So a few weeks ago I came back from a road trip to Montana and Washington. I loved every minute of it! Road trips are THE way to go. I bought a camera (finally!) in the middle of it so I was able to snap a bunch of pictures of some GORGEOUS nature. I saw a whole bunch of deer, some elk, osprey, and a bunch more stuff, plus I ate buffalo and elk meat! They made the BEST hamburger patties, too. I particularly enjoyed visiting Montana. My family and I drove through Glacier National Park, but I unfortunately didn't have my camera for that...CURSES! >.<

It was so nice to visit family, too, and just get out of the city. I miss the woods already! I think that if I had to move out of California, Montana is where I'd move to. It is a gorgeous state. And I finally understand why they call it the "Big Sky" state--the sky is huge!!! The air is so clear, the sky so vast, it's depressing what I've had to settle for in the city...

Anyway, I uploaded a few photos of the trip. I hope you enjoy!

So I just wanted to talk quickly about a few things.

1) AX was amazing! I got Vic Mignogna's autograph and a picture with him! Whoo! He is such a cool guy! I also bought some art from a few people, and completely enjoyed myself being surrounded by nerds like me! Oh! And I saw the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann movie and went to a panel where we were introduced to the creators of Gurren Lagann! We're talking the artist, the director, even the PR guy lol. It was so adorable seeing them talking in Japanese and having to wait for their translators. ^_^ Ah yeah, such good memories.

2) School is out! Summertime! I got all A's, too! Whoo! So yeah, job search time now QQ. But it's been nice visiting with my family and friends back home.

3) I finished watching Avatar: the Last Airbender! OMG IT'S AMAZING! x3 If you haven't seen it yet, GO AND WATCH IT because it is intelligent, hilarious, adorable, amazing, endearing, and such win. I shall even venture to describe it as "epic". And that's a big deal.

4) Drunk people are retarded. They are the cause of so much pain. A drunk bicyclist was the cause of my sister totaling her car in an accident on the 4th of July. People, getting drunk and riding your bike in the middle of a highway heading toward traffic IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. And for your information, you still can get a DUI on a bike! Thankfully, no one was hurt, though, but that jerk took off and left the bill to my sister. The car was a goner. Let this be a warning to drinkers: if you get hammered, STAY HOME, YOU JERKS.

I guess that's all I wanted to say. Not much else is new. Hopefully I will be able to draw and post more and practice!


Oh yeah, here are a few of my favorite AMVs from the AMV contest at AX:
My favs: Amor Fatali, You Know My Name, Oblivious

“You Know My Name” by Nic Neidenbach
[link]
Anime: Code Geass
Song: "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell



“Spin On Simon” by Solomon Smith
[link]
Song: "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel
Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Cowboy Bebop
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, The
Ouran High School Host Club




“Ready To Drift” by Diakun Productions (Daniel Elak)
h ttp : //www . you tube. com/ watch?v= PrvFt nSjuUo (had to break the url up to be able to post it)
Editor: DaiKunProductions
Song: Ready to Roll by Jet Black Stare
Anime:
Initial D First Stage
Initial D Second Stage
Initial D Third Stage
Initial D Fourth Stage
Initial D Battle Stage
Initial D Battle Stage 2
Initial D Extra Stage
Initial D Extreme Stage



“Amor Fatali” by TearX (Areeba Khan)
[link]
Anime:
Fist of the North Star - Raoh Side Story Martyred Love Arc (OVA)
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
Origin ~Spirits of the Past~ (movie)
Pale Cocoon (OAV)
Place Promised in Our Early Days, The (Beyond the Clouds)
Songs:
"Whispering Mind" by Moby
"Love Song Requiem" by Trading Yesterday



“Monsoon” by Ryvannis (Dean Seirafi)
[link]
Anime: 5 Centimeters per Second
Song: "Rainy Monday" by Shiny Toy Guns



“CODE: Roll” by Matthew Yan
[link] (preview of original)
Anime: Code Geass
Song: "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley



“We Need You” by Vlad G. Pohnert
[link]
Songs: "It's a Good Day to Die" by Sky Marshal Omar Anoke (Starship Troopers 3)
Starship Troopers dialogue
Anime:
Ah! My Goddess (Movie)
Appleseed: Ex Machina (movie)
Azumanga Daioh
Bleach
Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion (TV)
Cowboy BebopCromartie High School
Daichis - Earth Defence Family, The (TV)
Death Note (TV)
DragonBall Z
El Hazard: The Magnificent World (1st OVA)
Final Fantasy 7 (VII): Advent Children (OVA)
Fruits Basket
Full Metal Panic
Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu
Fullmetal Alchemist (TV)
Great Teacher Onizuka
GunParade March
Hellsing
Inu Yasha (TV)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Madlax
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, The (TV)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
My Neighbor Totoro
Naruto
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Sailor Moon
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (movie)
Team Fortress II (PC)
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (TV)
Transformers: The Movie



“Oblivious” by Lark (1MoonGoddess7)
[link]
Anime:
Wolf's Rain
Full Metal Alchemist
The Cat Returns
Elfen Lied
Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The (Movie)
Howl's Moving Castle
Kiki's Delivery Service
Laputa, Castle In the Sky
Neon Genesis Evangelion (End of Evangelion)
Paprika (Movie)
Shakugan no Shana (TV)
Spirited Away
Wolf's Rain
Wolf's Rain (OAV)
xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer night's Dream (Movie)
Song: "Oblivious" by Kalafina



“Tick Tock” by Lark (1MoonGoddess7)
[link]
Song: "Clocks" by Coldplay
Anime: Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The (Movie)
Paprika (Movie)



“Lord Of The Anime” by RiderG (Victoria Galietta)
[link]
[link]
Anime:
Howl's Moving Castle
Kiki's Delivery Service
Laputa, Castle in the Sky
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Whisper of the Heart

Songs:
"Cry of the Celts" by Ronan Hardiman
"Nightmare" by Ronan Hardiman
"Victory" by Ronan Hardiman
"Warriors" by Ronan Hardiman

So a few weeks ago (was it a month..?) I got a pet betta fish named Dark Lord Squiggles and have fallen in love with bettas. I wanted to have a pet, like a cat or something, but my landlord doesn't allow any animals except fish (sadness), so I thought I'd try taking care of a betta fish! I absolutely love it, and bettas are so beautiful. Taking care of Mistah Squiggles has brought me such joy. ^^

So anyway, about six days ago I went to PetCo to shop around and see if stuff was on sale (if I needed to resupply any items for my betta fish's needs) and I saw the terrible condition the bettas were kept in. I am quite sure they hadn't changed their water cups at all since I got Squiggles, which was a long time ago...It was so sad, all, and I mean ALL of the bettas had SOME sort of disease--fin rot was the most rampant, but I also saw some with popeye and ich. One of the worst off ones had such terrible water, it was so depressing. The water was brown and cloudy, and it looked like there was some kind of slime in it. The fish had nowhere to go to escape his own feces and his fin and tail rot was so bad he looked like a skeleton fish. He would randomly dart around and act completely erratic. I immediately asked one of the employees to change his water, and see to the others as well. I decided to buy that fish--which I called Skeletor, which I thought was fitting--and took him home. I told the employee at checkout that they should help out their bettas and change their water, because all of them were sick. Thankfully, the employee was very sympathetic and seemed to know her betta diseases. Anyway, I got him some Maracyn-TC, an antibiotic (the only one I could afford, heh), and have been taking care of him for the past 6 days and changing his water constantly. It was so sad, the first few days his fins were falling off and within an hour or two of me changing the water, I could see parts of his fins floating around on the floor. He has gotten SO much better, though. I can actually tell what color he is, and he no longer stares at the floor for minutes on end for no apparent reason.

I am so frustrated with pet supply stores like PetCo that do not take care of their animals. It infuriates me so much. I'm just glad I could help at least one little fishy out...

Anyway, I kept a photo journal of Skeletor's recovery. I'll post it as an entry so you can see pictures of him progress each day. Make sure to download it so you can actually see the pictures and the type, since I combined 6 days into one file.

I encourage anyone to take care of a pet, or at least look out for them at the store and make sure they are properly taken care of. They don't have voices, so we need to speak up for them!

So me and a friend found a house in Santa Barbara for an affordable price, so instead of transferring to UCI as I had planned, I am going to stay at UCSB. I am actually pretty happy I'm staying...I love my school...and my friends...and get this...the house is one street away from the beach!! I mean how much better can it get? Plus I get to have my own room! And have a backyard and front yard! With a garage! I am so excited! So yeah, I'm planning on graduating from UCSB in 2011 with an English BA and maybe a Spanish minor if I can get things together.

Also, Spring Quarter has officially begun. Most of my classes are interesting, so I think it will be a good quarter. After this quarter I will have finished my GEs and most of my requirements for my English degree.

Anyway, just figured I'd update you all. Thanks for reading and as always, love you all!

So the end of winter quarter is just around the bend and papers are suddenly looming ominously over my head. I can't wait to finish these classes and have a week off!

So a lot of things have happened since my last journal in....SEPTEMBER?? Yeah. Sorry about that. So I quit my job in early December--my work went out of business, thanks to the crumbling economy. So I've been focusing on school and planning for next year. I've decided to try and transfer to UCI and live back home--turns out I'll be saving about $7,000 a year in housing/food costs. Plus I just plain miss the city. I just hope that it all turns out well. Anyway, I guess that's pretty much the big update. Oh and I have some pictures but my printer/scanner has been on the fritz, so I can't upload any artwork or pictures from my camera. *cries* Cursed electronics have decided to conspire against me!

OH YEAH. Speaking of electronics. I finally replaced my old ipod with one of the new 4th generation ipods. I love it so much. I have named it Chrno in memory of Chrno Crusade, which I finally got to watching. Oh yeah, I also finally watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and most of Avatar:The Last Airbender. They are both really good!

Anyway, hopefully I can either get my printer to start working again or upload pics when I visit home next. Love you all!