Happy 0-th Birthday, Vita!

Well,  ain't that a shock.   I definitely didn't expect it, but  today, at  13.40. PM, I received  happy news that my  cousin had  birthed a  healthy baby  girl.    I wish both  the kiddo and the newly-minted mommy all the best, especially when Vita decided  to  come  very,  early in the morning -  5.00. AM -  methinks we have a future hellion on our hands, despite the fact Vita looks  as innocent as any newborn baby.  

Still can't imagine  that the same cuz I ran around with and do any kinds of   artsy projects has now her very own  lil' baby to take care of -  those days  seem to  be so far and yet as if they  happened yesterday.   /Scratches head/. Methinks I am feelin' a mite bit old  right now, but meh.   Growing old, is mandatory.  Growing  up is not, so... /evil grin/.    That still doesn't mean I will toddle around in  baby clothes,   even if it's Halloween or something  similar.  /Amused snort/.

 

Well,  it isn't particularly  traditional,  but  there are some blessings for  the  new  member of out family.   It's Wiccan in origin, but   I liked it /sniffles haughtily/, so there!

“Blessed be your breath.
May your breathing be deep and relaxed.
May you breathe in power with every breath you take.
Blessed Be each breath you take.
Blessed be the fire inside you.

May your will be unbroken.
And may it be as strong as fire, and as supple.
May your will be as strong as water, and as supple.
May your passions burn truly and free.
Blessed be your fire, may it burn strong.

Blessed be the waters of your life.
May your blood be strong.
May the flow from your loin be joyful and fertile.
Blessed be all your life-waters.

Blessed be the earth of your body.
May your muscles be strong and fearless.
May your heart beat with love, soul, vigor and courage.
Blessed be your body which is the body of a God.

Blessed be your spirit.
May you always have health in spirit.
May you be whole.
Blessed be your spirit.

May you always have community.

May you be prosperous in all ways.

May you love and be loved.

May your voice –
both your complaints and your special offerings to the world –
be truly heard.

May you always be surrounded by the warmth of family & community.
May you know the innate goodness of your being.

Blessed Be.”

Welcome to our hearth and hearts,  Vita.  May you have  happy life,  full of love and laughter, may your steps safely   lead you to  your heart's desire and may the tears of pain or fear you  will experience in this life give you strength and  wisdom and help you see  the world in all of it's splendor and majesty.

Signing off,

Eirenei

New Story Out, Or Hell Madness

I am an avid reader of Bleach manga series, and  lately, one plotdragon had hatched when I was  watching the  Hell verse movie.

it was cute and  annoying enough   that I just had to write it out, and  AnHellica's   superb picture didn't help my procrastinating when it came to writing of that particular story.  Beyond the gates of Hell  is the one  picture I  squirreled away   the moment I saw it because... well, what can i say, I am sucker for  good scenes with  interesting characters, and this one was undoubtedly  the one  i just had to snap up for my inspiration and viewing pleasure.

Also,   I noticed that there was a lack of good  Kokuto/Ichigo  fics. What the hell? The pictures are all over the net, but nobody has time or the balls to  write a story about them?  All is  see is Ichigo paired with  Byakuya, Grimmjow, hell even Ulquiorra -  Aizen too,  but  no Kokuto?  What the heck?

The story itself was tragic, like Muramasa's or so called  Zanpakuto Arc, and really,  Kokuto  only needed some lovin'.  And I just plain didn't like  Ichigo playing some mightier-than-thou judge in the original version.  Yes, it was cool, yes, the  Kokuto  berk deserved it, but no, it still  wasn't fair.  How it is that  Byakuya gets the second chance,  but   Kokuto doesn't?  Byakuya would have left Rukia to die at the Soukyoku Hill, while Kokuto just plain hammered his sister's murderer to death.   Harsh, but    that's a life we are speaking about.

And Kokuto's turnaround of his character was also shifty -  c'mon, the guys  sacrifices himself for the  Ichi-berry's  sister, and then  when is resurrected, goes to piss off the only one  who could  get him out of Hell?   C'mon, snapping much? /stares at the original version then shakes head/. 

No  good reason. Ichigo had practically guaranteed the guy to get him out of the chains, and   Kokuto  then does  the stupid thing.    Just what was in that  magma spring to get him head  so very wrongly screwed on his neck?   I really wanna know.

Okay,   I did it.   Helped with the dose of  Hell Madness and   Within Temptation's  Hand of Sorrow, I    wrote out   new fic and really /sweatdrops/. I really wanna know  just what did I eat to write it out.  'Cos there were  no burgers in here.

And I swear, I wasn't on T-400  when I was  typing away, either!


.... Now I have to  be abstinent from  green tea.

Darn. I just can't win.  /pouts/

It was all  doughnut's fault. 

Puffed Up Fur And Thesis Run

Urgh.

Today I got a scare in  the shape of missing thesis. Oh. Mah. Gawd.    Two, almost three years of  hard work  nearly binned to gods know where, because  it was a damned bad  idea to  switch the  drives without  properly remembering just where did I stash the little  berks -   that is,  thesis, and the  questionnaire results.    I swear, I got three new  gray hairs just because of this little mishap.

What lead to it was my request to one of my colleagues to check over it  to  tell me if  there are any missing points and such -  through the years of writing I  learned the  true value of a good beta and  to have someone who knows about the stuff going through my  work it's even better.  Well, and I decided to send it today, but then  I was stopped  in a screeching halt, because  my laptop couldn't find the  thing, no matter what I typed into the browser.   I also checked  my old drive, but  it seems that my dumb-ass of an older brother   wiped it out clean -  stuuupid sibling, I know,   especially because I  especially said  I  don't want to  have anything   wiped out until I  get my  thesis over and done with,  so that now I have a backlog of work because  some files apparently weren't transferred to their new location.   Gah, this sucks.  Majorly, but the  luck in   otherwise glum situation is,  that  it's relatively small mishap.

I thank all the  lucky stars and  deities  for the existence of  Sent folders in email accounts and the backup data on my  other driver, because  otherwise I would have been in a really, really  deep shit.   So, the moral of this little  story, guys and gals...  sometimes the Sent folder can really save your butt, especially when it concerns  big projects, and  if you  don't, it still pays up to  make a backup copy  of  really important stuff on  your  laptop.  Even if it's only on  an  USB key,  but   the  important fact is that it exists somewhere you have an access to in the case  if you  lose your primary log means.

On the note of   preparing to  National Exams...  it  goes really slowly.  Meaning, I am  procrastinating a bit, because I have to recover from the shock I got this morning, and  I still have  some new plotdragons to nurse.  Oh, and listening  to Book Of My Life  by Sting.  Ironic  one, but  well,  love it all the same.

About the  updating  my stories...  well,  my beta  says it will be a couple of weeks still  until she will be really available,   and   sadly, the same goes for me,  if I   want to  successfully do the National Exams.   However, I will still write,  as it  stands, I really gotta finish   some chapters.

Signing off,

Eirenei

PS:  Will have to teach mom  how do  do with Word. /deflating,  low puppy ears/. Even the writer's sanctioned program won't be safe  from her  curious paws anymore... Yeah, I am balking,   but  it isn't   the professional who is  dangerous, but the amateur, because  they can  fuck up the  simplest thing in a jiffy.  Let's just  cross the fingers and hope for the best.

Did an Exam, Go Me! Plus Batshit Insane Ideas

Whoo,   boy.


Well, this   weekend was  memorable -  I finally  had the exam for the masseuse course and did it -  now  I  gotta  study for the National  Job Qualifications, or NJQ, as this  practical exam was a required precursor   before we  could even attempt to do NJQ... and   I  have to  sniffle  around Anatomy ... again. /lowered puppy ears/.  Sometimes I think I  am a little bit masochistic in that regard -  first Math in my  studies, and then Anatomy  in masseuse course.   Yes, I am whining.   But I think  in each thing can be found something that can be hard to do,   just the  levels of  the  difficulties are different.

/Twitch, twitch./ Right now, got a crazy idea.   A Sekirei/Claymore crossover /shivers/ -   Sometimes, I am really  afraid of my mind, because... well. /Defeated shrug/.  It's a dangerous thing, what with all those  prompts, ideas and whatnot.

I've  read  manga Sekirei some  three or four years back, and  it's still not finished.   It's good if you like  harems,  one helpless guy with  adoring  masses of big-breasted  female aliens and  all around love-love  thing... and some other surprises.    Anyone interested, can  look it up on Mangahere or Mangafox  and  decide for yourself.

Lately, I riffled  throught the  Sekirei fandom, and  even if some stories are good, along with a couple or so  crossovers,  I still think Minato -  the protagonist guy -  could be  a little bit more and not  only helpless little Ashikabi he is  portrayed as such. Of course, there are stories were  Minato is a notable exception but still....

And then, Claymore.  This is presented  both as a manga or anime -   if your want manga, go  to Mangahere or Mangafox, and for the  anime,   browse on Youtube  to find your poison.   Although I  have to  caution -  the scenes can be pretty brutal  as far as violence and gore goes, so it's not really advisable for the little  munchkins.

Anyway, back to the  idea.   While I was  watching  Minato,  it occured to me  he could be practically  a  double of the  Isley of  the North; and with Isley being  as bad-ass as he  is,  it's really, really tempting  idea  to  merge the two 'verses, at least partially,  and making  Minato a littpe bit more badass in process.

So, the plot is following.  Through the childhood, Minato has dreams  about that Isley guy,  or  even better,  Isley  somehow mentoring him. However, Isley's time is  limited, so  the  two of them merge and thus causing  Minato to hit ... and miss his first  University entrance exams -  the entire thing  was  of course, painful.  Can you say ouch? 

Minato  has to get used to his newfound  powers and whatnot; also,  his  Awakened form  is  relatively slow in coming, because it  demands  concentration and energy.   Also, Minato is the dominant  persona in this relationship -  Isley  is  him before reincarnation, however something went wrong somehow, and  while most of  his memories was wiped out in the process of transition,   a small core part of  Isley  retained the memories,   personality and   most importantly,  powers.   However, through the time,  even this small part of  Isley  has to  reintegrate to the  bigger mass that is now Minato and thus  changing some of   Minato's  thoughts, reactions,  and overall,   making him less wimpy and  inclined to bend to Yukari and  his mother's  wishes.   Also... /devilish grin/ Can you say, hello, trouble with technology?  Isley  was strong, and  Minato  isn't  exactly  gentle with  phones and the likes if he isn't very, very careful.    He can   feel the Sekirei, because their powers are similar to youki, and that  simultaneously baffles and irritates him -   they are dangerous, but  they don't show inclination to  go on mass-murdering sprees in the least.  Well, except Karasuba, but  No.4 is  as always, exception for  herself.  /Sweatdrops/

 So you see, the newest Ashikabi  (ironically of the North, too, as  Isley also held the title  'Isley of the North,') would be  the force to be reckoned with, and  I am wondering just how would Miya deal with someone  who is   utterly  indifferent to her  Hannya mask.  /Evil  smirk/.

As for his Sekirei,   I don't really know -  they  can be   the same as in canon, or some new ones -   for example,  Akitsu, Karasuba or even Miya  herself.   Also,  Minato  can  only partially transform  himself at the beginning,   and his  Awakened form is  at most  three meters tall and not ten -  as Minato is a  reincarnation,  there was a decrease in the original  power, but he  still can kick  butt,  however the drawback is, the form is hard to  hold up as it  demands  massive amounts  of energy, so the partial transformation is more  viable, and  Minato's  speed and  strength are nothing to sneeze at either.

Hmm... Well, if I am, here, let's  find out  just how would that  kind of... something go.