So, apparently David Eddings is dead. It was a while ago (June 2nd) but damn.

Reading the Belgariad when I was about twelve got me back into reading, and it raised my standards for fantasy fiction to ridiculously high levels. I own seventeen books by him, and I still want to get a copy of Belgarath the Sorcerer.

His stories were formulaic, sometimes simple, and really, really long, but they were also witty, snarky, strong, and impossible to forget. His characters were larger-than-life, but still believable, and I could never not cheer for them. Kheldar is one of my all-time favorites to this day.

So here's to you Mr. Eddings.

Took from dragondancer515 

You're on my friends list! I wanna know you. I want to know 33 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, talk every day or already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine. I just want to know you. Copy this and post it with your answers in the comments.

( Curiouser and curiouser... )

Probaby Nanao from BLEACH. She's a very good behind-the-scenes person, and a great manipulator. I can totally sympathize with her troubles with her captain, as well.

Taken from sw_fangirl.

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

Shake Hands with the Devil - Romeo Dallaire
Phantom - Susan Kay
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
The Tamuli (Series) - David and Leigh Eddings
Belgarath the Sorcerer - David and Leigh Eddings
Relic - Douglas Preston and Lincon Child
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis
His Dark Materials (Series) - Philip Pullman
Sunrise Over Britain - Bob and Alyx (online only)
Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
The Trouble with Islam - Irshad Manji

That's all I can think of in fifteen minutes.
I haven't read many books in the past few years - I've been pretty much limiting myself to fanfic and magazines. I have three books on the go right now (more than I've had in ages), and it's far more difficult to get through them than I ever remember it being.

Taken from7th_rock_alien because I'm feeling sick and in need of a laugh.

( All sorts of music within )

This turned out far better than I thought it would.

Tagging anyone who feels like doing this.

Wow... a lot.

That's at least ten songs per year from choral, kids songs, all of Phantom of the Opera, most of Sweeney Todd, most of Dr. Horrible, random stuff from the BLEACH Rock Musicals, and all of the other miscellaneous songs I've picked up from repeated listenings.

300+?

Icon meme ganked from 7th_rock_alien 

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee



I had a desktop background with this pic at one time, and having it as an icon has been useful.




I love this scene in the original show, and Zuko's constant frustration in the icon makes me lol.



I was randomly searching for Canada-themed LJ comms a couple of weeks ago, and I found a bunch of icons at wicked_visions .  They make me very happy, especially the smarties>m&ms one.



The screenshot that this is cropped from sat on my desktop for about two months waiting to be iconned. I've actually used it quite a bit, which surprises me. I need another 5D's icon, because Ushio is most definetly not one of my favorite characters.



I was looking for Christmas icons last November and completely fell in love with this one. I have quite a few other grinch icons too, come to think of it... XD

I just realized that I have an icon from each Yu-Gi-Oh! series... cool.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

All the interesting people must be in hell.

On another note, I finished an entire six-apartment complex in Sims 2 today! I'm extrememly happy with it.

Wow... just about all my fandom stuff, life stuff I don't usually bring up - just about everything in the journal, really. XD

Only five?

Phantom by Susan Kay

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (maybe I could finally finish it!)

Shake Hands with the Devil by Senator Romeo Dallaire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and Leigh Eddings

Now, if I could print out some fanfics, I would take:

Sunset Over Britain by Bobmin (Harry Potter)

Sunrise Over Britain also by Bobmin (Harry Potter)

All at Once by Aurilia (Harry Potter)

Roll the Bones by Vathara (Yu-Gi-Oh! x Sentinel crossover - no knowledge of Sentinel required)

And They Lived Happily by Chelles (CSI)

I'm surprised how much Harry Potter stuff I have there - I haven't really read fic for that fandom in about two years.

Well, glad that's over with.

Last night I randomly decided to create my own mood theme.  So I went around and downloaded a bunch of themes from fandoms I like and mixed them together to create something of my own.  I also made a few of the pics (my Photoshop skillz are improving!)

I uploaded all of the pics tonight.  It took about three hours (ugh).

I'll probably keep messing with it for a few weeks... needs moar 5D's.

( Edit: )

( Massive spoilers for the entire series )
So... yeah. I am not a happy fan right now.

Probably some sort of hawk - maybe a red-tail? I've been told quite often that I'm very hawk-like XD

Taken fromobabscribbler 

Name a character from a fandom you know I'm familiar with and I'll tell you at least three facts about them from my own head canon.

I want to be cremated, which creeps the heck out of my mother.  My answer usually is that I am attached to my body enough that I don't want to just let it be eaten by bugs.  Fire is somewhat pretty, at least.

Christmas was awesome!  Spent some time with my family, got some fabulous presents, ate way too many cookies... good times.

I can honestly say that this was my best Christmas ever, partly due to spending tons of time with family that I rarely see, and partly due to an absolutely amazing present that my aunt got for me.  Now, a little-known fact about me is that I'm a huge fan of retired Canadian General Romeo Dallaire.  It's a long story how this happened, and I won't go into it here.  Simply put, Senator Dallaire is one of my personal heroes.  A couple of years ago, I read his autobiography, which I had taken out from my local library.  The present that my aunt got me is a copy of that book.  Why is this so special?  Inside the book, I found a sticker. It had an offical-looking crest on it, and some writing.  I stared at it for about ten seconds before I realized what it was - Senator Dallaire's signature, addressed to me!  I started sobbing I was so happy, and my mom has most of it on tape! XD

Besides the book and signature, I received a ton of chocolate, a very rustic-looking nightgown, some socks, a first edition Jaden Yuki starter pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards (all of the cards actually say "first edition" on them) from my little sister, and several other gifts that have completely slipped my mind.

All around, it was a really great time.  Now, for New Years!

That.... was pure mind-bending, cracky, Ho-Yay, chaps!Kiyru, vest-wearing, cape-swishing, maniacal laughing, hanging-out-of-helicopters, card-playing, mind-screwing, completely mad LOVE.

And despite the retardedly long sentence that I just wrote to attempt to describe 33, there are still NO WORDS to describe this episode.

Random note - did anyone else notice that Kiyru's D-wheel seems to be inspired by Yusei's wardrobe? I mean, orange bubbles and a blue base aren't a very common combination, and that's not even taking into account the designs reminiscent of Yusei's shirt...

Note to self - here is the link to the playthedamncard discussion thread about this episode. There are 1181 comments as I write this. Wow, it's going to take a long time to read them all - looking forward to it though!




On another note, I'm done my correspondence courses! Today is absolutely amazing...