(I do know there's heavy stuff going on in the real world, but have no impetus to blog about inaugurations, violent incursions, recessions and other what-have-yous)
so, ramble ramble ramble...


I was just looking over my (now slightly reconfigured - thank-you [?] DA management) profile page and noticed that I was listening to Weekend America the last time I posted.
Ages and ages (almost 8 months) ago.

A victim of the current economical cluster@#^%, the show has recently been canceled and now broadcasts its last.
Reason enough to transfer some fleeting thoughts into pixel format.

So goodbye John Moe & co. I will miss you. Your show was an excellent Saturday soundtrack. And the local NPR is replacing it with *gaps* something called "Marketplace Money". Oh come on. Listening to some schmo asking if putting $1000.00 a month away in their IRA is enough is almost as endearing as overhearing some stick-insect bimbette complain about all the weight she's been gaining.

Meanwhile, lurking on the extreme fringes of the A:TLA fandom I had managed to notice the seismic eruption of disillusionment dismay and rising despair gripping its many members. Right now (beware, hideous sentiment coming) I'm almost glad that the general suckiness of season 3 has made me stop caring. It may have saved me from extended grief in the long run. *shrugs*

My mind has now been completely diverted. I've been reading Naruto, Tsubasa, 'Holic and some other mangas, and while I find them compelling enough, none have totally tugged at my heart the way A:TLA did in its heyday.
But the Order of the Stick has wormed it's way into my soul. And then came the events of 426-427, putting one of the awesomest characters ever in great peril (my fave is either dead or turned evil, possibly both). And then the updates slow down. Wiley Web writer Burlew - you toy with my heart!

~*The Times and Travels of Pumpkin Jr.*~
( = a very boring fish tale)

The comet is the commonest, least fancy breed of goldfish. If you were to buy them at a generic pet-store, they wouldn't cost much more than a quarter. Mine didn't even cost that much, I fished him as a small fry out of my neighbor's pond. He was considerably smaller than a quarter back then. He joined in my aquarium a school of 6 Zebra Danios, slightly larger than him (I say him because I arbitrarily assigned the fish a gender; Well, %50 chance I got it right)

My little fish grew and grew. Eventually getting big enough to menace and devour his aquarium mates. I've raised an evil fish (so proud). Recently I had to move from the "big" city to the much bigger country side. I traveled with a water-filled office-storage plastic container balanced on my knees, in which swam ol' Pumpkin Jr. We made the journey safely (but not dryly). Once at my new home, The fish took to his newly refilled aquarium with great fishy glee. He was doing well. Very well.
But he seemed lonely.
Here's where I made my big mistake.

I got him some "friends".

I got a plecostomous that would suck the algae of the side of the aquarium. So far so good. I also got a ~2inch shubunkin to , well, just swim around and look pretty. For 4 days, he did so very well. On the fifth day I found my shubunkin (named Alastor because his eyes didn't match) dead at the bottom of the tank.

The other fish still seemed well. Alas, this was not to last. That weekend I stopped at the pet-store again to get a replacement for the shubunkin. The tank we got him from (and the neighboring tanks) were "under observation" and labeled 'not currently for sale'. No living shubunkins were visible (no dead ones either, though). When I got home, I found my beloved evil fish in a dire state. The poor thing was swimming lethargically and showing little interest in food. Much more alarmingly, he was hemorrhaging at the bases of all his fins, and under his ventral scales. He was bright red. Eek.

Try to find a vet that knows anything about goldfish on Sunday evening. It's a good exercise in futility. Better yet, try to get a straight answer from pet-store employees about fish sickness. Lots of luck. I looked at my poor pumpkin and mentally prepared to bury him. Could it be saved? If it did survive, is that a sign about what I should do with my future? Dare I hang my fate on a seemingly doomed fish? The persistence of my room mate paid: When contacted by phone some 5 minutes after the store closed, a kindly Earl May employee agreed to leave the (paid for by credit card #) medicines outside the shop door.

This particular medicine is an antibiotic that goes under the trade name T.C. Tetracycline. Presumably, when the proper dose was added to the water for 4 consecutive days, it would kill any harmful (or non harmful) microbes therein. It had another effect on the aquarium water that the box didn't mention: It turned it red. The first day it was just a faint blush rose, by the third it was a heady merlot. Through it all the fish swam on. Well, Pumpkin did. The poor plecostemous didn't make it.

Once the dosage was done, I've replaced most of the water (it's now the color of white Zinfandel) and removed all of the gravel and plants. Pumpkin Jr.'s fins are still red, but less so. He is lively again, and eats greedily (the way he should). He may just survive. I already have two new little friends for him.
Waiting in quarantine, in the trusty office-storage plastic container (to preserve good memories, and also out of dogged cheekiness, I'm tempted to name them Acastus and The Unbridled Joy of Sub-carangiform Motion) .

If they all live, than they've made up my mind for me. I'm applying for vet school.

Edit: Tomorrow I will be temporary replacing this blog with one related to free-Burma.org. Anyone who cares is invited to do the same.
Scratch that. The stupid code doesn't work here.
I put it on my other blog.



Yeah, I'm joining in the latest meme because of *z00tz00t. See his journal to find out how it all started.

So 10 slots open to the first 10 persons who wants a pencil drawing. Hopefully, at least one person asks (otherwise it will be very embarrassing).
I realize I joining this late in the game, so if you've already offered 10 sketches, and you have serious sketch fatigue, the price for entry will be offering just one sketch more, to the sad, bitterly disappointed person who posted 11th when you made the original offer.

1. First spot taken. gets a volture-lion. Done

2. Second spot taken gets Ty Lee with a turtleduck. Done.

3. Third spot taken gets a Zutara picture.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

(Extra space added because I made a request to Icy)








One caveat: If you are foolhardy enough to ask me to draw that one Avatar ship I vehemently dislike, the sketch will reflect my opinion about it.

Is it me, or is the mesmerized smiley firebending?

Anyway, about The Awakening, episode 1 in season 3 of Avatar. It premiered last Friday, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. Well, it takes me a little time to make up my mind. Once it's made up, however, it's very hard to change it.

The episode was mostly good. You see, I haven't entirely made up my mind about it even now. I have to see what happens in the next episode (possibly the entire rest of the season/series) before I can do that. The storyline is so inter-connected, I have to see how things will play out before deciding how I feel about them. If I only could do that about everything, it would be good.

The obviously good parts:
- Aang, waking up weakened in body and spirit, and struggling to come to terms with his new circumstances. That boy seems to have such a deep reserve of inner strength, it's almost reassuring to see him truly tested. The last scene, where he burned the glider, was simply breathtaking (my only slight gripe is that it was distracting to think he would also burn his feet on the semi-molten rocks).
- Sokka. Between Sokka's lines and Jack DeSena's delivery there is just pure perfection. I now ship Sokka+The Universe, code named SokKarma.
- The reunion with her father welling up long-suppressed emotions in Katara. Some top-notch voice Acting from Mae Whitman as well. In a show like this, that centers on a lost (lost in time, but still lost) orphan boy, and an abused, rejected teen, it is necessary to counterbalance with at least one positive father figure, and Hakoda fills that role beautifully.
[Speaking of positive father figures, the Dragon of the West was painfully absent. At least we already know that will be rectified the next episode.]
- The Firenation capital, and the return of Lo and Li.
- Azula. This episode answered one of my main concerns with the previews for this season: How is Zuko suddenly allowed to regain his honor and place in the Firenation without the Avatar? Now it makes sense. The Firenation (and the world at large, apparently) believes that the Avatar is dead, and Firelord Ozai was told Zuko has done the deed. Well played Azula. No wonder the turtleducks flee as she approaches. It only shows that the turtleducks have some smarts. Azula reminds me a bit of Ender's oldest sibling in Ender's Game. He was a cruel, malicious, monstrously ambitious child and he grew up to eventually [*obviously, spoiler alert goes here*]... unite the world peacefully under his hegemony. This is basically what Azula has achieved so far. But it may not end so well for her.

Obviously not so good
- Mai. If the Avatar creative team hasn't managed to craft such a clever, touching show, filled with fascinating and compelling characters, the inclusion of this little bit of foulness wouldn't bother me so much.
The whole scene with Mai and Zuko felt like an after-thought thrown in to discourage the tenacious remains of the Zutara faction. Needless to say, it failed at doing that, but at this point nothing could discourage the Zutara faction. Could they address the fact that these two characters have not seen each other for three years, during which Zuko (and presumably Mai?) have changed quite a bit? The fact that when Azula drafted Mai to join her, their mission was to hunt Zuko and Iroh down and bring them home prisoners? I guess Zuko must be okay with that (though, after the nice double-cross he served Uncle, he hasn't got much room to talk). These things weren't even addressed in the [story crutch] magazine comic (and seriously, throwing sharp objects at someone is now the hight of romance? Why make it icicles? Were the writers too squeamish to have Mai and Jin throw real knives at Zuko?). What did Mai do in that scene? Tactlessly mocks Zuko for his very legitimate concerns about returning home. It apparently bothers her not that the boy really is in a very precarious situation.
My only hope is that they are setting her up for some kind of Sydney Carton scenario. Now I rather detest the Sydney Carton scenario, the character with no decent features except their all-consuming love for one of the protagonists, who "redeem" themselves by dying for said love interest (no, I wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending of the HP series, why do you ask?). But I loathe Mai even more, and at least that's one way to get rid of her. It would be much better if Zuko eventually just got fed up and told her to go stick a knife in herself, but sadly, I can't see that happening.

Wow, this is becoming a novel...
now for the Yet To Be Determined:
- Yue's sudden appearance. I assume this foreshadows her further involvement. It almost guarantees that she'll show up during the eclipse.
- Roku, stopping by to hang mid-air and say hello. Well, we already know he'll show up again, apparently he has some 'splainin to do.
- The sudden "'swish' and we're already in the Firenation". It is a clumsy story device, but maybe it's for the best, that way less story time is spent on the sea journey (reversing Chong's creed, they focused more on the where and less on the going).
- Ozai. I don't really care what he looks like. I want to know who he is as a person. Now that we've seen his face, can we get some insights on his character? We know he's bad (points to treatment of Zuko and Iroh, continued pursuit of world war), but what more is there to him? Most importantly, is he quite as sagacious and cunning as his darling daughter?

Right, I now have some thoughts recorded (likely to be edited further), so I can revisit them after seeing the rest of the season.

The "logic" is as follows.

In the new preview, Sozin is apparently voiced by Ron Perlman.

Ron Perlman = Hell Boy
Sozin = Firebender

Hell Boy + Firebender = hellbender.

Edit: fixed. I meant to say Sozin. That's why you should never update a journal when your allergies are keeping you awake till the wee hours of the night. >_<
~~~

I finally got my new television. I'm watching NOVA and it turns out, due to all the pollution particles in the atmosphere, less light from the sun is now reaching the Earth. This is called "Global Dimming" and is actually counter-balancing Global Warming, to some extent. So, if we manage to make the air clearer... we will just end up speeding up the meltdown. Eh, we're all doomed anyway.