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Bio Name: Melissa B. Screen Name: Gita Toronjil-Lee Birthdate: February 24, 1983 Lives: Quartz Hill, in the Antelope Valley, in Southern California, USA. Pacific Time Zone. Contact: Note: This current blog layout is only temporary; I intend to spice it up much more in the future. ^_^ |
Hello! No, I'm not dead. I've just been alternating between being terribly busy in real life and being terribly unhappy with the blog's layout . I'm not abandoning this page, but due to the latter problem, until I have a layout I like for this site, I'm going to use the address at top. But anyway. I'm making a quick quick proofread-less entry to state that I'm leaving for our cruise to Mexico tomorrow morning on the "Carnival Ecstasy" (four years ago we were on the "Jubilee") -- wai! And I'll be back Saturday, only to leave Monday for orientation/registration at USC that'll last till Tuesday. I'm pretty upset that I didn't finish my "happy birthday" update for IMN by the fifth, and now I'll have to wait over another week to finish it, but . . . so it goes. I'll just try to make it as good as I can when I finally have the time. Right, gotta get packing now -- I STILL haven't started, and my sister'll be going to bed soon, so I'll lose my light. I must make haste -- Hasta luego! Listening to: Nothing. Too busy. But seriously, folks. (um, not that I wasn't being serious just then.) < giggle > I know this'll never happen, but if anyone ever walks into a video store in mid-Southern California and sees the Sailor Moon tapes entitled "Green-Eyed Monsters" or "In This Corner, Sailor Venus"" turned around backward, you'll know the Mad Gita has struck again. I cannot STAND seeing a big Zoisite on the cover advertising a dub tape (and since there's NO VOICE ATTACHED, I am SO not going to say "Zoycite". :P); I find that sacrilege. Why should one of the characters(if not THE character) most injured by the dub advertise it, and under a title that insults him? And as for the other, well, I don't think Kunzite should be advertising anything DiC-ly either; he got pretty well messed up as well. And that there's Venus-chan on the cover with him? Ohh, I can see the stupid Shitennou/Senshi fans already citing that as "evidence", even though there was already Sailormoon with both Zoi AND Neffy. But anyway, I do tend to turn the boxes around. And today, in Suncoast, I took an extra step -- I decided not only to turn the "Green-Eyed Monsters" box around, but I put it facing the "And in this Corner" box. So basically I made Zoi-kun facing and pressed against Kunz-sama. (And Venus against Moon, but hey, some things must be sacrificed.) I am so sick sometimes. I also did something similar with the ugly Uranus and Neptune plastic dollies they once sold there. ^___^ Moving on. Well, this has been the weekend of Damned Good Movies. Not that I saw a bunch of them; just three, in fact, and only two of those I would rate DG -- the third, Keeping the Faith, I'd rather put under a lower category . . . Worth Watching, or something. But Vampire Hunter D, which was FINALLY at Blockbuster, and Quills, which my friends Jessica, Sarah, and Kimi watched at Jessica's house. Bobby and I watched VHD, and we both got quite a kick out of it. Afterward, our consensus was, "That was a really good movie . . . as long as you didn't listen to the dialogue." The lines were fairly cliched (I wish I knew how to put the accent on the "e" there . . .), but it was the voice-acting that killed us, D's and Reiginsei's especially. For the former . . . well, neither of us had heard much of Shiozawa Kaneto's work (Bobby'd heard none, and I'd only heard one or two Demando clips; I still haven't seen R in the original), but it was pretty obvious that D was played wrong. He reminded Bobby of Heero, and maybe that was right; I just know that it bugged me. And Reiginsei . . . well, let's just say that I was absolutely shocked -- now I know that there's been a worse dub actor for a Sogabe Kazuyuki character than Dennis Akayama! But the nice thing with him was that it was fairly easy for me to imagine how he *would* have sounded. D was harder. He was cool, though . . . he reminded both of us of Vincent Valentine wielding the masamune. Cool. And now I really want to see that in the original! I want to hear Sogabe-san screaming as he gets mutilated . . . I think I'm a sadist. ^^ And speaking of sadism . . . gee, I don't even know what to say about "Quills", aside from that I loved it. And that my friends and I just about died when, in a scene that depicted two guys and a girl naked and naughty, Jessica's grandma decided to walk in the room. Now, she's a tiny little old Indian woman who I don't think speaks much English, and I don't think she noticed, but still, we were dying. And we kept having to kick Jessica's younger sister Shelley and her friend out of the room. (they're sophomores in high school, but we didn't want them seeing the movie anyway.) I'm pretty sure we all loved the movie for its intriguingly morbid/gruesome plot, psychologically complex characters, and the "fascination with the abomination" in general, but we basically spent our time in the first half gasping in horror at the perverse stuff that kept (um. . . trying to think of a phrase without a double entendre here . . . ) appearing, and the second half drooling over Joaquin Phoenix. And boy, was he yummy. ^^ Let's see, what else . . . we had our last softball game. Had we won, we would've had second place. We didn't win. I wish the coach would've given me more power as assistant coach; had we put the players/lineup where I wanted, I think we would've won. But I know I'm too competitive. We had a good season; had we had a full team every game, we would've been undefeated easily (our best pitcher showed up at all of three games; if she'd been there more, we could've put her replacements in the field where they excelled!). It was a good year to leave that league on, although I'm kind of sad -- I've been playing there since third grade. I only coached this year because I got too old. < sigh > I really need to learn how to make shorter blog entries. Oh, well. I've got to get back to chatting on ICQ/AIM, and trying to work on my Minako 'fic. Goodnight! Listening to: Nothing. I can't make noise; Laura's trying to sleep. >_< . . . yeah, I'm excited. I found out that my suspicions were correct -- my school only grants a speech to the top-ranked student. Ah, well. Robert's being pretty cool about it -- he's a total geek, but he's a nice guy, too -- and so rather than writing a speech, he's taking a quote from all 64 other "valedictorians" (= students with a constant GPA of 4.0 or above) and incorporating that into his presentation. I hope it works. Heh. . . and damned if _I_ would've done something like that. I'm kind of arrogant that way. ^_^;;;; I remember in sophomore year I trailed behind him the second semester in Algebra II/Trig by only five points (and only because I was absent and missed correctly learning a topic that should've been easy points . . .) , because the class was graded on a curve. Robert had so many points that he didn't need to take the curved-separately final, so he didn't, to prevent the chance of him getting a perfect score and screwing over all the kids that needed the test to be graded out of a lower score. I, being so close behind him, also didn't have to take the final to get an A. But I did anyway, and what did I do? I got a perfect score. < big grin > So did Theresa (my friend currently co-#2 with me), who didn't need to take the final, either. Thankfully, another kid who DID need the final to get a good grade also aced it, so Theresa and I didn't need to feel guilty. ^__^ And that's enough reminiscing for me today. Is it the end of high school that's doing it to me? My _point_ was that now I need to think of a clever quote for Robert's speech. Oh, well. I'm going over to my friend Jennifer's tonight; we're having a pizza/movie party. It's grad nite, you see, but most of my group(s) didn't want to spend $75.00 to go to boring ol' Disneyland in our dress attire. I'm glad Jennifer's parents decided to do this . . . they also threw Halloween parties every year for a long time. They're like that. I'm looking forward to it -- my friend Jessica really wants to see "Shakespeare in Love" and "Quills", and I do, too, but some of our other friends are a bit . . . hesitant. I told her that if "Quills" gets nixed, she and I and Kat, who also really wanted to see it, can come over to my house and we'd watch it another time. ^_^ What else, what else . . . well, I'm tired from staying up till 2:00 working on my psych final (which turned out well despite a LOT of difficulties) and role-playing on ICQ with lucky out-of-school Sardine-chan. (role-playing past a certain time of night can get weeeeeird!) I almost hit a squirrel today while I was driving, minding my own business, belting "See Me, Boku-Tachi no Jidai" at the top of my lungs. I ended up having to straddle the poor guy, and I still swear I felt a thunk, but when I looked behind me, he looked back and ran away, so I didn't make him a pancake. Thank _goodness_. I also had my Embarrassing Speech Moment of the day. . . girl with a heavy accent (WHY did they put an exchange student in the attendance office?!?) asked me for my name to write it on the pass, and I spelled it out for her, but, as sometimes happens. . . I'm starting to get feedback from my grad announcements, though . . . sweet! Only three cards so far, and already I have $150! And to think two days ago I was broke! Okay, yeah, now that my theoretical reader knows WAY too much about my daily life, I'd better quit now. And I do realize this blog is pretty long -- one of my numerous summer plans is to redesign it with something really cute. (I may skimp on the HTML, though; I may cheat and try Frontpage again. It's just so much easier!!) I wonder if I can convince Mom to come walking with me now . . . it's really hot outside, and my dad just got home and she'll probably want to talk to him, but I'll be going to Jennifer's soon. And I do need to pick up in walking like we were doing a couple weeks ago. I'll soon need to buy a bathing suit. Horrors! Listening to: The ceiling fan. Dang. Oh, well. I've got Groovy Blue running through my head; that's enough. Well, Thursday was Senior Awards Night; that was fun. Although I didn't sweep the departments like I did last year at the underclassmen awards, I did get tapped as the second best AP Spanish student (honored with a certificate) and best overall English student (with an engraved plaque! I was flattered. ^_^) I also received the Bank of America's honor in English, and a $1000 scholarship from the memorial fund of a teacher at QHHS who died when I was in ninth grade. I didn't know him, but I was still very moved to accept the award. The only thing that irked me was that the "Previously Won Scholarships" portion on the program left off $60,000 of my earnings, because the guidance office secretary misled me in what I had to confirm. But really, my biggest problem was that this kid named Joe, the only other person at my school (that I know of!) who's also going to USC, received a Presidential scholarship from there as well, but since they didn't mention mine, it looked like the school wanted him a hell of a lot more than it wanted me! Ah, but I'm a jealous little ingrate, aren't I? ^^;;;;; I got the matter cleared up in Administration, anyway. What else, what else. . . well, yesterday was the much-hyped IC3 weekend on Food Network, and while I definitely enjoyed the All-French versus All-Chinese battle, yesterday's 21st century really killed me. (theoretical fans of the show who didn't see the program may want to cover their eyes here . . .) Seriously, we saw both Sakai, who NEVER loses, get spanked by that skinhead guy (dammit, why does everyone think that salt-crust grills are always so brilliant?), and then, much, much worse, that stupid arrogant Bobby Flay beat Morimoto in their rematch! Noooo! For shame, tetsujin-tachi, for shame! Ah, but I honestly think the advantage Fray had was that he was in Japan. I mean, here in California, tamales and Surf & Turf would be no big deal, but there, they thought he was oh-so-creative! And Morimoto gave it a good try -- fried cheese sushi? Who else would've come up with that? ^_^ And the panel absolutely raved about his food . . . how the heck could he lose? (for the record, though, judging by Fray's comments to magazines after the fact, I had a feeling that he won. I was just hoping that it wasn't true. :( ) All I can say is that they better start filming more of that show, 'cause that would be a crappy way to end it! But ah, well. I'm gonna get off that subject now, as soon as I brag about the 24/26 score I got on foodtv.com's Iron Chef Fanatic quiz, which places me in the top category . . . ^___^ My RL friend and fellow IC fanatic Sarah, in her Senior Will, said, "To Melissa, I leave Iron Chefs Sakai, Chen, and Morimoto. (but Kobe's mine!)" Cracking up, I told her she had to share. We have quite a war going over the youngest tetsujin! The girl's got good taste. She said, upon seeing a blurry picture of Onosaka Masaya-sama, "Hey, that guy's pretty cute!" Okay, let's see. What else is new, what else is new . . . well, I'm guessing they won't make me give a speech. I guess I'm a little disappointed, but hey, it's also a relief. I've got a lot of work to do for my psych final (due Thursday), but since the rest of my classes are basically through, I'm okay with that. We recently bought a bunch of good movies: Speed, Smokey and the Bandit, A Fish Called Wanda, and South Park. My mom also got a goldfish-in-a-vase from a student; it's a fish called Wanda, too. I'm sure there's more to say, but I can't think of it now, so I think I'll focus the rest of my attention on chatting with Zoi84-chan on ICQ. < nods > Then maybe I'll see if I can talk my mom into taking a walk with me; I think the weather's cooled down. Listening to: Nothing, actually, save the theme to Beverly Hills 90210 wafting in from the front room. The last month has just been crazy! AP and IB tests are over, and I feel fairly comfortable with how I did (let's see if I still say that in July when I get my scores, shall we?), save on the art one, but I think my teacher didn't really understand what we had to have done. It wasn't her fault, though -- my class is the first class to have gone through the program, so we're basically the guinea pigs. Apparently the HL math and biology classes were similarly screwed-up. (boy, am I glad I opted out of those classes!) So we'll have to see how that goes. By the time I realized how much more of a hassle IB tests were, it was too late; I was committed to take them. But now they're over, and I'm feeling much better.
I had a bitch of a time deciding between USC (the University of Southern California) and UCLA (the University of California at Los Angeles). < sigh > Both were _really_ tempting, and both accepted me with honors. I finally had to grit my teeth and pick, and I ended up choosing USC; it was smaller (2800 vs 4500 entering freshmen), and was offering me a fairly decent Presidential scholarship, whereas UCLA, being a public school, just didn't have that. I'm glad I've chosen, now, and I'm sorta looking forward to starting school late August.
I've still got a few weeks left of my CURRENT school, of course. We graduate June 13, although the last day of formal instruction is the seventh. I have one more day left of Spanish finals, and we're doing a final project in Psychology, but aside from that, I have hardly any classwork. It's an extreme relief. I am, however, worried that I'll have to give a graduation speech; I was notified that my friend and I were tied for second in the class. That'd be scary. But I wouldn't DENY the opportunity -- if I didn't, we'd hear a talk from a girl with the last name of Poindexter and a boy with the last name of Chang. If those aren't stereotypical for high-achieving students, I don't know WHAT would be! I want to be the exception. ^^ That is, of course, assuming that my school assigns speeches that way. Quite honestly, I have no idea. Yeah, and we had Prom, too, which was fun. I'll probably post a photo my friend Nisha took of me, even though the scan isn't the best. I've already shown it to most of the TOC group, because I pretty much promised a long time ago.
For more recent news, I was sick this morning, likely because I took an antibiotic without eating enough. I thought a banana was food! And now my throat hurts. :(
Also, Tripod isn't showing my images correctly. Damn, that's annoying.
Say, blogging is fun. I think I'm going to start doing it on a much more regular schedule. Listening to: Blink 182, "Adam's Song". Onosaka Masaya, "Groovy Blue". (for the record: < swoon > But I suppose my obsession with Onosaka-sama is a discussion for another time.) I'm feeling much better than I was in my first blog today, and am hoping very much now that I'll catch up in this time off. Finished updating my page, just a little. So now I can relax, and enjoy this "Ally McBeal" rerun where Cindy finally lets Mark on to that she's a man. < giggle > Listening to: Oblivion Dust's "Destination". I'm not going to be online for a week or two. I'm moving (after a long and tormented process) starting probably Wednesday, and I definitely doubt I'll be able to be online. And I have a lot of make-up work to do. I will likely check my e-mail once or twice at school during this time period; I probably will be able to continue working on fanfiction and proofreading for others as well during the week, but webpaging, chatting, instant messenging, and lengthy e-mailing is right out.< sigh > I meant to put a more extensive explanation up here, but I just can't bring myself to do that right now. Any future updates to my personal life may be posted here during my hiatus, though. We'll see. And I'm sure I'm not really as bummed as I sound. I'm running on three hours sleep (Diet Coke drank at 11:00 PM causes the most miserable insomnia!), and that usually does this to me. I should go take a nap, then. As soon as I get this site update finished. Till later! Listening to: Green Day, Billy Joel, Collin Raye, and "Otoko to Onna no Love Game". So, anyway. I had a good day today. My family and I went down to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles today to shop for decorations for the room my little sister (she's 10) and I will be sharing. We got a shoji screen to divide us, plus kawaii little lanterns for our dresser, and two wallscrolls -- a tiger and panda bears. I'm almost feeling that living in that room will be bearable. If we ever DO get moved in, after all... something's screwed up in escrow and now we're not moving till Thursday or Friday. Solves my "go to school" dilemma I mentioned in my last little entry, but the real estate agent who's selling the house we're buying is getting pissy over this and blustering that he may put the house back on the market. Asshole. He's just being greedy 'cause he wants his money from the sale as fast as possible. As if we were delaying this on purpose! All our stuff's already packed up, so we're in this state of... well, stasis, I guess. >_< Anyway. Little Tokyo was pretty neat -- I'd never been there before. It's the little Japanese subcommunity down there, in case you can't figure it out; about half of it is pretty strictly for Japanese Los Angelinos, and I was a bit uncomfortable there, but I felt better in the more tourist-y parts (< shrug >). And I bought two things for me, too -- a little notebook with the Sailorstarlights on the cover, and, even more squeal-worthy, a first season (well, "Sailormoon World") coloring book that has two Shitennou pictures in it! (except that poor ol' Jadeite's in only one... but he looks absolutely great in that only one, and in the other, the other three look like they were pulled from their individual worst-animated episodes, so I think Jeddy lucked out!) The group pic's really awesome -- I'm sure others out there are aware of it, but I've never seen it before. Unlike my wallscroll, where Jade, Neph, and Zoi are separated from Kunz-sama, this actually puts them all together, and Zoi's leaning on Kunzy, kinda touching his hair... who cares if they're not looking at each other? This is so in-character, that they need the physical contact even though it's obvious that they're not thinking about it. And even aside from that, all four of them look really good. Yay! I'm not coloring this in the book... but I may decide to copy it so I can play around with m'boys, there. Listening to: Placebo, Pierrot, Billy Joel, Sawyer Brown, Goo Goo Dolls, Zechs' image song, the image song Nanba Keiichi sings for Ranma 1/2, more Oblivion Dust, and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" I'm also having a lousy day, but I don't feel like talking about it. -_- I found I got into UCLA today, though, that's good. I've also become quite a Napster addict. And we're not moving till Tuesday... which is BAD, because I've got two tests that day. So, do I help my family or risk my academics? What do I do? Listening to: Collin Raye, Culture Club, REM, Oblivion Dust. Then: Sogabe Kazuyuki. "Kuntsu Aitou no..." And man! I've had
this clip for ages, but I've always heard it distantly, via the computer's speakers. This, on the other hand, was right in my ear, loud and clear as anything, and...
well, I no longer question why on earth Zoi-kun seems to like listening to Kunz-sama so much.
So I've got a couple of nice-voiced gentlemen who sound like they're having a conversation on either side of me, communicating
via tin cans tied with a string that threads right through my skull. And though it can get loud (I love Zoisite, and particularly
his voice, but I draw the line at enjoying that one really loud screech of his busting my eardrums), it is really... something. Finally, I'm getting a feeling for the characters again. Damn, that's good.
Anyway, I've got quite a bit goin' on in my real life, but not stuff I really feel like getting into for this first blog. I shall, therefore, leave you all with this small bit that's currently floating around in this strange morass I call a mind. Enjoy. If you can't tell, this was basically a practice entry. ^_^ Listening to: BSSM stereo dramas, obviously. Also "Route Venus" and "Unmei wa Utsukushiku". |
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