it out to see if it works and it does! and he says, "but it might only hold a charge--because an Air uses less power, right?" but that's okay, that's great, that's wonderful, I have a charger and it's all good!

And so I pay and now the only problem is getting home. And so I'll just get a cab, but I don't know cab etiquette here; do I HAVE to call for a cab, or can I just hop in one that's dropped people off?

And so I wander around looking for a public phone (I can't find one--and then I realize, even if I did, would I be able to understand the people enough to actually GET a cab? Haha, NO.), and finally, I go back out to where the cabs are, and I realize there's kind of line, so obviously, I can just get in one that clears out, right?

So I wait. And I wait. And finally one shows up and I send it to Universidad Veritas, because I don't remember my address and it might be pouring rain, but I don't mind walking in the rain. But oh yeah, I'm wearing my slippers.

Goddammit.

But I get to Veritas okay, and it's all good, and on the way home my slippers get horrendously wet, but that's okay, because I'd just managed to get a cab and get where I need to go without speaking in English! And I got my charger! and I had wireless at home now!

And so I came home feeling far more triumphant (and far more exhausted) than I should have. But I achieved my goal, and so it's okay.

And so it rained all afternoon here. Apparently it does that a lot.

And as for why I don't remember my address, that's because the addresses are like this: 200 mtrs south of the mango tree, 60 mtrs east, the yellow house, #5480 in Zapote, San Jose, Costa Rica, Centroamerica. (This isn't a real address, so don't stalk me). Seriously. That's how they are. I'm not kidding. It's crazy, but kinda cool at the same time.

So, it's lovely here, and I like my host family a lot (the dad kind of scares me, but we talked tonight at dinner and he's pretty friendly (though I'm still scared of him)) and I get like a week of English before it's all Spanish, which I think is good because that should give me enough time to pick up enough Spanish to get around I think. But I am homesick. I miss my mom. And I miss MBF.

But the house is nice and everything, so I think I'll be okay. I just hope I can make friends; I'm the youngest student here, even if it's only by two years, so I feel kind of alienated. Not to mention I don't make friends well as it is, so...*sigh*

Well. I have four months, right? And it's only been two days. So it won't be so bad.

So. That was my first full day in San Jose. It was pretty good.

She's in Cost Rica. That's right. (and struggling with the new keyboard at the computer lab XD)

I'm working on getting internet at my host family's house--they're pretty cool, I like them.

Anyway, so that's that. Updates will be scarce for the next couple of days; I forgot my charger for my laptop so Maman's overnighting it to me after Labor Day.

Damn you, post office! Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor hail will stop you, but a holiday and a Sunday will? You suck. XP

I don't believe I've mentioned this yet.

BUT.

Since I'm no longer going to Colorado College in the fall, I am going to Costa Rica for a Spanish immersion program. I know all of twenty words of Spanish, so it should be interesting.

I leave Sunday.

However, I'd like a way for my RL friends to keep track of me, so I don't have to email all of them on what I'm doing. So this journal's gonna be it. On the other hand, I rant about a ton of things that either a) have no importance to my RL friends, b) make no sense to my RL friends, or c) I don't want a few of my RL friends to read. XDDD And on the other other hand, I'm way to lazy to just start a new blog about that kind of stuff.

So, in about three or four days, I'm going to Friends Only my journal entries that don't have anything to do with Costa Rica. Though I believe all of my friends are mutual, I just wanted to let everyone know.

So that's that.

'Which Organization XIII Member are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Axel Axel (アクセル, Akuseru?), the "Flurry of Dancing Flames", utilizes a pair of chakram, as well as the element of fire with the Assassin Nobodies under his control. He is a skilled manipulator and one never quite knows whose side he is really on. Axel 100% Demyx 100% Roxas 83% Xaldin 83% Saïx 83% Marluxia 67% Zexion 50% Luxord 33% Xigbar 33% Lexaeus 33% Larxene 17% Xemnas 0% Vexen 0%

Hey, guys, read this post and the links that go along with it (from kastia's lj: http://kastia.livejournal.com/62819, and then sign the petition. NOW.

It's about the Orphaned Works Bill--how we as creative people (as many of us are) would have to pay to have our work copyright-protected. Which we don't have to do at the moment (our work is automatically protected as soon as we make it).

So go sign.

AUGH! DRAKE! NOOOOOO!

Drake, my hometown team, number five seed in the NCAA south division, was 99-98 in the lead in the last five seconds of overtime. And THEN Western Kentucky scored a three-pointer in the LAST FUCKING SECOND.

AUGH! NOOOOO! *sobs*

In other news, today is Good Friday. My second favorite church service of the year.

Umm...yeah.

I have Minerva back!

Turns out, the serpentine belt that pretty much makes everything run together came loose, which made the alternator obviously not work, which made my beloved baby</strike> car go "bye-bye!"

So she's home and fixed and clean and had an oil change and I'm quite happy.

I'm also happy because last night I had this idea for a oneshot and not only is it presently almost finished, it's already well over 3,000 words and I'm very happy with it. *g*

And I have nothing to do today. XDDDD

nebulia out.

Tags: life doesn't suck, minerva, random ficciness

Minerva. My car, my baby, my mode of transportation, my beloved.

IS. NOT. WORKING.

Issue #1: The car is not delivering charge to the battery. Possibly the alternator belt isn't working, but we're not sure.

Issue #2, and much odder: even after we put her in neutral, she did not budge. Even with Dad--275 lbs, 95% of that muscle--and me--who while not 95% muscle is still very strong (I'm not saying how much I weigh, though...*blush*)--pushing, it didn't move. Like the parking brake was on. We put it in neutral five times, in five different ways, and then repeated it all, and it didn't go to neutral.

So now she is sitting on the edge of a Kum&Go (Ejaculate & Evacuate) parking lot, and I'm terrified some sod who's not paying attention will just WHAM! into her, as I couldn't coast far enough to get her into a parking spot.

I am bemoaning my miserable existence.

MINEEEERVAAAA! COME BACK TO ME!

I GOT INTO COLORADO COLLEGE!!!!!!!!!

Two words:


SNOW DAY!!!!!

*happydance*

I'm-a goin' back to bed...

Death Cab's got a new album coming out. In May.

I'm kinda excited. :)

√×♥ What do I look like to you?

Hmm?

...happy new year!

watched Constantine and CSI with two of the three emily s's I know. It was really a lot of fun. We didn't even notice when it turned midnight until Auntie yelled up at us that it was.

Whatev.

Happy new year.

Resolutions...

...

I'll think on it.

nebulia out.

24-hour CSI marathon on Spike!

w00t!

"Hey Nick?"

"What?"

"I found a toupee! I think our vic might be bald!"

"Thanks. That will distinguish it from the other severed heads I find out here."

I love CSI.

nebulia out.

So today I'll be leaving for Colorado. Whether or not I have internet connection is up in the air, so I don't know if I'll be on or not.

I'm really excited.

So, if I'm not on, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas or at least a happy winter holiday. Eat, drink, be merry, you know the drill.

nebulia out.

Terry Pratchett was just diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's.

*sad*

He's only 59.

nebulia out.