I missed you all. This cruel month of April dragged me over the coals, but I'm back (read last post if you haven't).

But this post is not about me. It's about the fact that THE FANDOM GODS HAVE GIVEN ME GIFTS! There's a lot I could say but I'm just going to give it all a brief once-over.

BLEACH:

( I squee every page now, for reals. )


NARUTO :

( It breaks my heart and hurts so good )

AVATAR:

( Thank God For New Episodes!! )

So, yeah, I can't give up these fandoms. They just keep dragging me back. I'm a mess of fangirl goop right now. Goop, I say. :D

All caught up on Avatar.  This series really is great, isn't it?  It's better than anything I've ever seen on Nickelodeon, ever.  I underestimated it for so long because I had never given it a chance.  I sure was wrong.  It's epic. And hilarious.  For a short series, it's on par with FMA in terms of, characters and plot and animation quality.  Fucking brilliant stuff.  And how is it possible for me to love Zuko more every episode?  In 3-12 I just wanted to pinch his cheeks.  :3
Also: A critique of U.S. foreign policy, or is it just me? 
So thank you, Avatar, for saving me from dwelling on the total rape of Itachi's character that is Naruto 386. 

Bleach 306: Mayuri is starting to win me over.

Whoot.  I am a nerd.  XDD

Hey folks, I've recently emerged from holing myself up in the library, writing my two papers. They are done! Now all that remains are a take-home exam on Sunday, which I have from noon to midnight to complete, and a five-pager to whip off by Friday. I'm hoping to get it done early in the week, though, so I can get a couple extra days of semester break. Classes start again January 30, and they should be more fun this time around, I think.

I'm applying to play Rukia at hardboiled_rpg , the brainchild of my beloved gogochan . I've never been part of an official RP before, so I hope I have enough time to put into it. I justify this to myself with the logic that I am a writer first and a student archaeologist second, and since RPing helps hone my writing skills, I should do it.

Speaking of which, I LOVED the last chapter of Bleach. I've never been much of a Mayuri fan, but this chapter...it was kickass. Kubo's really gotten his stuff together these days.

Finally, the album cover meme, stolen from katiefoolery .

1) Go to a random page on wiki.
The article title is the name of your band.

2) Go to an equally random page of quotes.
The final words of the last quote on your page are the title of your album.

3) Go to a flickr feed of photos from the last seven days.
The FOURTH image on the page is your album cover. (You can choose to go to here if you prefer a more dynamic, less philosophical cover.)

4) Design your cover. Layout and presentation are up to you.

5) Post your cover, along with these instructions. In the comments your friends will tell you what kind of music you play and the name of the album’s single.



So tell me, what kind of music should Spider Islands play?  (And I hope pulling a "Trace Contour" on the original image qualifies as "design and presentation" and is within my jurisdiction. >>)

Included here are a year-end meme and a shipping meme.  The new year meme made me realize how HUGE 2007 was for me.  It was the biggest year of my life since 1999.



   


Fandom Shipping Meme stolen from _cherrywolf_ :

 

Whoot!  I made a deadline.  This is for the Holiday Fic Exchange at bleach_bdsm and it's my first time writing this pairing.

Title:  "The Illusionists"
Author: joyinthedance
Requested by: libekory
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Kinks: Powerplay, slight dubcon, light S&M, illusion-play
Summary: Gin messes with Aizen by sitting in his throne.  Aizen, and the throne, have other plans.
Disclaimer: Kubo owns all.
A/N: This is my first time writing this pairing.  Hope you enjoy it!  <3

Okay, so I have just caught up with the last 25 chapters of Bleach or so. 

Title: Fresh Ink (Part 8 of 9)
Pairing: Grad student!Byakuya x tattoo artist!Renji (yes that's the right order)
Genre: University AU, Romance, Multi-chapter
Rating: NC-17
Words: 3000
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine. 
A/N:  I think today is the deadline for, uh, submission to the contest over at bleach_bdsm . 





Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Title: Fresh Ink (Part 7 of 9)
Characters: Tattoo artist!Renji x grad student!Byakuya
Genre: University AU, Romance, Multi-chapter
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2400
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine. And of course, both guys are over 18.
A/N: Sorry for the hellish wait. BUT! Part 8 will follow immediately within a few days because I’m submitting it to the contest over at bleach_bdsm. Oh yes, you heard that right. BDSM.


( PART SEVEN )
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Before I fly away to Asia, here' s a treat for all you patient "Fresh Ink" fans!

Title: Fresh Ink (Part 6)
Authors:  joyinthedance and gogochan
Characters: Renji x Byakuya
Genre: University!AU, Romance, multi-chapter
Rating: NC-17 like WOAH.
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine. The university was, though. ^_^
A/N: I know it’s unforgivably late; I’m sorry; don’t remind me. You’ll probably want to read Part 5 again to refresh yourselves. The lovely lemon-lime flavor you're tasting is all brought to you by gogochan, who resuced me when my smut muse flew the coop  Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Ack. I've had a nasty cold for the past three days thanks to my brother, though I'm not sure how that happened seeing as he never even interacts with me. >> But it's given me some time to stay inside and READ, which I always forget to do these days.  I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, who is the GREATEST.   Reading stuff like that inspires me to actually write that novel I've been meaning to start.

Speaking of creative endeavors, I started a webcomic!  It kind of sucks (you've all seen my half-ass art skills) but it's a great outlet that takes way less time and energy than writing.  So far I've been posting a new oneshot every day, but I'll have to see if I can maintain that frequency once school starts (i.e., whether I have a scanner).  It's not much, but it's got chibis?

*too lazy for potential spoiler cuts*

I finally caught up with the Bleach manga and wow, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow are hot I'm finally starting to feel the drama for real again.  It had been awhile.  Oddly enough, Ichigo seeing Orihime again really did it for me, even though I don't ship them.  AND OMG for those who have read Naruto 360, I really like all the Deidara revelations.  As if he weren't already the coolest evar.  I'm so glad Kishi's fleshing him out even if it a sign of *gasp* trouble to come.

Being sick blows though.  I hope I've recovered fully before my cousin's wedding next week.

Before I get to the meat of the post, have some quick anime notes.  It gives you something to comment on besides my graduation angst.  I'm not in the mood for serious multifandom blogging right now, but I just wanted to say that the last two episodes of Naruto have been so damn great. Kisame vs. Gai is totally hilarious. And Itachi is so. Damn. Sexy. Also I am really starting to get bored with Bleach (I KNOW, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???), and have gotten behind in the manga, but am starting to like Orihime a lot in the anime. Which is so weird; at the beginning of my involvement with the series I didn't like her at all! But now I just really sympathize with her and think her powers are awesome.

I really meant to do a huge Death Note post around the time of episode 25, in eulogy of a certain someone, but I was banning myself from LJ so I never posted it. Now so much has happened since then that I feel it's pointless to try and gush about it all.  But all I have to say is, what is up with people who think the second half of DN sucks?  Mello and Near are awesome. and Light's downward spiral is so deliciously tragic and deserved.  I love this series so much.  Is it really ending at episode 37?  Man...


Okay, now for the graduation angst.

So I was on hiatus for awhile, and I kept up with manga, and got a little behind on anime, and got caught back up again, and took a few notes as I went along because I felt the need to fangirl but had sworn not to touch LJ.  So to clear that all out, I'm posting Delayed Reaction fan commentary.

BLEACH






NARUTO

I definitely dreamed about Death Note last night, and I remember being really pissed at L, but I can't remember why. 

Also, I was randomly listening to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack and am now having Naruto/Phantom crossovers in my head. I'm not even sure how that works but somehow it does.

Title: Fresh Ink (Part 5)
Characters: Tattoo artist!Renji x grad student!Byakuya
Genre: University!AU, Romance, multi-chapter
Rating: PG-13
Words:  2,140
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine.  The university is, though.
A/N: Yes, I'm alive!  It’s been too long.  Joy's brain was completely hijacked by midterms and a certain other fandom.  ^_^;  In return, I give you the longest chapter yet.  PLUS, I'm almost done with Part 6, which continues Part 5 and contains smut.  Originally I was going to include it here but wanted to give more time to the smex.  So be eager!  And if the ending doesn't seem right, it will in the next segment.
Another minor note: I decided to switch the order of the names since this is an American university and it just makes more sense that way, even though I hate the way it sounds. 

________________


_____________________
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Itachi was in my dream last night.  Well, lots of little Itachis.  My brother and I were in a store, you know, one of those novelty stores, and there was a whole wall of Itachi stuff.  No other Naruto characters, just Itachi.  Itachi pens, Itachi keychains, a little Itachi snowglobe (wtf, I know)…I remember just agonizing over what I wanted to buy and not being able to pick the perfect thing.  (My Sasuke muse must be really jealous.  “I’ve been kicking ass in the manga, I’m the one you’ve been writing about and thinking about, and all you can dream about is my brother??  Screw you.”  Poor Sasuke.  You just can't compete, hun.)  On an unrelated note, I also dreamed that my bed was being invaded by these squicky orange wormy things.  Ewwwwwww.

It is so gorgeous in L.A.  I hadn't realized how much I'd been missing blue and green!  I'm finally getting some sun on my legs.  It's scary how pale I've gotten.  Most of my time is being spent on my senior thesis, which is going slowly but steadily.  I'm learning to use Illustrator for the drawings of the ceramics I'm analyzing, and I'm finally getting the hang of it.  I also learned I got a special extra fellowship from Harvard, which will boost my stipend by several thousand dollars a year!  :D  This will be much needed, as Cambridge is a ridiculously expensive place to live.  It's also ridiculously cold there.  The news about the extra funding came at a good time because the weather here was just about making me question why I'd sold my soul to the east coast.  I guess it's a good thing...I won't ever take warm weather for granted!

I have been itching so bad for Naruto 344 that I seem to have acquired a subconscious OroSasu kink that was just dying to surface.  As I was idly scribbling while doing my homework, I noticed I had drawn what really looked like OroSasu. Of the not-worksafe variety.  Well that's...interesting, I thought.  I've never even attempted to draw smut before, for any pairing, much less this twisted combination.  So, I finished it.  I'm thinking of posting it when I get access to a scanner and nobody is around. In my defense: CANON MADE ME DO IT!!!

*hides*

EDIT: Dude, I just tried to add two polls to my post and they were screwed up.  I hate you html.  I'll try again tomorrow.

Speaking of which, this new development in the manga means that my time is running out to write this Sasuke-centric future fic that's been bouncing around my brain for a while, before it becomes AU.  I really wish I had more time to write.  Also, when I get my Bya/Ren muse back, I have a good part of the long overdue Fresh Ink Part 5 finished.  So those of you who are waiting impatiently for that, I haven't abandoned you!!

Spring break -- March 10 -- is coming up fast. I'll probably get my fanfic out around then.  However, I'm going to spend most of it writing my senior thesis. Unfortunately I realized that I need Adobe Illustrator to digitize my drawings for my thesis, and Photoshop is not going to cut it. I really don't want to pay $150, so if anyone knows where I can get a cheap copy of Illustrator for Mac I'd love you forever. *puppy dog eyes* (UPDATE: Thanks to naicha_lover for directing me to an awesome price, and to my beloved brother for promising to break the law for me.)

It is 40 degrees and sunny today, which is sad because the new snow is melting away, but wonderful because it's so pleasant! I was so pleased with the weather that I skipped lunch so I could go running. Now I'm in the best mood ever.  Alas, I have an Art History midterm tomorrow that I haven't started studying for. Maybe I should get on that.  ^_^;;

Update:  So instead of studying I drank a bunch of wine.  Why does this always happen to me?  ^_^;

I have some rambling to do. 

UPDATE: I GOT IN!!!!!!!!


1.   I'm feeling much, much, much better.  Thanks to everyone who left me get well comments containing magic powers and whatnot. 

2.   I had a second Harvard interview today on the phone, basically for them to gauge my interest in going there.  The Department Chair called me at 1:45 and said they had their final sit-down on admissions at 3 pm.  He told me a ton of fantastic things about their program that I hadn't already known, as if I didn't  love it enough before.  They told me that one of the profs whose "turn" it is to pick a student said that out of all the applicants, I was the only one that interested her.  And I told them I would go if I was admitted.  He said he'd let me know within the next few days.  This has all happened so fast - a month ago I was at a conference swearing my allegiance to UCLA.  But UCLA was slow to act, and Harvard got me, and my soul is sold.  Usually I'm a pessimist about these things, but it really, really sounded like they were going to take me.  We'll see.  *bites nails*  I'M GOING TO HARVARD!!! 

3.     I have a new favorite movie.  HAROLD AND MAUDE.  It is so good.  I saw it with five friends and we all loved it, which has never happened before, and is especially surprising given the strange nature of the film.  I thought it would be too morbid for some of them, and they thought it would be too cheesy for me.  But we all loved it and went home and downloaded all the songs. I want to own it.

4. This is delayed because I got behind, but Bleach 262 - wut.

So basically life is good, if really busy.  I'm annoyed at my writing class because I feel like I'm not getting as much out of it as I could if I really put the time into it, as I could in a different semester when I didn't have my senior thesis.  Oh well.  I am so excited about Harvard right now.  Who'd have thought.  ^_^