Today's been rather marvelous so far and I'm kinda like, whoo! at everything, so to go along with that, and while waiting for my lunch to cool down, I thought I'd whip this up quickly--

From today (June 24th) to the end of July, I'll write anyone a drabble who donates to a charity. Just leave the name of the charity along with a link to its website so I can at least verify it's legit (and not, like, "Jeny's iPod Touch Fund") along with your request; you can also tell me the amount you donated, so that I might put more effort in if you gave 200 dollars as opposed to 2 cents -- but this is optional. (And we're going by the honor code here: if you lie about your donation, I probably won't know about it. But geez, I hope you won't.)

Anyone can leave a request, doesn't matter if you're on my flist or not. I'll WRITE & DRAW not only for SUPER JUNIOR (and various other KPOP, just ask), but also for DIR EN GREY, MUCC, 12012 and all those other old jrock haunts, because why not. Just as long as you can show me the money. ;)

You guys probably have a better idea of what charities are available in your respective countries, but for starters, World Vision is what I've used in the past (which, thanks again to those who are still around who donated last time), since they seem to cover all bases. There's also UNICEF, American Red Cross, etc, but my charity of choice for this month is Our House, an organization that rescues children in Congo who have been abandoned by their families because they were accused of being witches. More information can be found here.

This post will be up all throughout July, so happy donating! ♥

I kind of love this gif because this morning it was like

Me: He reminds me of one of those smoking hot English teachers or older sisters that twelve-year-old boys get a crush on and then concoct these mad schemes to try to kiss them, like the lifeguard babe in The Sandlot, you know?
Sister: No.
Me: Okay, say you have a best friend, and say your best friend has a hot older brother, and say you have a crush on the hot older brother of your best friend. It's like that, but with a girl. I mean, with Heechul.
Sister: He's prettier than SNSD.
Me: ...ldksjfsh.

Anyway, re: 4th of July. Basically I love America because it produces eloquent assholes like these. Read that, because it's hilarious. And then read The Westing Game, because it's kind of holiday-related and it's just a really great fucking book. Also check out the See Also section, because it's cool to see the design involved in making a book.

I don't know, man, today was great. I could tell you about bargain books and walking up Nicollet which I haven't done in AGES and seeing how everything's changed and birthday gifts and frozen lemonade and cheeseburgers and strawberry pies and Josh Groban and silver dips and air conditioning and watching this ridiculous, RIDICULOUS movie called Fired Up which is RIDICULOUS! but hilarious, I can't even begin to tell you. It's like, one of those totally junkie teen movies but the writing was SOGOOD. Not in any deeply affecting change-your-life kind of way, but like, fanfiction. Funny, simple, entertaining. Enough. Hell what can I say, I get inspired by dollar movies from Redbox.

I was on the Martha Stewart Living website for polishing tips and I found everything on it so out-of-reach amazing. First of all, it's called MarthaStewartLivingOMNIMEDIA. OMNIMEDIA. Like, ALL-PRESENT/SURROUNDING/KNOWING MEDIA. And today's blog post began with "Planting in Skylands..." PLANTING IN SKYLANDS. I want to live in a skyland. I imagine it could be that place in which water exists in all three states. And then rheakurokawa (and yeah girl you're absolutely right, I need more of this) gave me this beautiful SONG



and it makes me want to WRITE. Hanchul, because they are my thing, and just because I'm kinda in this like, not happyhappyhappy exactly, but really fucking grateful place. At the moment. I would just like to say, that Hanchul, they are MINE. NOT to say they aren't YOURS too, or yours or yours. But I mean, the only other hugeass pairing-fandom I ever really loved revolved/relied on a lot of other people, and it was fun but it was also stressful. Maybe it's a little selfish, but I like how I don't have to cater to anyone else, just my own whims (kinda, I mean, I steal good ideas from you, etc); Hanchul moving in lockstep with me. The only song playing on my short-wave radio. THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, AND NOTHING HURTS. Not yet, anyway.

( So here, have a drabble. )

Tomorrow will be busy! Tomorrow will be tomorrow. As reallycorking says, Minnesotan summers are so gorgeous. Lunch with the godparents. BBQ at grandma's. Watching fireworks from the bridge between East and West bank. Better post about the Fourth later, I am kind of a huge patriot.

I love these so much. Why are people so afraid of color?

This morning began waking up too early and poking around my room for old relics and books, Chinese Symbolism & Art Motifs, jade jewelry and buttons made from vintage ties, notes written during trig in high school, tourist trap souvenirs fromplaces I've been...and ended with a reinvigorated determination to find purpose to my life. I don't just mean a degree and a five-year plan, but like, soul fulfillment. I came across my sister's English paper on my father's immigration (apparently everyone immigrates to Vancouver), I think it was these few lines that did it.

It took him three years to finish school in mechanical engineering and by the end Wing was given an iron ring. He still wears the ring today. "The iron ring is a reminder to us the importance of a good engineer." The ring made Wing strive harder and longer to be the best engineer possible.

Ignoring my sister's lack of consideration for English grammar, this is all true. He's told me the ring was made from leftover metal used to build a bridge...somewhere. He wears it on his pinky finger, and I never thought it was particularly special before -- but that's the thing about my dad, he always surprises me with these little complexities, golden nuggets of his life. Revisiting the story, it's more meaningful this time. My dad wears three pieces of jewelry that he never takes off: his wedding ring, the mentioned iron ring, and a small gold cross on a thin chain.

Not to say that I want to become my father (and not to say I don't love my mother either, but I'm too much like her already, erratic thinking and a little bohemian, not in the MELLOW HIPCAT sense but in the, like, likes old stuff, and films about Paris sense) -- I like my own curiosities, etc. But I wish I inherited a few more defining characteristics from him than just his strangelove for small, cheap animal figurines -- even if his are plastic toy rhinos from the 50-cent bin and mine are more like, wooden carvings of African giraffes.

To basically sum it up, two quotes:

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."

"...the position of a reader in a book is very like that occupied by angels in the world, when angels still had any credibility. Yours is, like theirs, a hovering, gravely attentive presence, observing everything, from whom nothing is concealed, for angels are very bright mirrors. Hearts and minds are as open as the landscape to their view, as to yours; like them you are in the fabled world invisible."

Btw, looking through Chinese Symbolism & Art Motifs, I accidentally found out what what a "Ten Celestial Stem" is -- one of which is Hankyung's given name, 庚. The Ten Celestial Stems combine with the Twelve Terrestrial Branches to form the Cycle of Sixty -- more commonly known as the zodiac calendar. It seems pretty complicated, derived from the position of the stars and divination and math (actually the math is pretty simple, least common multiple of 10 and 12) and the level of influence from different elements, but also really interesting. The Ten Celestial Stems are considered the masculine or primary characters making up the cycle. Geng's name is associated with metallic ore.

And speaking of metallic ore, I'm going to go look up how to polish silver and...polish some silver. Found an old coffee pot I got in an antique store in Santa Barbara that has green crayon on it. It'd be cool to actually use it. Also, speaking of shiny things! Trailer/MV for Meteor Shower is out -- and whatever people are saying about the cast not being as "pretty" (wtfwtf I hope their acting chops grind unfair criticisms to dust), the cinematography sure is. MAN, if that's actually what's to come (the coloring too? please?), then I'm genuinely excited, not just mildly curious.

I get to the airport three and a half hours early --s'not my fault, the shuttle schedule is a every-two-hours thing and my flight is in one of those awkward in-between times-- half-crazed with hunger having eaten nothing all day but a banana and a stale Smucker's Uncrustables PB&J I grabbed from Newstand this morning, so I take a quick lap around and...you know when you're starving but nothing looks good? Then how do you pick! Answer: stop walking and whatever deceptively elaborate fast food counter you find yourself in front of, go for it. Hence, ketchupy veggie noodles and egg foo young from Naked Tchopsticks --which tasted as great as it sounds. So actually the real moral is: just keep walking.

My mom is so good at this. I mean, she's really good at picking out the most well-kept, comfortable (and ergo the most expensive) place in whatever airport/mall/complex we're in to eat at. Myself, I only found it after searching for an outlet because the battery life on this computer is at an impressive -0.232 minutes.

I've taken to watching reruns of 30 Rock because a) it's an awesome show and b) it's the only show I can watch with the sound at a bare minimum because I've seen every episode because c) it's an awesome show, and my headphones actually broke two weeks ago and I haven't had time to buy a new pair. But yeah, quickly discovering the internet is really boring in silent mode.

From reallycorking

Comment saying Interview Me.
I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

1. Are you a dog person or a cat person?
N-neither. I grew up in a pet-free zone, and was so ignorant of domesticated animals in general that when I was little and like, biking around the neighborhood and a dog would start barking at me from someone's garage, I would bark back thinking that would, you know. Scare it quiet.

2. Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
No tattoos or piercings! But I do have a hepatitis B-shot-shaped scar on my left shoulder!

3. What's your favorite way to relax?
(Okay, in the past two hours I've witnessed three different groups of people bump into other people they know and have a big "Rooney! Oh my god!" lovefest in front of everyone. I THINK THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO ME. AND HANKYUNG.) Right now I'm thinking of the sun porch back home and how much I love reading/napping in it. Or...this sounds really cheesy, but I love chilling with friends or family in some restaurant downtown talking about whatever. Otherwise, an easy shortcut is television. No thinking required!

4. If you were given a million dollars today, what would you do with it?
Pay off my tuition, then give the rest to my parents. I...can't even joke about it. Well, I guess I'd buy an iPod Touch. And definitely pay off my grandpa's medical expenses. I dunno, I can't bring myself to say something like, buy a car/apartment/trip to Korea because I'm pretty happy with my life...and one really awesome/expensive THING like that doesn't contribute much in the scheme of things. Pretty sure being debt-free makes everyone happy though.

5. How did you get into fandom?
If you mean Super Junior? All because of this stupid video. And Hankyung looking like a taller/thinner version of Wataru.

SOB THE CHINESE STUDENTS CAME AND THEY ARE SO. FUCKING. CUTE. AND PRETTY. THE GIRL. HER NAME IS IRIS. I SORT OF HAVE A CRUSH ALREADY. AND GUY'S NAME IS NICHOLAS. AND SO CUTE. BAWLING AUGHGHGHGH.

WILL NOW PROCEED TO SCAR THEM WITH MY HORRIBLE HOOOOOOORRORIBLE CHINESE. NI JIAO SHENME MINGZI.

EDIT CRYING THEY CONFUSE "RESTROOM" WITH "RESTAURANT." ...iltsm.

The Top 13 Most Kick-Ass Faces of Michael Caine in Honor of His 75th BDay, everyone...four months late. But considering the trend lately, at least it's not TOO late.

So I was looking through my Photobucket account for a good picture of Hankyung's jawline, and I can't BELIEVE some of the stuff I still have in there. I used to take pictures of stuff! Like Central Park! or food I made! or my sister! or my cousin being disgusting and awesome! And I used to make really bad graphics and draw all these shitty, wimpy pictures (though I do like this). Wow.

But right, FINALLY I can listen to Milk@Coffee, and omg their music is so pretty. Like this song, Night: the guy's vocals are a little mismatched, but the girl's voice is beautiful, and though I have no idea what they're saying I could write Hanchul to this song all day.

Of course instead, I illustrated a scene from black_goose's FINGERTIPS because I feel like I owe her for all the spectacular Hanchul she's been dishing out lately. And I actually like this one too: ( From the end of Chapter 3 )

Now I have to pack -- but that takes about ten minutes. Then finish up some workstuff annnnd, I plan to finish up that Hanmin thing while waiting for my flight. You know, to take my mind off failing pilot tubes and such, augh. Btw yesterday's I Wrote This For You was so Hanchul.

Edit Okay, the first time seeing this was like, holy crap D: but if you wait for it to sink in a bit, then-- nope, nope, nevermind. Oh man.

Apparently a ton of people died today. And I saw half of a dead frog on the way home from work -- though it was near the biological sciences building, so perhaps it slipped off a dissecting tray being transferred between buildings or something. HALF of a dead frog is kind of unusual otherwise.

But yeah the real point of this post is just to say, WORD. I know Newsweek is as biased as Heechul is towards Hankyung (and why do I get the feeling the author immediately typed this up after reading Inhofe's statement in a fit of "are you fucking kidding me?" Fortunately his rant is much more eloquent than, say, mine), but so glad it's finally over.

Edit Holy shit what is up with planes lately. Parents and sister are going to Switzerland later this month on an Airbus, they better get their asses in gear I swear to god.

( In which I rant using a startling amount of cliches. )

Btw, Mag and I usually talk in equal amounts most of the time. It's just that when it comes to Kpop, I seem to have more to say. I don't really think that's a good thing.

Or maybe I'm just in a perpetual, ballads/beer commercials/album sales/ambassador of whatever the crap/ideal types/gimmicky television shows/get close and personal with interviews-hating kind of place.

Sorry, I'll respond to comments soon, it's been an annoying sort of day.