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I'm sort of excited this year, not so much for the schmaltzy cards and poor quality chocolate, but due to the fact that I'm going to be traveling to Japan and visiting Brychan for a couple months, starting in early March. Since I'm going to be flying in to Narita airport, Bry and I will spend a day or two in Tokyo, and he's excited about visiting the section of the city known as Akihabara ("Electric Town") and I'll probably buy him a Valentine's/belated X-mas gift or two for him there and buy him dinner.
And for those wondering, my mom will be caring for my rats while I'm gone. She absolutely adores Scoff and Diva, so I have no worries about leaving them in her care.

And now for something completely different...

Heh, biology humor. Video found via http://fuckingdelicious.tumblr.com/

I'd like to think either rats, cockroaches, or octopi would take humanity's place, mostly because rats and cockroaches are damn near indestructible, and octopi are incredibly smart (demonstrating impressive problem-solving skills) and have specialized evolutionary adaptations such as camouflage.
I'm not sure if another species would evolve to the point where it could study humanity's remains and actively learn from them, but I'd think that any animal that involves to be the "dominant" species on Earth would have to have ways to naturally or artificially protect themselves from the toxins and chemicals left by plastics and other artificial polymers and by nuclear waste, or any other man made product that biodegrades slowly or not at all. Maybe this species would evolve super-efficient livers or a layer of skin that would selectively filter out harmful substances. I'd also think that this species would also be relatively small (megafauna has sooo been done...) physically, in order to make better use of scarce natural resources. If and if these resources were in very high demand, these animals would also be omnivores, or even evolve a sort of photosynthesis. And like Japanese crows who have learned how to make nests with wire coat hangers, these animals would also use mankind's garbage to their maximum benefit, maybe making large colonies on the sites of former dumps.
But that's just speculation on my part.

Not as much as it would be affected if I were in some other course of study. I'm not aiming to be a cubicle dweller or just some self important asshole with a Bluetooth in her ear 24/7, I'm in a program that could be termed downright primitive. Eating itself has been around since one single-celled organism figured out how to engulf another, smaller single celled organism to derive energy. And knives have been around since pieces of flint were chipped on rocks. Aside from cutting dead things and living things (like one's neighbor), I'm willing to bet curse words (or grunts) were invented when the first proto-humans accidentally cut themselves playing with said flint. The most modern thing we use in our kitchens is probably plastic, and plastic has been around for about 150 years now.
Well, okay, maybe we're not that low-tech, but aside from minor variations over the years, culinary students still learn as past generations of culinary students did, with observation and hands on learning. That being said, I do value ever-improving technology when it comes to schoolwork. I was in middle school when our family got our first home computer, and looking back, the idea of ever writing reports by hand seems inconceivable.

Oooh, I have to answer this one!
I'll start with the worst:

Forrest Gump by Winston Grooms.
One of the rare instances where the movie was so incredibly good, but the book was so incredibly bad. The storyline in the novel is almost unrecognizable as the inspiration for the the movie. Instead of being a loving, good-hearted oaf straddling the border of mental retardation, the Forrest in the novel is an idiot savant, but he's also a huge jerk. It's been a while since I've read the book, but I took a look at my copy, and realized I'd forgotten that the narrative is in the first person, and related in Forrest's dialect, which I find irritating. Example from page 40. We play real good after that, cept them Nebraska corn jerkoff niggers an big ole dumb white boys, they ain't just settin there observin the scene.
This passage also illustrates the sort of language that's used throughout the book. I guess it suits some peoples' sense of humor, but it just didn't appeal to me. It's just disappointing, to see such an inspiring movie, and then reading such a piece of garbage.

The Guardsman by P.J. Beese and Todd Hamilton
As with Forrest Gump, I read this ages ago, so bear with me. A lot of the time, collaborations between authors can work beautifully, but in that case, both authors have to have some actual talent. Neither of the authors of this sci-fi pulp seemed to have any storytelling skills, and it seemed as though the co-writers were trying to drag the storyline in several different directions and not co-operating. I don't remember much about the plot (you should remember the plot of a good story for some time afterward), aside from the fact that it involved a lion-like alien and an Emperor of some sort. It also occurred to me that the authors must have been fascinated with aspects of feudal Japan, as there were references to Japanese styles of puppetry, and if I recall, the main character commits hari-kari at the end of the story. The whole thing was unoriginal and uninteresting, just utterly forgettable.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
Unlike the last two books, I've read this one recently. For a while, I'd heard this series lauded as the best series for the young adult audience post-Harry Potter. Like the Harry Potter series, the Artemis Fowl series is fantasy-ish, and has fairies, but lacks any other similarities. The main character is a boy billionaire, but he's a thoroughly mean-hearted, nasty little bastard, and yet he has a butler who obviously adores him. The plot of the book concerns high-tech fairies, which should have been a fun concept, but wasn't. There's extremely gross, immature humor used, such as a gnome who digs by way of eating dirt then immediately spraying it out his backside. There's also a ton of graphic violence (yes, I know condemning this makes me a hypocrite, especially when I plan to mention Redwall as one of the best books I've ever read), but the action scenes just appalled me. I was rather disgusted to see that Eoin Colfer had been given the task of finishing the late Douglas Adam's unfinished novel And Another Thing..., as I tend to think of Adam's sense of humor, as conveyed in his books, to be rather subtle, and the humor used in Artemis Fowl was anything but subtle.

And the best books I've ever read... I would answer this more thoroughly, but it's late and I'm tired.

Redwall by Brian Jacques. This book introduced me to the rich world of fantasy literature, and for me, this book will always be one of the greats. It was the gateway to a wider world.

Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore. A hilarious, wild ride through a mash-up between a trickster god and the modern world. It's rather indescribable, and that's exactly the way I like Moore's work.

Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. I'm a little ashamed to put these books on my top three, but for me, this is Mercedes Lackey at her best. Although these books could be read alone, it's better to be familiar with the various Heralds of Valdemar novels. Yes, and Mercedes Lackey is a fantasy author, so if magical talking horses aren't for you, skip 'em. But The Last Herald-Mage books are beautifully written, mixing fully-realized characters with an epic fantasy world. Plus, the main character is a gay man, and that's just something you don't see every day in the fantasy genre. But yes, it is definitely chick-lit. If readers of both genders are looking for a well-developed fantasy series, I'd recommend the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The series is actually historical(?!) fantasy, set in an AU during the Napoleonic Wars. There's dragons, there's battles, there's travel to exotic lands, so what's not to love?

"Dash dot dash dash dash dash dash dot dot dash dot dash dash dot dot dot dash dot dot dot dash dot dot dash dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dash dash dot dash dash dot dot dash dot dash dot dot dash dot dash dash dash dot dot dash dot dot dash dot dot dot dash dot dash dash dash dash dot dot dot dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dash dot dash dot dot dash dot dash dot dash"

Stand up for yourself! Stand up to your bullies, stand up to your teachers and parents when necessary. Turning your back and walking away from your bullies doesn't do a damn bit of good, because they'll just find ways to hurt you even worse. Knock him down and stomp on his balls, if you have to. Don't be such a quitter, dig in your heels and try harder. You're different, yes, but it doesn't mean you have to be the world's victim. Show that you're strong, even when you feel you're not. The fact that you made it through public school without killing yourself says that you are stronger than you think you are.

I wish they'd have been more specific with this question. Do they mean mainstream, underground, counter-culture, webtoons, what?
I recently posted about watching an episode of the hilariously bad Herculoids, and being rather unnerved by Gleep and Gloop. There's just something icky about them. They remind me of sinus infections with beady eyes.
Some of R. Crumb's creations and characters could be really freaky, but I think he meant to provoke thought by use of unabashedly racist and sexist characters.
As a kid, I found images of Rat Fink a little disturbing, but now I really respect that Ed Roth created, in terms of the hot rod culture.
I think the only cartoon character I find disturbing is Salad Fingers. I've watched all the cartoons, and I've ended up wondering if I'd have nightmares after. But the Salad Fingers series also strikes me as funny in a sick, sick way.
It's not a cartoon per se, but holy shit, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is some seriously disturbed art and storytelling.
Oddly enough, I can think of examples of some of Disney's works that probably traumatized other little kids. The "Night on Bald Mountain" movement from Fantasia probably scared a lot of people, but it never phased me. I even enjoyed the stop-motion "Mysterious Stranger" cartoon from a movie (forget what the title is) based on Mark Twain's stories.
I'm just jaded, what can I say?

Ever heard of the Winchester Mystery House? Yeah, something like that. I hope to visit it one day.
I admit it, I absolutely love, love, love huge houses and mansions, especially ones that contain all the suspense and mystery story setting cliches, like secret passageways, trapdoors, revolving bookcases, dumbwaiters and catacombs. And as far as I'm concerned, the older the house is, the better I want the echoes of time in every creaking floorboard and mossy chunk of masonry. And of course I'd also want an apple orchard and riding stables.
Seeing as most of what I've described is wildly impractical for everyday use, my ideal house would be a four or five bedroom (as I said, I like big houses), 2 bathroom older Victorian with a good-sized kitchen, an attic, and maybe a parlor room and wraparound porch, with plenty of mature trees on the property.
Something like this*:

And above all, it has to be distinct looking. I despise it when a neighborhood is constructed and all the houses look exactly the same.

*Yes, blame The Addams Family for my love of Victorians. In my heart, I am an Addams. *snap snap*
Ye Gods, I need an Addams icon.

My favorite set of comments were definitely the ones I got when I posted in regard to an overly-pushy salesguy at a kiosk in the Great Lakes Crossing mall: http://anodracs.livejournal.com/369307.html
I wonder where lithiumdelusion has vanished to? I miss her.

I've lived in at least seven places that I can recall, more than that when I was a small child. My favorite was probably my room at the Avalon co-op, even though it did have a lot of disadvantages, as it was quite a small space, and had to outside walls, which meant a wickedly cold room in the winter, but the co-ops allowed residents to decorate their rooms as they so desired. At first, I was going to paint a mountain mural on the walls, and a sunset/star scape on the ceiling, so I painted most of the ceiling dark blue, but I ran out of paint, so one corner was still white. Later, I decided that a mountain mural was too complex, so I painted the walls rose, as it was one of the "spare" cans of paint lying around the utility room. Later I found out that rose colored bedroom walls are supposed to be good for one's blood pressure, and I definitely felt calmer when I was in my room. In fact, I was quite good at starting home decorating projects and never finishing them. I also attempted to paint a Chinese dragon on my door and got the outline done, but the paint that I was using tended to run, and I included too much detail to paint and have it come out well, so my dragon remained half-finished until I moved out. I wonder if he's still on the door?
My least favorite place that I lived was the dorm at NMU. I had a good roommate, but I was so depressed and homesick while at college, and I was pursuing a course of study that was all wrong for me. Even though M. was really nice, I'm a very private person and I need a space that's for me, and just me, so sharing a room stressed me out. Not to mention that I had to share the bathroom with three other girls, including one who was a total bitch and did horribly inconsiderate things like using up the TP and blow drying her hair at 6 in the morning.
But I've never really experienced a living situation that truly feels like "home" to me. I'm still searching for that perfect place to call my own...

I probably know hundreds of songs more-or-less by heart, many that I learned when I was a little kid, and have remained ingrained in my long-term memory ever since. I suppose that the Sesame Street theme might have been one of the first that I learned. I also recall every word of "My Country Tis of Thee", even though I haven't recited it in years. We were taught this in kindergarten, and probably said it every morning, because blind patriotism totally RAWKS!
Our kindergarten teacher also taught us Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All", to be performed at our little graduation. Imagine 30 fidgety 5 year olds in formal clothes, standing on (and trying to shove each other off) risers, called to reluctant attention by the teacher, and proceeding to screech out an overwrought, hopelessly saccharine pop ballad. Gad, that would be my personal hell were I forced to go back in time and watch the young me perform. At least there were punch and cookies after the graduation, I remember that much.
The song mentioned... *gags, twitches, dies*


And just because I'm a smartass, here's another song that I remember to this day. Lamb Chop's Playalong, bitches!

I got volume 4 Petshop of Horrors Tokyo today, and unfortunately the inconsistency in Akino's stories continue...
Major spoilers under cut.
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*Yawns* I'm tired, so I'll try to sum up the other two stories tomorrow...

Sometimes I wonder if one's race is becoming more important than ever in the United States, instead of less important.
Earlier today, I logged onto OCC's student network to check the start date of my next class, and got one of OCC's survey pages. These show up occasionally, usually asking why you're taking classes at OCC and what your educational goals are. However, this particular questionnaire was asking whether I am a Latino, or a non-Latino, and of what race. Thing is, one can't skip these questions and move on to one's student records. These sort of questions both annoy and confuse me, I assume I got these questions because I have a last name that is Spanish in its' origin. As far as I understand it, the definition of "Latino" is something like "a person of any race who is of Hispanic heritage". In this case, I sort of am a Latina, and I'm sort of not. I have some percentage of Spanish blood, from an ancestor who came to America from Spain around the time of the Civil War (I refer to the USA's Civil War), but the lion's share of my heritage would be defined as WASP, with a possibility of Native American genetic influence. I was not raised with any particular ethnic traditions, though sometimes I wish I was. I'm not Mexican, nor am I Puerto Rican, Cuban, or any other Latin-American region. I don't speak Spanish. However, I can speak fluent Midwestern.
I understand why OCC would want this information, the college might even receive funding if a certain percentage of the student population is Latino, but I still get peeved that race and cultural classification is still such a big deal. I could have screwed with the system and answered with something other than "Non-Latino, white", but that would have been dishonest.
I am what I am. Isn't that enough?
Heh, and even amongst other "whites", I'm pretty damn white. Areas of my body that have not frequently seen the sun practically glow. My brother's the same, but on him it's even more startling, because he's got dark hair and eyes, but an ivory complexion.
In other news, Rammstein has announced their 2009 tour dates! http://www.rammstein.com/Tour.html
No United States dates yet (can't blame them if they don't want to tour in the US), but one can hope! I'm not much for gambling, but I'm going to buy a ticket for the next mega millions drawing, as it would be so cool to travel to Europe and see my favorite sextet in concert.

Not at all. The media hypes everything out of proportion. It is noteworthy that otherwise healthy adults have died of this particular strain of flu, but those deaths occurred in Mexico, and as far as I know, there haven't been any deaths from swine flu in other countries. Not to speak poorly of Mexico, but sanitation standards there may be different, as well as diagnostic processes when it comes to infectious disease. I also find the idea of quarantine a bit silly. I mean, the privileged few might be able get sufficient resources to efficiently seal themselves from from humanity, but most of us have necessary lives to lead that require interaction with many other people on a daily basis, not to mention that some people have to travel extensively for their jobs or other obligations. What does concern me is the idea of the swine flu becoming a pandemic that could seriously damage the economy on both a local and worldwide scale. And I'm sure there are overly excitable individuals who will have their doctors' phones ringing off the hook because they have a slight fever or a touch of nausea. Having briefly studied zoonoses, I can say that every damn disease that can be transmitted from animal to man starts with very general, flu-like symptoms. I can see where this information would upset some people, but I just tend to think about all the relatively harmless strains of flu virus out there, and have faith that my immune system can overcome such a challenge. Face it, we live in a germy, dirty world. What gets me, and here I'll turn misanthropic, but we humans seem to think we're exempt from what goes on in Nature. Major diseases are just a way of controlling population growth, and we're overdue for a serious global pandemic as it is. I can peacefully accept the idea of dying by way of a pandemic, as I can also peacefully accept the idea of being fatally struck by lightning or being stung by a box jellyfish. After all, we're none of us immortal. I also feel bad for those who depend on hoofstock for their livelihoods, as I'm sure sales of pork will go down for a bit, despite the fact that one can't catch swine flu from pig products.
A page about the 1918 Spanish flu, one of the great pandemics in more recent history. I remember seeing a video on this in a high school science class, and I found it rather fascinating. http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

Oh, how can I choose? There are so many!
psohdrabble is a favorite. It's quite a small community, which I like, but even so I've become friends with a good deal of the members of the community.I also like the challenge of writing 100 word stories, although I haven't been feeling the urge to write fanfic much lately.
I enjoy browsing wtf_nature, as I can invariably find posts about things that shock, amaze, and amuse me. Often the posts are like biology lessons gone mad. And the macro on the info page makes me laugh every time I see it.
I'm not amongst the most active members of ask_me_anything, but I do like being able to offer my two cents on the topics that catch my attention.
I have quite a morbid streak, so I love deadphotos. The photographers who post here really seem to know their stuff, and produce some of the most breathtaking works of art.
I also like communities focused on cooking or baking, especially where recipes and pictures are shared. I like cooking as it's the most "visible" cooking community, and it's not as highbrow as food_porn, and not as low-class as trashy_eats.

dax_strife, seeing as he's my sibling. Otherwise, stealingbabies, who I met waayyy back in my Redwall fandom days. I've also met blackthorn45, though I am sincerely sorry if I unwittingly took her out of her comfort zone, as I can be such a social retard. I also dated my friend codewolf for a bit, so I've known him for a few years now.

Yay! I've successfully renamed my journal! I'm still the same person I always was, it's just that Jeweleyes no longer fit me as a person. Anodracs works so, so much better. A little pricey, maybe, but worth it!

Horace Twittypister.

Hmm, this is a tough one. I could say Tetris, but I bet more than a few other people who responded to this question said the same. Super Mario Bros. was good when I had the patience for it, but I'd often get frustrated and end up throwing the controller across the room, either that or I'd start wiggling my arms and shoulders around like a spazz when I played, and my brother (the real game guru in the family) would get disgusted with me. Sonic the Hedgehog was a lot easier for me, and usually more fun. There were a few games that I certainly had no chance of beating, but that I watched my brother play, one that I enjoyed was The Illusion of Gaia. I enjoy playing trivia games like the various versions of Jeopardy, and more recently You Don't Know Jack. Some of the SNES games based on Disney blockbusters like Aladdin were pretty good, but some of the games based on cartoon shows could also be pretty bad, the Addams Family games in particular, but I may be saying this because I hold the orginal sitcom in such high regard.
And this has been bothering me in a minor way for some time, I remember my brother borrowing a game from a friend, the main character was this little guy with a springy neck, and it had a villain with a "Mr. Ick" style face on his robe. It was very bright and toony, and it was relatively easy to beat, at least it was for my brother. I was glancing over the list of SNES games on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SNES_games but nothing's really jogging my memory. Oh, mystery solved, I just asked my brother, and the game was Dynamite Heady and it was for Sega.
Wow, I did not know there were so many videos of old video games on Youtube...
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Edit: Damn, and how could I forget Street Fighter 2?! I especially liked playing as Vega. A pretty Spanish boy with a viscous looking claw weapon thingy... What's not to love? Ole!