April the 16th and 17th: Been a busy two days
and not just because I've been obsessively checking to see if Senko no Nightraid episode 2 has been subbed yet. Two of the three groups said four days ago they were still doing it so there should be subs by now (then again, I still haven't found the second OVA for Darker than Black subbed and I know that one is out there somewhere). Got so fed up that I actually started watching Kaicho no Maid-Sama and it isn't that bad honestly. I have read the manga before (which is why I did watch, although the opener nearly scared me off) and it is a shojo with a female lead who I like so I'll probably continue with it. Reminds me, CR is having some deal with $20 off the 3 month subscription packs (aka, free!) if you subscribe with paypal, see if mine works this time since it didn't like CR the last time I tried something like this (but being able to see DRRR legally for the rest of the run and not worry about fansubs would be pretty nice).
So, other than anime I did a lot of stuff these past two days (and most of it involved photography, fancy that!). Developed my first roll of action shots on Thursday of course so after class Friday I went up to the lab to develop the roll that had a few more shots on there. Holy, the lab is PACKED on Friday's these days (it was like that last week too, all four tables were covered in stuff so I had to make do when I was working with my giant mat board). One of the older students was sharing the darkroom with me so I had to do some of my stuff in the dark (and not, dimly lit dark, dark as in, well, no freaking light) which was okay until the clock I was using started to dim and that really freaked me out for some reason. Doesn't help that the darkrooms have ventilation issues, I know to mix up my developer before I load my film these days so the ice cubs can cool it down (it has to be around a certain temp). The roll, like I had figured out, had a pretty big light leak for the first ten shots or so (didn't shoot anything on there since the problem was when I was loading the film) and I'm not sure if I really like any of the shots on there but those were experimental shots so it's not the end of the world.
Did laundry and went to see the Qudditch match to get more action photos. Yes you read that right, you haven't forgotten that my roommate co-founded it, right? They didn't have many people but I took a number of photos of them running around anyway (checked first and none of them minded, also warned that it was a film camera so I couldn't show them the shots right away) so that'll get developed tomorrow. After I did that I went back to my room and then headed out for dinner with the gang and after that we went off to see a Glee club so Chynna could get some extra credit (well, Olivia didn't since she's up to her ears in work and Olivia, well, she has no established sleep pattern and seems to still have time management issues, two semesters in. For the record, I'm not happy in being right in predicting this would happen).
First up was a treble bass choir which was all female (with bass in the name I would've thought all guys) and they did a few church songs, which were nice, but the final notes of their final song started making something in my ear vibrate which was kinda painful. Resisted the urge to cover my ears ('sepcially sine we were in the second row) and Chynna and Angela had the same problem apparently. Actually, that might be even more painful than the teenager mosquito noise and that's not fun to hear either. Thankfully the all-male Glee club (aren't Glee clubs usually co-ed? The gender segregated clubs confuse me) did not engage in anything nearly so high pitched and Chynna got to hear an organ played live for the first time (the church back home has an organ which, while a bit out of tune which is expected for a 30 year old organ, still gives me shivers when I hear the opening notes of the Holy, Holy).
We left a little after nine (so, about halfway through the Glee club) to get back over to the other side of campus to see the Sherlock Holmes movie which was playing. I actually liked the movie more than I thought I would and probably for two reasons. One, it does actually have a lot of the spirit (and a few references to) the original Sherlock Holmes books (except for the romance, I got the impression he was more impressed with Irene's mind than romantically inclined, actually think he was meant to be an asexual, or at least aromantic character) and two, Watson was far from being an idiot. I love Watson in the books, he's a bright man who ends up going "Holmes, you aren't making any sense! But I know it will in the end so I'll follow around and help out in any way I can," anyone who was annoyed at the bromance in the movie clearly hasn't read the books recently. Don't remember so much ass-kicking in the books however, thought there was a bit too much of that in the movie and the absence of British accents amused me (heard one or two faint-ish ones but everything sounded fairly neutral American to me).
So, Friday ended late and dark and Saturday started late and dark. Work up around 8, looked at clock, noticed it was cloudy, and went back to bed to await my alarm. Come ten and the alarm, it's about as dark as it was at 8 and that was pretty dark for 8. Fairly sure we got some rain sometime but I can't be certain, we're in a red-flag warning which means, as far as I can understand, if someone accidentally drops a cig were in for a big fire, lovely. Hauled myself out of bed, got ready (which, have I ever mentioned, requires about half an hour of computer time? In my defense, that's how long it takes me to eat breakfast, I'm really slow at eating in the morning) and headed over to the photo lab. Usually it isn't open on Saturdays but, since today is open house for the incoming freshman (ruuuunnnn away!) we had a few hours and I decided to work on one of my prints. Had a chat with my teacher about how darker seems to be a new theme in all the visual arts (and by new it actually means "in the last ten years," there goes my economy theory, maybe the 9/11 theory would work, although that's US specific...) and I think I made progress on a print. Thinking about adding in a bit more contrast, would've asked the teacher then for advice but she was really into talking to a new transfer student, and it looked a little funny so it took me a minute to realize that it's the first print I've made that doesn't have any white in it (think so anyway). Kinda want to keep that element in since it does make it more visually interesting but will be asking for a second opinion.
Went back, had lunch, watched the Blink episode of Doctor Who and was thankful that we don't have any realistic looking statues on campus (funny note, true to myself I do like the "Doctor-lite" episodes a bit more than the regular ones, guess it's just my love of side characters being awesome and rising to the protag role, there has GOT to be a trope name for that) and went off to get a few more Quidditch photos (they'd had so few people Friday that they were doing it again Saturday, plus it was open house and apparently I'm not the only one who likes to mess with the "mundanes" minds). And I swear, there are times when I think I'm the unofficial PR person for the group since I end up explaining it so much and I'm also the one who hears about how other people see the club or what the club council thought of them, ect. It's a pretty funny juxtaposition of the normal and slightly strange, when I called my mom later she asked how they were making the broom part work, the air force wants to know. XD She also agreed that it's totally normal for me to be politically dead-center between Anarchy and communism, something about me expecting the local government to provide services for me which I had just thought everyone thought like. Guess it's another one of those moments....
After that, watched more D. Gray Man/Project Runway and finally finished up Erika's dress. Might try to tailor it more but it's already a little hard to put on (doing that wiggle-wiggle-shake-shake-hop-JUMP to get it over my tush/shoulders, fits pretty well once it's in place) and still need to make/buy the hat and bag. Started work on Echo's tie since that's about the only other cosplay item I can work on but I have a few other projects in mind to keep me entertained in the meantime. Then it was off to dinner (Olivia apparently had died so it was Chynna, Angela, and me again, apparently Angela and Olivia went to be at 11 last night, well, 11 this morning actually). Had dinner, checked out the Asian Festival which was fairly cool (got some photos of the dancing and people probably think we rigged the raffle since we all won something, I assure you that if I had rigged it I would've won the parasol, but the decorative chopsticks which are also fairly neat). After all of that we went to Chynna's room and watched the really gory Ninja Assasin and I am now falling asleep at my computer. So, signing off, still a lot to do tomorrow and then the week starts over. And no luck yet in the job search but I have a little more networking that I can do, still abhor it though.... *falls asleep*