I talked to hummy this evening and we ended our conversation at 2 AM. How bad could I get huh? He has to wake up at 6 A.M in the morning for work but I intentionally made the conversation longer. As usual, we discussed about the things we’ve done for the day, sweet nothings, arguments, sobbing for useless stuffs, and then sweet nothings again. It kind of turns into a routine but still, I love the way we get into each other’s nerves and then kiss and make up. Well… nothing can be compared to something that would be your comfort zone after a stressful day.

What really bugs me right now was his promise that he keeps on stressing every time we talk. It’s not that I don’t believe him; it’s just that I’m too scared to believe again. A few years back, somebody also promised me the same exact words. I believed and get my hopes up then nothing happened. Damn, why is it very easy to utter those dangerous words that could turn out to be nothing? I would definitely love to have that promise be fulfilled especially if it came from someone I wouldn’t want to lose but as I’ve said earlier, I’m too scared to believe.

As of now, there’s no harm done because our existence is enough to make our relationship last. Anyway, the good thing is that we are both willing to wait and we could still feel the magic as if it’s the first time we held hands.

:)

]]> http://octopusraptor.wordpress.com/?p=79 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:39:21 +0000 octopusraptor http://octopusraptor.pt.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/biblical/ I need to stop drinking so much liquid in the morning.

I always need to take a biblical piss halfway through Pre-Calculus. It's getting to be annoying.

...

So, I've taken up jogging. I know, I know. How many times have I said I'm gonna start working out only to quite a week later? Still, I think this one may stick. I've been wanting to get back into jogging/running for years. I finally got around to motivating myself.

Add in that I'm eating three square meals a day (sorta) and I may lose that wretched layer of flab. Ha. I win, asshole.

...

Did I mention my birthday is on Sunday? My God, do I feel fucking ancient. I've always felt old on the inside, but now I have to face legal adulthood. Oh goody.

I have no idea what we're going to do. I pray we think of something exciting. Mainly, I need to think of something to do. It's my birthday, right? Of course, any and all ideas are welcome.

Eighteen. Woo.

...

I don't like sleeping alone. Of course, being in the same bed as one of my friends doesn't count either. You all know what I mean.

The other night, I got that fear in my chest again. It's that fear that feels somewhat... comforting? Familiar? Whatever, it was fear. I kept thinking about how limited my time here is. How I've got about four more rounds of this left in me, and that is being hopeful. Living to be eighty? And being able to function? Here's hoping.

Still, it terrifies the shit out of me. Squeezing my t-rex as tightly as I could wasn't really helping. I needed warmth. Love. All kinds of emotional bullshit.

So what? Sometimes us assholes need a hug, too.

It was just one of those doubly depressing moments which somehow seem funny. All alone and thinking about dying with no one to cry to. Haha. Very funny to me.

I fear death, but some part of me seems to accept it. Another uses it as fuel to do interesting things during my days and to take all kinds of risks.

You know, I thought this would sound better. But it isn't. So, I'm pretty sure I sound like a sad little girl. It was a lot more poetic and poignant in my head. And they say I have a way with words.

...

I spent my weekend reading Anita Blake. Do you know how annoying she is in the early books? How absolutely extreme she is in her beliefs?

"Oh, I don't sleep with the monsters. I don't want to have sex with Jean-Claude. I'm a good guy. My morality is perfect blahblahblah."

Anita...

SHUT UP. It takes only five books to get you to licking some vampire nipple, and by book six, I know you are all up in the sex.

It was really difficult sitting through those first few books, but now that I am on The Killing Dance, things are good. Things were good in Bloody Bones, but we don't get sex until book six.

And Laurell's writing style improves greatly.

That's all.

...

My left headphone is blown.

Dammit.

...

I get really self-conscious and semi-depressed when I see someone tall, dark, and handsome. It helps to me realize that I look nothing like that and that I'm not with someone.

You know, I'm sensing this big theme of self pity. Anyone else?

Anyways, I think I'm a little too obsessed with physical appearance, mainly my own. I know that I am shallow to some degree, but my own appearance seems to be most important. I feel like I need find myself attractive for anyone else to. Didn't someone say that?

On the bright side, a very attractive somewhat tall Asian guy was checking me out today. As Travis.

Looking up, right?

...

Oh God, I must be bored. I'm looking for pictures of James Kyson Lee shirtless.

Yep. Im officially at "Pathetic Homosexual" status. Honestly, I was probably already there, but this seems to cement my place there.

I'm gonna go before I shoot myself for being silly.

For your viewing reference, here are two of the pictures. Yes, I am happy. :]

Abs? Check.

Shot in underwear? Check.

Wearing jeans and no shirt, but a jacket to highlight upper body? Check.

Note to any interested Asian males: You see that? Stand in front of me dressed like either one of those looking half as good as he does, and it's a guaranteed party in your pants.

Yep. I'm pathetic.

...

P.S. For some reason, Firefox won't let me put spaces between the sections, so we'll use ellipses to handle this. Sound good?

Did I mention his happy trail? Or the smile? Or the thighs? And I'm sure he has a great personality and all, but did you see the abs?

You men may be thinking, "Gosh, why does he have to speak that way about us guys?" Well, y'all do sound the same when talking about a fine piece o' pussy, so suck it up and deal.

... Damn, he is fine.

Enjoy and be prepared to shriek like a little girl....over stuff like this:

Disclaimer: I do not own this image. Photo courtesy of His Golden Eyes. Click on the photo above to check out the rest of the movie stills.

***UPDATE: Remember when I wrote about the supposed Twilight script that was floating around on the Internet? Um...well let me just say that something is given away in the newly released photos that make me believe that script is pretty accurate...leaked information strikes again! And no, it's not obvious and I'm not going to point it out to you...unless you bribe me of course.

Vampire myths disappear and reappear having existed for ages, much like their main proponent Dracula. Since ancient Persia, there have been characters throughout time that drank the blood of men (and babies) and often were members of the undead. They would evolve to be called Witches, Demons, and Vampires. Over the ages vampires became the “mythic reasoning” behind such events as the bubonic plague.

Vampires would soon have an identity in three crucial tyrants, the first of which was Gilles de Rais. Gilles was a Frenchman who searched for “the Philosopher’s Stone,” and had help from the blood of 200-300 children to do his experiments. Around the same time Vlad Tepes Dracula, Prince of Wallacia, came into power. When you have a name of Tepes (“Impaler”) and Dracula (devil or dragon, it was his dad’s name) ya gotta live up to expectations; he liberated the land from Ottoman invaders and then ordered thousands impaled for his pleasure.

The last of the three arrived in 1611 as Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Bathory’s husband was always at war, so her spare time was spent dabbling in black magic and the thought that the blood of the innocent (young girls) would keep her young and youthful. She was found out and her life spared, but was thrown in the tower.

The vampire mythos came back in the 1800’s through poetry, novels, and stage productions. “Vampyre” by John Polidori (1819) was the first vampire story written in English. Supposedly this came about the same night Mary Shelley concocted “Frankenstein.”

Not too far after came “Varney (Feast of Blood)” (1845) a full-fledged novel based off collected “penny dreadfuls,” inexpensive pulp pamphlets that used vivid imagery to describe Varney’s exploits. Varney influenced current vampire culture with the addition of fangs, leaving two puncture wounds in the neck, having hypnotic powers, and superhuman strength. However, Varney was immune to sunlight and wasn’t allergic to garlic.

“Carmilla” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872) introduced the world to a female vampire. Laura, the protagonist of the story, is a young girl who has a dream in which she’s bitten by a figure who disappears. Fast forward and she becomes friends with a girl named Carmilla. After a series of incidents Carmilla is found not only to be a vampire, but Laura’s ancestor. She has to be killed by exhuming her body and destroying it by cutting off the head. This story was also the beginning of lesbian sexuality in vampire stories.

Taking 8 years, Bram Stoker delivered the eponymous epistolary novel, “Dracula,” in 1897. Taking ideas from previous novels (especially “Carmilla” and “Varney”) as well as the life and times of Vlad the Impaler, Stoker wove a story about Johnathan Harker, a real estate solicitor who travels to a remote castle in the Carpathian Mountains to do business with one Count Dracula. He barely gets out alive. Meanwhile, Dracula decides to do London hitting on Harker’s fiancée, Mina. When Mina’s friend Lucy begins looking pallid, Professor Abraham Van Helsing is called in. Van Helsing figures out what’s going on and is hot on Dracula’s trail. Dracula packs his bags and heads back to his castle but not before the Van Helsing faction traps and kills him.

With the advent of the motion picture in the latter portion of the 19th century, Dracula and other vampyric kin had a new world to conquer. Filmmaker Gustave Le Rouge made two movies about bat-winged, blood-drinking creatures on Mars in 1908 and 1909. Dracula himself first appeared on screen in 1922’s “Nosferatu.” German director F.W. Marnau asked permission from the Stoker estate. The Stoker estate said, “No,” and Marnau did it anyway. Changing the names of the characters, eliminating secondary players, and using a bona-fide weirdo named Max von Schreck to play Count Orlok, this film is the seminal “Dracula” movie, inspiring take-offs and even a remake in the Seventies. Of note, the Stoker estate filed a copyright infringement lawsuit and won, sinking the newly-founded Prana production company.

“Children of the night… what beautiful music they make.” The infamous Bela Lugosi “Dracula” movie was released in 1931. Now a staple of American cinematic mythos, “Dracula” cast a hypnotic spell over audiences, leading to sequels and remakes. Lugosi, a Hungarian stage actor who played Dracula in the theatrical production, was spot-on with his film delivery of the character. Of note a Spanish version was shot at the same time using the same sets.

There’s still probably the lingering question of: what about not being able to see his reflection in the mirror? Or a stake through the heart? Or being afraid of religious symbols? These ideas came mainly from various filmmakers, TV directors, and authors who would pick and choose what traits a vampire would have in regards to the story.

“Children of the night, shut up!” –“Dracula: Dead and Loving It”

Bella Swan is a clumsy, kind hearted teenager with a knack for getting into trouble. Edward Cullen is an intelligent, good looking vampire who is trying to hide his secret. Against all odds, the two fall in love but will a pack of blood thirsty trackers, an old pact between a certain pack of werewolves and the disapproval of their family and friends separate them.

This is the quick summary of Twilight the vampire movie that will be released on November 8th, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, I watched the trailer for Twilight last time I went to the Cinema and it sort of drew me in with its gothic nature (not that I am gothic at all) and looked like it would be a great movie to take a peek at. I was a little dissapointed when I found out it was rated PG-13 but that didn't deter me from still wanting to go. I guess we will see on opening day just what kind of movie this is.

Dimulai dari musik rock model linkin park yang begitu dark dimainkan oleh anak muda sehingga membangkitkan "lestat" salah satu vampire yang pernah hidup beratus tahun lalu. dia menghampiri anak band tersebut dan menawarkan mereka untuk jadi terkenal dengan menjadikan mereka vampire yang hidup abadi(katanya). singkat kata band tersebut menjadi terkenal dengan "lestat" vocalistnya. masyarakat hanya menganggap vampire itu julukan dan tidak mengetahui dia vampire beneran. kisah berlanjut dengan wawancara wartawan yang menyindir bahwa sebagai sosok vampire "lestat" tidak sesuai. demikianlah pertanyaan mereka: kenapa anda tidak merahasiakan diri anda? (ternyata vampire itu suka menyembunyikan identitas) kenapa? cerita berikutnya akan menjawab!! kedua mereka bertanya apakah ada yang ingin anda sampaikan kepada para vampire? "lestat" menjawab : datanglah dimanapun kalian berada!! perkataan ini adalah inti dari film ini yaitu "lestat" akan mengadakan konser musik mengundang dan menantang para vampire.. bertempat di Valley Of The End(Kaya Naruto Yak). Hayo yang merasa vampire datang :D

Cerita berlanjut dengan memperkenalkan tokoh baru(wanita) yaitu "Lessy" yang selalu bermimpi tantenya yang sudah meninggalkan tapi berjanji akan selalu menjaga. ketika terbangun dia mendengar lagu Redeemer(penebus) milik "lestat" yang kemudian dia ingin selidiki!! dia mempunyai teman seorang pustakawan seperti dirinya bernama "David" yang mengetahui sejarah vampire termasuk lestat yang ternyata diciptakan oleh "Marius" salah satu vampire pembunuh yang terkenal sejak 200SM(Wow) dan dia memberikan buku catatan "lestat" kepada "lessy" supaya dia tidak lagi penasaran untuk menyelidiki lestat!! dan kisah berlanjut dengan masa lalu lestat yang menjelaskan apa itu vampire?? siapa rajanya?? dan perasaannya.

Lestat adalah seorang bangsawan yang diculik "Marius" untuk dipilih menjadi vampire. dia digigit dan menghisap darah "Marius" sehingga memiliki kekuatan dan haus akan darah namun ternyata ada hal yang membuat dia sedih yang awalnya menjadi kekurangan dia. ketika dia berjalan ditengah malam bersama "Marius" dia melihat manusia khusunya wanita yang mempesona dia dengan biolanya. namun "Marius" berkata!! untuk dapat hidup vampire harus menyembunyikan identitasnya dan tidak boleh diketahui manusia untuk menjaga kehidupannya karena manusia tahu kelemahan vampire yang salah satunya tidak dapat hidup siang hari dan jika ingin memperkenalkan diri pada seseorang mereka harus langsung membunuh orang tersebut!! hal tersebut yang merupakan hal menyebalkan untuk "Lestat" karena dia harus tetap tinggal dalam kegelapan tanpa pergaulan.

Akhirnya dia memperkenalkan diri pada wanita yang bermain biola tersebut dengan mengikutinya bermain biola yang ternyata keahliannya(lestat) dan seketika dia bersama marius menyerang wanita tersebut bersama bapanya. tapi ketika "Lestat" mendekati wanita tersebut pingsan dan menimbulkan belas kasihan "lestat" yang kemudian dimarahi "Marius" karena vampire harus kejam!! kejadian mulai memuncak saat "lestat" bermain biola ditempat rahasia "Marius" dan membuat patung "Akasha" yang ternyata vampire paling terjahat(ibu dari segala yang terkutuk) terpesona, menengadahkan tangannya dan memberi lestat darah. lestat langsung meminum darah itu dan kekuatannya meningkat namun dia pingsan dan di borgol oleh "marius". ketika lestat tersadar ternyata "Marius" sudah menghilang. hal tersebut menjadi pelajaran menyedihkan untuk "lestat" dalam hidup ini yaitu setiap orang tidak akan selalu ada untuk kita dan saat itulah kita merasakan kesendirian.

Mengetahui cerita tersebut "Lessy" bukan puas malah semakin penasaran dan datang ke markas vampire sehingga hampir dibunuh namun diselamatkan lestat yang seketika menghilang dari dirinya yang mengakui mengerti "Lestat". 3 hari sebelum konser atau 200 tahun sejak perginya "Marius" lestat dibangunkan oleh kedatangan sang penciptanya tersebut dan sejenak memberitahukan kenapa dia memperkenalkan diri kepada manusia sehingga menjadi terkenal. jawabannya: Karena dia benci dengan kegelapan dan kesendirian. hal tersebut dilanjutkan dengan diketahuinya bahwa "Akasha" sang penguasa telah hidup kembali. "lestat" langsung menjawab: biarkan dia datang dan semua vampire datang ke konsernya. walaupun "Marius" menyuruh "Lestat" menghentikan konser tersebut tapi lestat bersi keras karena dia rela mati daripada hidup sendiri dalam kegelapan tanpa seorang yang mengerti akan dia dan memberikan cinta sebagai pendampingnya(vampire juga butuh pacar lho).

1 hari sebelum konser berlangsung... seperti biasa manager "lestat" mendatangkan 2 wanita penggemar "Lestat" untuk menjadi santapan "Lestat". gawatnya kali ini yang datang salah satunya "Lessy" bersama wanita yang tidak mengetahui identitas lestat. namun karena sepertinya "lestat" terpesona terhadap "Lessy" dia membiarkan yang satunya pergi dan menghabiskan malam ber-2 dengan "lessy" yang ternyata menyukai "lestat" dan membiarkan dirinya dijadikan vampire untuk menemani "lestat" dan lebih mengertinya. adegan erotis sejenak ditayangkan diikuti adengan "lestat" memperlihatkan diri menggigit korbannya yang seketika mengurungkan niat "lessy" untuk jadi vampire.

Singkat cerita konser dimulai dan seluruh penggemar termasuk "lessy" sudah hadir dengan model punk rock disertai aksesoris "setan" dan hadir pula para vampire yang lestat tantang untuk hadir!! konser Valley of the End dimulai dan "lestat" mulai menyanyikan lagu redeemer(sang penebus) dan satu lagu yang menghina para vampire dengan gaya mengacungkan jari tengah (Fuck You). pertarungan tak terhindarkan dan "Marius" membantu "Lestat" yang diserang para vampire sementara penonton hanya mengira ini adegan manipulasi sehingga tetap bersorak(Oon). kejadian memuncak dengan munculnya "Akasha" sang penguasa yang membakar seluruh vampire yang menyerang "Lestat" dan membawa pergi "Lestat" untuk dijadikan suaminya. sementara "lessy" ditemukan keluarganya yang ternyata vampire dengan tante bernama "Maharet" yang hidupnya menderita setelah dirubah oleh "Akasha" menjadi vampire.

Adegan memuncak dengan bertemunya semua vampire(keluarga lessy dan marius) untuk melawan "Akasha" yang begitu membenci manusia dan menjadikan manusia vampire untuk menghancurkan semua manusia. disana hadir "lessy" yang langsung lestat gigit atas perintah "Akasha", akibatnya?? lessy sudah jadi vampire tapi masih pingsan :D melihat kepatuhan lestat, akasha memberikan darahnya untuk menambah kekuatan lestat namun ternyata itu hanya taktik dari lestat untuk dapat membunuhnya. dan meminum semua darahnya. akasha menyuruh lestat berhenti tapi dia tetap menghisap darahnya yang menimbulkan amarah akasha. pertarungan langsung terjadi dan akhirnya akasha dikalahkan dan hanya bisa terpaku dihisap darahnya oleh lestat. pada tetes terakhir "maharet" tante lessy menyuruh lestat berhenti karena siapapun yang menghisap tetes terakhir darah akasha akan menjadi patung tempat akasha mati(tertidur tepatnya).

Seperti biasa akhir yang mengambang selalu ada dalam film misteri barat. apakah akasha nanti akan terbangun lagi?? namun dari segi musik dan suasana. film ini begitu kental dengan nuansa gothic. ditambah efek visualisasi vampire terbakar juga adegan erotis saat lestat bersama penggemarnya, menambah seru film ini untuk ditonton. akhirnya lestat dan lessy hidup bersama sebagai vampire. marius? dia mendatangi "David" sang pustakawan untuk.... film berakhir dengan diiringi musik rock dan vampire hidup abadi. Sekian dan Terimakasih :D

See for yourself here. Is it just me or does Edward come off a little too NBC 'To Catch a Predator' with his hand on Bella's arm like that??? Somethin' isn't right there...

New movie trailer drops in about two days...can you contain yourself until then? I certainly can't (some where Fitz is rolling his eyes).

P.S. Now THIS is something I approve of.

ALSO...wondering why you haven't seen my New York pics yet? I can't find my USB cord. Joy.

So I checked all my old entries on the blog ('cause I had a feeling I'd written about it) And voilá, there it was!

The story I'd found, Wicked by tashiequrl is basically a one-shot version of A Week in Hell, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Not that I object. It's a great storyline.

This one is both funnier, but at the same time much more lemon-y. This is not for the fainthearted. I might just dub this Blood-play. Almost.

"I was on my period. The rag. My moon time. That ‘dot on the calendar’. The crimson tide. Eve’s curse. A visit from Aunt Flow.

It was indeed, that time of the month again, and I damned it straight to hell. And that’s just me being merciful.

Periods are such a touchy topic, and when brought up in conversation, they usually bring to mind a not-so-pleasant image. Bloated, bitchy women, who yell at everything with a penis, cry when they hear a twig snap, eat an endless supply of Hershey bars, and spend lots of alone time with Patrick Swayze and a whole lot of dirty dancing.

Well, I felt like a woman scorned. Mother Nature was a cold hearted bitch for taking away the one man who brought light to my days. Not only was my boyfriend sensitive about discussing my periods, but he was sensitive towards the act itself.

Fucking bloody periods (no pun intended)! I just didn’t understand them. Edward was my drug, my natural high. The more time I spent with him, the further down I spiraled. It was if I was falling and falling with no barrier to land on, and it felt so utterly exciting—a never-ending rush of love and excitement and fear and lust…

Lust. Oh, God, how I lusted for him so. The cruelest part of it was the unquenchable lust that I felt for him. I was thirsting for him. I didn’t think it was humanely possible for me to feel any more intense, but at this moment, his touch alone would make my eyes roll back in passion."

So go read it! It's really good. Promise! :P

~Big Brother's Secret is so embarrassing~

Karin und Kenta laufen gemeinsam nach Hause. Karin stolpert, Kenta fängt sie auf. Sie wird knallrot und bekommt Nasenbluten. Anju beobachtet die Beiden. Ren geht um zu essen. Boogie babbelt von Rens Geheimnis. Als Ren 14 Jahre alt war, wurde er auf ne reine Jungenprivatschule geschickt. Er musste sich ein Zimmer mit einem Jungen teilen, der aussah wie ein Mädel und sich auch so benahm. Dieser Junge, ich glaube er heißt Makoto F., hasst Ren und Ren hasst ihn. Doch die Beiden verbindet der Hass auf die Schule. Sie werden andauernd von den drei Schulpräsidenten belästigt, die sich anscheinend in Ren und Makoto verknallt haben. Ren verknallt sich langsam auch in Makoto, denkt er zumindest. Als Makoto versucht zu fliehen, wird er von diesen Schulpräsidenten entführt. rens Vampirinstinkte und -kräfte erwachen. Er befreit Makoto und stellt dabei fest, dass Makoto eigentlich wirklich ein mann ist. Er beißt ihn und löscht dann die Erinnerungen von allen, die zu gesehn haben.

Tous ceux qui n'ont pas eu la chance de les voir en concert (ils sont très très bon sur scène), n'ont pas eu la chance non plus d'entendre leur nouvelle chanson.

Quand j'écoute cette chanson je me dit que si leur prochain album est aussi bon que le premier, je risque de crier comme les groupies sur la vidéo !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsPviLdz47E&feature=related

La qualité est un peu pourrie, mais c'est le mieux que j'ai pu trouver.

After quite a bit of serious novels, I figured I needed a quick, easy read.  I found this book on my shelf and happily, delved into it.

The cheesy title should have forewarned me; but, hey, I wanted a no-brainer.  Well, this was exactly what I got plus a whole lot of wasted time.

What can I say?  The whole book just screamed TACKY!

I laugh at myself because I'm embarassed to admit I read the whole insipid thing!   I'm just not one to leave a book unfinished.  I always hope it's got a saving grace somewhere.  In this case, I just couldn't find it.

At times, I found myself cringing at some tacky writing spattered across portions of the book :

"Portia trembled beneath his touch. In that moment she was his kitten, purring and writhing beneath the masterful stroke of his hand..."

"The nimble flick of his tongue transported her to some dark and dangerous Eden where the two of them could feast on forbidden fruit without being banished from the garden.  He was both serpent and angel, temptation and salvation, and she knew he wouldn't be satisfied until she'd surrendered herself to him, body and soul. "

< SHIVER >

There may be others, though, who find this cloyingly descriptive style, alluring.  Perhaps, lots, given the large amount of positive reviews for this book. Teresa Medeiros seems to be a well-loved author.   But I honestly cannot see how this novel could be worth anyone's while.

That being said, I won't start delving into the merits of plot and characters.  It's enough to know that they were jejune and boring.

This, being my first book by Teresa Medeiros, and the fact that she seems to have a huge fan base, merit a second look.  I think I shall attempt one or two more books by her before I can truly say, she's just not my type.  Suggestions, anyone? I may just have picked up a lemon.

My Mark : Poor

Welcome to my Island "Nikita Fride" where you will find the best skins of second life.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nikita%20Fride/57/180/25

I spent the morning and afternoon in Berkley playing the Star Wars miniature game at Games of Berkley.  I played my usual combo of Vader and a bunch of Stormtroopers.  I added Vader's apprentice to the team for both games to mix things up.  Most of my game pieces are still in Kansas City, but I'm having fun with the pieces I do have in San Francisco.

Came home to go shopping at the Farmer's Market with Elli, then home for lunch and house cleaning.  I got to clean out the closet that I had junked up while Elli did some sweeping and kitchen cleaning.  The closet took longer than I planned, but I had really junked it up with school papers and such.  I'm not the most organized guy in the world.  It's all better now, with everything in a place, and easy access to the iron and other things we use most often.

After that I headed to Borders to spend money on a few Billy Collins books for Elli.  He's a famous poet, and his stuff his good (even I like it, and I don't like poetry).  Picked up a vampire book for myself, because it is the season for such reads.

It's October, and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but autumn in California (where there are no trees anywhere near my apartment) is kind of a let down.  The weather is warm, no leaves to turn pretty colors, and no drizzly rain to set the mood on the dark streets.  On the plus side, the weather is warm and there is no drizzy rain.  Yet.  The rain is on it's way, I've been told.

I wonder if we should try dressing the cats up for Halloween and then they can trick-or-treat around the apartment?  We tried to put a cat hat on Raven once.  She wasn't impressed.  Tracer shook the hat off her head and tried to eat it.  I guess I answered my own question.

Elli and I closed out the evening with some reading.  I'm finishing up Cthulhu 2000, a collection of H.P. Lovecraft inspired stories, but none are actually written my Lovecraft.  Elli is reading a book about a ghost who can be seen by someone for the first time in a hundred years.

The quick recap (and I mean VERY quick)- New York was fantastic.

Fitz and I were able to enjoy some delicious meals with old friends, relish the fall season in the most energetic city in the world, shop around Soho, and I only encountered three rats in five days. One was the size of a small pony. Overall, my time on the east coast was simply stellar. I will download and post pictures tomorrow!

Unrelated topics:

Thanks to the wonder that is the Blackberry, I heard that the new Twilight movie trailer will be out on October 9th. Once available, I will most certainly post it for all you vampire nerds to enjoy. Confirmation of such news can be found here.

This weekend a dream was lost. My beloved Cubs have fallen apart and let go of the passion that fueled them through this baseball season, and succumbed to the Dodgers. I'm beyond sad at the thought of this being the end of the road...after 100 years...there simply aren't words to describe the pain. Naturally, I will be back next year, still rooting and believing that something great will eventually happen. But right now, I'm just going to sulk and grieve the loss of what could have been.

For now...I'm just enjoying some D'Agostino's thin crust with Fitz while watching old reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and unwinding from a wild weekend. Good night!

'Moon Child'
"Instinct" by Ryuuzaki Kusakurin

DISCLAIMER: It isn't mine, as much as I wish it was...

Warnings: Violence
Characters: Kei, Sho, Toshi, Shinji
Theme Songs: Tomo no shi [Goro Yasukawa]
Pairings: None

This came out of nowhere, I was eating breakfast and picking the next song when I turned 'Tomo no shi' on. I got this great image of Kei in black leather pants and a white shirt, holsters strapped onto him, and then this dark, relatively desolate setting that was probably the outcome of him pulling a job alone. So I wrote the next part of the image. I hope it's okay...

The silence of the place is eerie, even concerning as Kei walks in, the guns holstered to his body making faint clinking sounds with each step he takes, entering their 'home' with a vague sense of unease. He's coming back from pulling a job - alone, as always - and his pockets are full of money that he estimates will keep their patched-together 'family' fed and clothed for about a month. As he pads quietly into the main area of the abandoned building, his unease grows.

The warehouse is empty, and Kei can't see the children he's more or less adopted as his own anywhere.
"Sho?" he calls softly into the darkness, not wanting to wake any of them up in the event that they're just asleep and he's overlooked them. When he recieves no response, he tries again. "Toshi?" Again, no response. His eyes widen and he begins to shuffle through the open-air building that they live in, growing increasingly more concerned with each discovery.

Toshi's tin of money is gone, and there are no signs of it being anywhere. His backpack is also missing, but Kei overlooks that because he knows Toshi stashes money in there too, when he has too much for the little tin he keeps.

Near where Shinji sleeps isn't of much concern to Kei but he looks anyway, searching for any clues that he can. He discovers Shinji's metal baseball bat laying haphazardly on the dirt-covered ground a few metres away from his cot

Sho's makeshift bed has rumpled blankets on it and some of them have been dragged across the floor, indicating that the boy was dragged out of it. This is enough to send him into a panic as he stares blankly at the sheets and blankets dragged through the dirt and left. He doesn't realise it, but as he grows more and more worried, the vampire instincts within him are unleashed as they would be on a job, and his eyes flash golden before he can think to stop the change in his being. By te time he realises it, his mindset is that of the beast's and he catches the lingering scent of the three boys before taking off after it, following the newest trail with nothing more than instict.

Kei nearly misses the trail in his haste when scent indicates that the boys entered a narrow alley at some point, and with a growl he turns back, pausing for only an instant to ascertain that nobody is about before tearing off into the passageway.

He can hear familiar voices now, raised in a symphony of fear and attempted assurance, and he doesn't even hear the words as he runs forward, into the light. 

Three men surround the boys and they are armed - dangerous. They look up from where they had been threatening Toshi and one aims a gun, firing point-blank at Kei's heart.

The bullet hits and Kei crumples to the ground with a low growl of pain. His hand automatically goes to his chest, and when he feels it healing only seconds later he bares his teeth and lunges at the shooter, forcing him against a wall with his superior strength. The vampire plunges his fangs into the man's neck and rips across, leaving the man to support himself as he gasps for breath, though the only sound he makes is a choked gurgling noise.

It is dark, but not dark enough to hide the gaping wounds across the man's throat and as he dies the boys gasp and Shinji looks away in both horror and disgust. Kei doesn't hear them, doesn't see them; he is too focused on carrying out his task. He ducks once to dodge a bullet that was aimed at his head and then stands straight, surveying his remaining soon-to-be-victims.

Kei stalks closer to the second man, roughly yanking him closer by the hair and breaking his neck in a swift movement. He tosses the body away as though it was a used doll and moves on, not even trying to dodge bullets as he makes his way forward, towards his last toarget. His eyes shine golden in the near-darkness as he surveys the third man with a predatory sneer on his face - his lips are covered in blood and the beast knows that the last man is afraid. The acrid scent that he can smell permeating the air is that of fear, sharp and biting. He stalks forward, about to end the third attacker's life when the man makes a move and grabs Sho.

Kei's eyes widen as the man presses the handgun to the boy's head and waits.

"Get... get off of me," Sho whimpers, struggling as much as a ten-year-old possibly can against an adult. The gun cocks and Sho's eyes squeeze shut, believing he is going to die.

Kei doesn't offer a surrender option to the man; by the time the attacker realises that Kei has moved his hand has been jerked to the side and he quickly is forced to drop the gun as the vampire crushes his hand. His eyes still gleam gold as he fists a hand in the man's hair and jerks his head to the side, his teeth plunging roughly into the jugular beneath.

As he feeds, Sho stumbles back to Toshi and Shinji, who are stock-still, watching Kei in a twisted, morbid kind of curiosity. The beast that has wound its way into the blonde's consciousness pays them no heed; the vampire's bloodlust has been sparked by the availability of fresh blood and he moans softly as he swallows mouthful after mouthful of the precious liquid.

"K-kei...?" Toshi calls, his voice quiet and scared as he watches. Out of all of the boys, only Shinji has seen a glimpse of this, and it was enough to make him wish he hadn't.

Kei's golden eyes open and flick to them even as he feeds, watching them unblinkingly as they stare at him in what could only be wide-eyed terror. When he finishes with the man, his eyes dim and darken to their normal states and it takes him a moment to fully realise what he's inadvertently exposed the boys to. They look at him, still scared, and he stumbles away, the familiar high from feeding making him clumsy.

"You need to get home," he tells them, a light command in his slightly slurred voice as he feels his fangs retract. They scamper away, following his order, and he breathes a sigh of relief before disposing of the bodies. He dumps them in one of the rivers that flows to the ocean and returns home, the sun threateningly light in the sky as he seeks shelter on his makeshift bed of piled blankets, hidden in the shadows.

He loathes himself more than usual as he hears Sho, Toshi, and Shinji begin their normal morning routine of making breakfast with whatever food they have left. Sho usually tries to offer some to Kei despite his knowledge that the vampire doesn't need it, but nobody bothers him as he closes his eyes and eventually drifts off.

-----moon child-----

As soon as Sho thinks the vampire is asleep, he pads over to him and curls up next to the inhumanly-cold body, taking comfort in his father-figure's arms.

For Halloween '08... it's Smogferatu-chan!

As a big fan of Vampire lore, I wanted to do a tribute to the undead blood suckers... in kaiju form.
My next paint job was Gargamel's great re-issue of Smogun. The one used for this custom is the mini Smo' (about 4" tall).  Smogferatu-chan's name is a homage to the creepy 1922 film "Nosferatu'... while his look is meant to pay tribute to the more violent and bloody modern vampire tales such as Steve Niles' great graphic novel '30 Days of Night'. Read more about the 'chan' suffix here if you want.

Now, about that severed head...

Pegila, who is no stranger to dismemberment (see Ultraman Ep:8 ), was kind enough to donate his head to complete Smogferatu's look of bloodlust. Pegila is actually an extra Bullmark replica mini I had lying around.

I hope you like it! Click any pic to see more in the growing REdYOdA Custom Gallery!

Age Appropriateness:  9th grade and above

I love this whole series in a fairly unhealthy way..ha ha ha.  This is not a challenging read but the author's writing has a way of drawing you into this fantastic vampire world that has you almost believing it is real.  The main character, Bella Swann, is someone many teenagers (past or present) can relate to as a girl who never quite fits in with her peers.  The hero, Edward Cullen, is quite frankly the perfect man....I mean, vampire. -Oh heart be still!  These two find an inexplicable draw to each other and ultimately a love so intense that it is all-consuming.  As if Edward's intense blood lust for Bella and Bella's reckless "danger magnet" qualities weren't complicated enough, newcomer nomadic vampires cross their paths who do not share The Cullen's renouncement of human prey and think Bella smells pretty darn tasty.   If you like a bit of vampire romance suspense without the smut then this is a book you definitely want to read.

As far as age rating is concerned, there is nothing overtly bad or inappropriate.  The thing I would consider as a parent is the intense, obsessive love between the two main characters.  Readers under the age of 15/16 may idealize this kind of relationship and not quite seperate fantasy from reality. I'm speaking of the actual romance of the story not the (obvious) fantasy vampire parts.  I personally would read this book first and judge for yourself if it is appropriate for your tween/preteen/teen.