Thursday, December 10, 2009

Confessions of an alleged Gothic Lolita

It doesn't really fit.
Well, quite a bit has happened since my last post, hasn't it? Some of you might have been greeted by a snow white screen with some random gibberish on it- good riddance. It all stated when I noticed that my links, categories, and tags had vanished- after trawling the net for guidance, I came across some seemingly wise advice- to reinstall Wordpress. 'Huh, yeah, why didn't I think of that? Sounds simple enough- no need for any meddling with coding and all that...' I shouldn't have rushed, really. Logged into my control panel and deleted all my .PHP files, except for wp-config, and then proceeded to replace the deleted files with fresh copies.
The result was, to say the least, traumatic. My entire site had vanished. I couldn't view it. I couldn't enter the control panel. I couldn't even log in to Wordpress admin. All. Gone. I posted a long plea for help on the Wordpress support forum, but didn't get a single reply- even though I (accidentally) made a double post. Help eventually arrived in the form of the tech support guy responsible for setting up this site, though. But not until after I'd sulked for a few days. Oh well. It's back online now, and that's what matters. Better yet, the missing items that sparked this whole mess are back... before I continue, here's the error message you might have seen, and the final post I made before the site went poof (I've deleted it), just for good measure:
Warning: require_once(/home/pmrengli/public_html/aprilius20.com/wp-settings.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/pmrengli/public_html/aprilius20.com/wp-config.php on line 76 
What in blazes just happened- all my links, categories, and posts vanished. They aren’t even showing up in the admin panel. When I try adding a new category with the same name, though, it tells me that there’s already a category with that name. Duh. Then show it to me, you dolt!

That's that. Now for some updates. There was a book sale recently, and I got a pretty good haul- Paul of Dune, The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, The Battle of Corrin (all Dune books); I am Legend by Richard Matheson- remember the Will Smith movie, about the 'last man on earth'? This is the novella it was based on; three books by Orson Scott Card; one by Poul Anderson; and two by Robert Harris- I've reviewed one of his books in the past- Imperium. A mini review, actually. It's just too bad that they didn't have any books by Terry Pratchett. Perhaps I should petition the organizers.

All that took place before the 'tragedy', when I was still in pretty high spirits. The event described in the next paragraph took place during the aftermath- I spent one day glum, and another brooding. Brooding in my room. Brooding in college. Brooding throughout the wedding dinner I attended with my family.

I had no idea who the bride or the bridegroom were. I only recognized a few relatives whom I'd visited now and then when I was a kid. We sat at a table with four men- one of whom kept pouring beer for my dad- apparently we'd lived with him waaay back (not that I'd remember); and one scruffy old lady whom no one seemed to know. It turned out that she was a gatecrasher, but no one had the heart to turn her away. We just ignored her as she swept all the leftovers into the pile of plastic bags she had prepared for the occasion...

The next topic goes much further back in time, before the establishment of this site. It's quite interesting, really. For some obscure reason- I can't remember why- I'd decided to run an independent test on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). I guess I was just bored. Anyway, the topic for my experiment was the allegations of bias hurled against them. It's actually rather amusing how they have been accused of being leftists, while the leftists accuse the BBC of a right-wing bias. No, you can't call them rightists, apparently, haha. You might want to eat some Wiki on the topic before continuing.

A 'voice your opinion' piece on their online news site provided the perfect opportunity. At the time (and I think it still is), quite a few people were worried about Pakistan's nuclear warheads falling into the hands of maniacal terrorist nitwits. I'm highly tempted to attempt a detailed dissection of  the terrorist mind, but I don't think I have the energy to devote myself to such a scholarly task. Tell you what- go read Frank Herbert's Dune. But I digress.

Back on point. I don't really remember what the piece asked of readers, but I do remember the gist of the 25 or so pages of approved comments: Almost all of them had something to say about either America, Pakistani leaders, or the terrorists. I gave them all the stick. All of them. It went something like this: "At the end of the day, they should never have kicked Musharraf (Pervez, former army General cum President) out- say what you want about democracy, but some places just aren't ready for it yet."

Twenty plus pages of comments. I searched each page. Mine didn't show up. Conclusion: You can diss America, Pakistan, or your momma's hairstylist- but you can't diss democracy, even when it deserves it. I rest my case. I don't know whether the BBC is leftist or, um, rightist, but I've proved it. They are biased. Or perhaps their webmaster is.

Next up, a response of sorts to Alexandra Wong's (a columnist for a prominent local daily) article, 'Travelling Light'. Or perhaps a supplement. The article serves as a guide on how to travel light (obviously, duh)- but it seems to focus mainly on women travelers. What about me and my misbegotten, neglected kind? -moans-

Her first essential item: the 'flirty sundress'. This couldn't possible apply to men, never mind the fact that almost no man on earth would freely confess to wearing any garment with the word 'dress' appended to it without considering others' reactions to such a statement. Wiktionary defines sundress as 'a light dress, typically worn in the summer, having thin straps to a bodice that exposes the shoulder and has no arms'. I suppose the key word is 'bodice'. It seems that men might have a chance, after all- but only, and only if they have the figure for it. I'm telling you, a slim, androgynous figure is absolutely vital- a perfect example would be Bonten from Amatsuki:
It's just too bad that I couldn't find a better picture. Amatsuki just isn't popular enough, I suppose- which is rather sad, since it is quite a solid work. Anyway, as you can see (I hope) from the picture, he's wearing a  sort of bodice, or corset, and looks pretty stunning too. I doubt that many guys can pull off this look, though. That said, I probably could. Are you jealous of me already? Check this link out for some fantastic images of Bonten being cosplayed- never mind that the cosplayer is a girl.

The second item: 'lowly leggings'. The relevant definition would be 'tight fitting leg coverings'. Just Google 'leggings for men' or 'men in leggings'. One blogger uses (I hesitate to say he coined it) the word 'meggings'. I'm on the fence in regards to this item. I just can't decide. I can imagine myself wearing a corset/bodice like Bonten above, but leggings...? I don't know. Half the pictures I've seen look acceptable, and the other half just plain ugly. An androgynous physique won't be of much help here- unless you're an eunuch, I suppose. Let's just strike this off the list, shall we?

Third on the list is the 'plain white singlet'. I wonder if she's talking about those cheap white ones with more holes than Mars has craters. It's very cooling, I know, but I would never wear it -shudders-. On the other hand, if she's talking about conventional singlets (without holes all over)- I've never liked men's singlets. Where's the fabric on the sides? More often that not, the gap extends from the armpits to just below the rib cage. Definitely not my style. I prefer mine to be like normal shirts, but without the sleeves and with the customary singlet straps... oh crud. I just realized something- that sounds exactly like a tank top. Oh, bother. I guess I'll just have to forgo singlets and go for sleeveless shirts.

Next up, the 'compressible carry-all'. Some random, unrelated trivia: in Dune, carry-alls are these big aircraft that are used to rescue spice harvesters from approaching sandworms. Back to the topic. It seems that we've left female-only territory. I guess any bag will do, as long as it's light, durable, and has plenty of storage space. For some reason my bags always seem to last just one trip overseas before they have to be condemned...

Finally, the 'Adidas kampung' (small-town Adidas). I had no idea what in blazes she was talking about, until I saw the pictures on her blog. The only thing that's necessary to consider here is whether they have your size, heh. I'll just stick to my tired four-years old Nike- it'll probably last me another three or four countries.

Well, that's that. The next article I'll be commenting on is by a negligible journalist (meaning I'm too lazy to type out the name, but would rather type miles or nonsense to justify my actions. Yeah, go figure -rolls eyes-) entitled 'Finding the Perfect Jeans'.

Anyway, I've never owned anything but a straight-cut. This is totally unrelated, but I wear a size 30, although I seem to have shrunk recently- and yes, I do think I'm bragging... moving on. I'd like to, well, diversify, try out different cuttings. The article seemed like the perfect guide, until I noticed a little niggling detail- all the jeans mentioned were modeled by women. Therefore it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that the article itself applies to women only, would it?

-sigh- I'll start off with 'flare jeans'. I wouldn't mind trying one of these. The article says that 'for those with curvier hips', the 'extra flare will balance the width of your hips'. Hmm. So it'll make my hips looks slimmer? Or just divert attention from them? Excuse me while I inspect a mirror... guess I don't need it, heh.

'Skinny jeans' have always intrigued me, for some reason. But only when seen on women- over here, most of the people who wear them seem to come from the same segment of society- many of them being 'mat rempits'- the local term for those adolescent (physically and/or mentally) skinny little (malnourished, I suppose- or it could be the result of all those cigarettes they take) buggers who derive great pleasure from terrorizing the streets in packs on their pathetic little 150cc Honda/Suzukis, or whatever... but I digress.

Skinny jeans: 'unless you're blessed with a size zero figure, stay away from these'. Oh well. Even without my analysis of the aforementioned group's fashion style and the stigma I've attached to wearing anything that would make one even remotely resemble them, I don't think I'd be able to pull it off. I'm definitely not a size zero, after all... maybe a two, haha.

'Low-waist jeans': 'tend to make the derrière  appear smaller and may not be too comfortable to wear'... I could live with that. Not that mine is overly large, of course- but the smaller the better, no? -grins-  I wouldn't get one that goes too low, of course- some of the images that Google served out were quite... disturbing, haha. Now I understand why some towns in the US or Europe (I can't remember where) wanted to ban them.
If you can't even understand this, you're an idiot.
Tired yet? Be patient, I'm almost done. I just noticed something interesting- a transcript of one of the questions on the listening exam section of the Lvl 1 JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)  test, Level 1 being the highest grade. Here's a copy of the article:

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 1 exam, the highest level of 4, has attracted note after apparently including a listening comprehension exam in which “Asuka” begs for number 4 mobile fighter launch permission…

The JLPT is easily the most widely recognised and officially sanctioned Japanese language qualification, and level 1 is held to be at or near native level; even many Japanese consider the test hard (although “filled with obscure language irrelevant to normal usage” might be more accurate).

However, as with many such language tests it is possible to study for and pass the test and yet still be hopeless in real-world situations…

The listening exam, presented as a “radio drama,” apparently features “Asuka” begging to be allowed to launch her unit.

Check out this link for the transcript (in Japanese- and beware, as the rest of the site is NSFW). It's maddeningly simple- just that question, at least.  How I wish that I didn't miss the deadline for registration... I'd intended to take the Lvl 1 exam this year- despite being out of practice. I haven't done much writing or reading of Japanese since I quit sometime last year- or was it the year before? Oh well. This whole thing actually ties in with something I'd brought up in college a few days ago- that I'd find exams more interesting if they used characters from fictional settings. Just imagine Saruman taking the Ents to court on charges of false imprisonment, trespass to land, etc...
Hello me!
Second last bit of info I'd like to spill. A month or two ago, this girl approached me on Facebook- and she has the exact same name as me, which was rather shocking, since I've never considered it to be one applicable to girls as well as guys... just the fact that there are others out there (quite a few guys- I've known this for some time now) with my name is, well, depressing- somehow I felt that my 'uniqueness' was under attack.

Ah well. That's her in the picture you see up there- and our baby, if we ever got together. Quite a big head, but I suppose that can be fixed in due time, as the rest of the body plays catch-up. All this talk about names reminded me of something- there's this application of Facebook which asks users to give five answers to a random question- the question I answered was 'name 5 random things starting with the same letter as your name'. Well, it's not really a question, but neither were my answers 'things', heh:
1. Lana Lang
2. Lex Luthor
3. Lionel Luthor
4. Lindsay Lohan
5. Lelouch Lamperouge

Finally, yes, finally- I cheat you not- a tiny little tidbit that should have been included in the previous post (ANBU and their dietary habits): here's the link to the Facebook quiz that I mentioned- 'What Japanese Subculture are you?' And the result I got? Lolita.
"You seem to have two sides to you. You're cute and creepy. What's with that? Sure, frilly dolls can be cute with all the fluff and bright colors... But I me...an... why are you dressed like a doll? You're a person. Sometime you take the creepiness too far and cross over to the gothic doll realm. You seem expressionless like a doll and are really mysterious. Yet, most people find you attractive and interesting. Just, you seem to intimidate people and sometimes their afraid to talk to you. Lighten up a bit and smile.."
Frills!
Please don't tell me you're imagining me wearing the above outfit. I'd probably look good in it (I look good in pretty much everything- yes, ego speaking, pay attention ignore me). It looks nice, but I don't think I'd wear something like this, though, unless you give me a very good reason... on the other hand, it wouldn't take much persuasion to get me into Alucard's (from Castlevania) outfit in the following picture:
On the other hand, it would be bloody hot (as in heat).
A brief analysis of the quoted paragraph: Well. Two sides to me? Am I really that simple? Cute and creepy. Shouldn't it be cute but creepy? I've been called cute before, but never creepy... ah well. Frilly dolls. I don't care too much for dolls, but I do find frills attractive... Why am I dressed like a doll? I'm not. Not like you'd know, haha. Expressionless like a doll- well, I suppose that this does hold true, most of the time, with my blank, dreamy face. I guess the rest of the paragraph is acceptable, except for the end. Lighten up and smile? I can't smile. I can smirk and grin, though. Maybe I just need more practice.

And that's that. As far as I can tell, I've covered everything I wanted to cover- and with that, I bid thee goodnight- regardless of what timezone you're in. Only mine matters, after all. -smirk-

12 comments:

  1. Yay it works again!

    I was not a fan of I am Legend. I thought the beginning was great. Then they had to go and put more people in it. :( And zombies. The zombie angle was stupid. Liked it better when it was just a guy trying to survive.

    Don't men naturally travel light? It's always the women who have too much stuff.

    So funny when girls cosplay as guys who are dressing as girls. I saw a Ciel Phantomhive cosplay where a girl was wearing the dress he wears to infiltrate a party. I think it's hilarious.

    As you're not a woman, I don't think you understand how freakin' hard it is for us to find jeans that fit properly. My sister will latch onto a single pair of jeans that fit perfectly, and wear them until they fall apart before she tries to find another. The process is agonizing. I have a pair of skinny jeans, btw, but I prefer boot cut. Low waisted jeans, which I like, have a tendency to...fall off me, so I had to stop wearing them. :(

    LOL@Saruman taking the Ents to court. That'd be awesome.

    Recently my boy told me that I always look miserable. That I don't smile, and no matter where I am, if I'm not at home, I always look like I don't want to be there. I told him, "Honey, I just look like that. It doesn't mean anything." If I'm not actively emoting, I just kind of blank out. Why put all that effort into looking "alert" or "interested" if there's no real reason to? If someone comes over to talk, I'll animate, and then revert back afterward. .... Well, OK, usually I DON'T want to be wherever we are, but that's not the point. I'm not purposefully trying to project negativity. Unless I am. Because I want to be left alone or something (usually in public places). But...I am really out of practice socializing normally with people. Fortunately a computer doesn't need me to laugh politely or keep my sarcastic comments to myself. :)

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  2. @Kris: Yup, sure feels good to be back:D
    Did you read the book? It's quite different from the movie. The movie was pretty good for me, although I wasn't too happy with the ending. Have you read the book? If not, this site has a pretty useful guide to the movie-book differences. Zombies, haha. The movie made more sense after I read the book. Vampires are much cooler;)

    Hmm, I dunno. When I travel overseas for long periods I usually bring two bags- one huge one that's barely under the 20kg limit, and a sling bag for all the random stuff. Then again, even one pair of jeans can weigh just below 1kg..-shivers- yeah, I've weighed 'em before:D

    Is it that difficult to find a suitable pair of jeans? I only have one pair at the moment, but that's probably because I'm just too fussy- I want one that's soft and light, yet durable. It can't be too flashy, but not too plain either, it has to be the right color, blablabla... I'd just get fed-up and buy the next thing that's on sale. Can't you decide based on size? Like, just get a waist measurement and go from there? LOL, they fall off? Get a belt! Then again I suppose that kinda defeats the purpose of wearing such jeans^^;

    I find it rather irritating when others keep bugging me about it. Why smile when there's nothing to smile about? I have negativity read into me, haha. Heh, the horrors of real-life diplomacy- I can't count the times I've shocked/horrified someone with the nonsense I've spouted. True, true. Yay for the internet- the only downside being that it's pretty difficult for others to spot the sarcasm most of the time. Guess you can't have the best of both worlds all the time:(

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  3. I did not read the book. And I probably won't. I just wasn't interested in the film enough. There have only been a handful of movies that got me to read the books afterward. Specifically (that I can recall right now), Memoirs of a Geisha, Everything is Illuminated (which is pretty interesting, btw), and Lord of the Rings (yeah, I hadn't actually read them prior; or well, when I heard the movies were coming out, I started reading Hobbit, and then Fellowship, but I was only halfway through Two Towers when that film came out...and now I'm a fanatic).

    Well, when I'm just going away for a weekend, I have my own suitcase (the bigger of the two we have),stuffed full. A small toiletry bag for bathroom stuff (this is where I pack light, because I don't wear makeup, or carry around lots of girly facial crap). A duffel bag full of books, games, etc (but for 2 people). And a messenger bag with books and such in it, for easier access (the duffel bag usually gets buried under everything else). It's not that I'm really packing a whole lot. But I usually take a couple of shirts for each day. Something nice and something casual, something warm and something cool, etc. Something for when I'm a klutz and get something else dirty. Fortunately my clothes are light and small, so they don't take up large amounts of space.

    Jeans are hard! And no,you can't just get a measurement, because different styles and different brands fit totally different. I could be a 4 in one brand, and an 8 in another (a two-size difference)! I could get the same brand, the same size, but different styles, and one will fit great, and the other won't even go over my ass. I hate shopping for clothes in general, but jeans are the WORST. I almost cried once when I couldn't find a pair that fit. I got super frustrated and just quit.

    Belts don't help a whole lot, particularly when you're wearing a lower style like that. I mean, what is there for the belt to go around? There's nothing holding them up, really, lol. Eventually the boy was like "Honey, I don't mind that they hang off like that, but it's really not good in public when there are kids around and stuff." So I bought some that sit on my waist.

    Ah, that's true. Sarcasm is hard on the internet! But if you do it right, it's easy to spot. When I was in high school, I was always being very sarcastic and cynical. It was fun. :) I enjoyed quipping back to the boys. I'm not terrible with real life diplomacy. I can actually handle myself pretty well when the need arises, because I have good manners, and I'm good at bull shitting. ^_^ Plus I'm naturally reserved, so I'm far too shy to really say a bunch of shocking things in front of people (at least ones I don't know very well; I blurt out amazing things around my parents and my closer friends).

    You know, I think we would get along well if you weren't on the other side of the world, lol. But our cynicism and negative personalities might be a bit too much when combined. We'd probably wreak a lot of unintentional havoc (well, maybe some intentional).

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  4. Oh, that's fine then. I just mentioned it to you since you didn't like the 'extra people'. Besides that, the movie felt like an action movie, while the book really gave off a sense of paranoia, which I liked. I guess the only aspect in which the movie was superior was that it had Will Smith, hehe. Geisha. I've read that- entertaining enough. Never heard of 'Illuminated' though -wiki pause- heyy! I watched the movie sometime last year, it was nice... and starring Frodo, all grown-up, lol.

    A weekend, eh? For that I'd just use one small bag, but I guess it also depends on where you're going. 'Girly facial crap', haha. I used to bring those along- but only when I had pimple outbreaks. I'd like to bring along stuff like shampoo, but airport security procedures drive me nuts- and I like to carry all my luggage. Oh, a moisturiser is a must, though... having to flit between seat and washroom repeatedly just to wash, and rewash my face was horrible:(

    Owh, that sounds terrible. I guess it's a girls-only thing, then- say, I think I've noticed the same thing with footwear, too. My sister has a terrible time shopping for them, as her feet seem to be smaller than the national average. The lack of coordination between various brands just made it worse. Someone should really step in and force 'em to standardize their measurements.

    lol. He wouldn't mind, obviously. Although I don't think I'd be comfortable with the thought of others seeing a large portion of my girl's (if I had one, hah) buttcrack every time she bends down... or mine, for that matter, especially since I'm too lazy to even put on my belt... Then again I wear boxers- for some reason no matter how far the pants fall they rise instead, like a pair of scales, haha. And oh, while we're on the topic of pants, I've been wanting one like Kyo's (from Fruits Basket), although it kinda reminds me of a potato sack at times:p

    Heh, I can already imagine them sputtering away. BS'ing is a great skill to have. It's good for pretty much everything- from cracking the ice at an awkward party to winging an exam. Hmm, I guess my 'diplomatickabilyty' is alright too. I tend to keep my mouth shut and do try to think of what to say without saying something OTT, but my major issue is my often strange choice of words- no cure to that one;)

    Aww, you think so? Feel free to drop by if you're ever in town, and we'll put that to the test, then. I think we'd probably get along like Lelouch x C.C. or Horo x Lawrence... you can't help but pity whoever has the (mis)fortune of engaging us in a discussion:D

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  5. Oh yeah, airline regulations crap. Where you can't carry anything with you that is in a volume you can actually use. Stupid. But I don't fly anyway, so I don't have to deal with that. I'm just not very girly...or feminine may be a better word. So I don't have to pack the 50 million little things most girls drag along. Like, I own a single purse, and it's tiny. I can fit a pack of tissues, my sunglasses in their case, my little wallet, my cellphone, a tiny thing of hand sanitizer, a pen, and my keys in there. And that's really all I need.

    Why are you washing your face a bunch on an airplane?

    Yeah, footwear is a pain too. My feet are narrow, so most regular shoes are way too wide for me. Someone really should standardize sizes.... Just to add on to female misery, bras are just as bad. I don't really understand why women love shopping for clothes. It's always a horror for me. Like when I was a kid, I would have to wear shorts made for boys, because my legs were too long for girl shorts (meaning, they were too short on me so I couldn't wear them to school). That's embarrassing. :(

    Kyo's pants...the ones with the weird belt thing near the knees that connects both legs? I wonder how one walks in something like that? I always found them really impractical, especially considering how active Kyo is (running around, jumping all over the place, picking fights).

    My mother-in-law was talking with me one day and said something like "Oh, I know Scott's happy to be getting married." And I said, totally serious, "Well, he's happy about the tax break." I tend to say these really blunt things with a completely straight face, and it kind of flusters people, because I guess they can't tell if I'm joking or not, lol. It's funny.

    Haha, it would undoubtedly be misfortune to whoever happened upon us.

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  6. I think they aren't that strict when it comes to local flights. When it comes to overseas flights though, they're positively anal about the liquids. Sounds like you're pretty utilitarian from your description of the stuff you carry around. Not even one 'girly' item? I have this srawberry-flavored lip balm that I take everywhere I go. I find the lip-smacking rather fun:)

    Ah, the face-washing... here's how it goes. I'm terrified of getting a cold while on a plane (it's terribly inconvenient), and I remembered that in Titanic (the movie) the survivors kept warm with liquor. So I had a few servings myself- some scotch, brandy, cocktails... didn't feel particularly warm, but my nose became really dry. It was falling like snow- only once I got home and hit the net did I find out that alcohol actually dries the skin. Go figure=,=

    Good thing I don't need bras. Then again, have you heard? I think there's actually a small market for male-bras. Those guys in Japan will think about just anything capable of selling... I hate shopping for clothes too (although I love buying them), not because nothing fits but because I don't like most of the things I see. My usual routine it 'poke head into shop, glance around, repeat for every single boutique, leave grumbling and disappointed'.

    Haha, shorts. I just loathe shorts- this stems back to my days in a Chinese-language primary school (elementary school?)- the uniform for boys was (and still is) blue shorts. For some reason mine were all tight and- well, short... looking back, they could almost have been hot pants. Just a few cm shorter- ok, I might be exaggerating (time does that to memory) but it was traumatic^^;

    Hmm, isn't that Iori from King of Fighters? I remember Kyo's as having a bunch of fabric sticking out over the belt, as if it was a sack with a rope tied at the waist. A sack with two legs, of course. I'll never understand the knee-belt thing though. Doesn't make much sense, especially in a fighting game like KoF, and not for Kyo either...

    Ah, so you get tax relief for getting married? Seems like this thing called the 'marriage penalty' might be reinstated in 2010- you might want to tell Scott to hurry up, haha. Hey wait a minute, you're getting married! Congratulations to the both of you;) Eh. She's your mother-in-law before you're getting married? Oh blast I'm totally confused now. Details, weevils. Congratulations regardless of whoever's getting married, haha.

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  7. Well, OK, I do carry a couple girly items. I have a bottle of body splash (which is like perfume), for when I remember to use it. And I have a little jar of moisturizer for my face, because sometimes it gets really dry (especially in cold weather); so it's really just for emergencies. And I have tons of chapstick that I never use despite my constantly chapped lips. And a bottle of ultra moisturizing lotion for my hands, which are always dry and chapped (I'm an obsessive hand washer, which doesn't help). So...a couple "girly" things, I guess.

    Haha, yes, alcohol dehydrates you! That's so funny. It will warm you if you're very cold, but you really need a good amount. What it does is it expands your blood vessels, which causes your body to feel like it's warm. It's not really warm though, you just feel like it is. You actually lose more warmth from your body this way, so it's all false warmth, which is really dangerous.

    I have heard about man bras. I probably know a couple of people who could use one, lol. I remember you talking about not finding the sort of clothes you want to wear anywhere, because I have that same problem. I don't know anything about fashion, either. So sometimes I'm like, "How are you supposed to wear this? Does it go good with this? Do these colors go together? Do I need to get new shoes for it?" Of course, my answer to myself is always "I have no fucking idea."

    I don't like shorts either! It might stem from being embarrassed about wearing boy's shorts. It might be because I just didn't want to bother finding shorts that were long enough. So I just wore/wear jeans all the time. Even if it's 110 degrees F outside. Even if I'm marching (for band) on asphalt in the middle of summer. My friends thought I was crazy. But apart from not wanting to be bothered, I don't like my legs. They're skinny and pale and my skin is dry. And I get razor burn pretty bad, so they tend to be all red too. If the point is only to be cooler, well I can handle being a little warmer. My boy likes shorts, because he likes long legs, but I'm just like "Ah, I can't be bothered to shave them every damn day just because you like them."

    I think I know the pants you're talking about now. For Kyo.... I think they were sort of like his exercise pants. The pants with the belt I'm talking about.... They're these cargo pants things.... I'll try to find an image.
    http://www.onemanga.com/Fruits_Basket/2/09/
    He's got some on there, and if you click through a few pages, you can see him fighting and it shows it a bit better. There are some others where the belt sit a bit lower, like more around his knees, I think. And it's not even really a belt...it's just this weird thing hanging off the back of his pants for no apparent reason.

    I think there's some sort of tax break...but I also think there's some sort of penalty, lol. I think they've been bouncing it around...wherever they bounce around laws like that. Also, I'm already married! We got married in October. So she's already my mother-in-law. :) That was just a conversation from before, when she took me to try on dresses.

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  8. @Kris: 'Tons of chapstick'? Whoa. I've never gone beyond a simple strawberry. I'm highly tempted to try this brand called 'lip-ice', but I think that would be a little too much. I think it has gloss in it. Moisturizer. I should really start looking for a small bottle...

    Haha, no wonder I ended up shivering anyway. Maybe next time I'll just ask them for sleeping pills to knock myself out. Then again, I'd miss the lovely in-flight food... False warmth. So you're really getting hypothermia while you think that you're nice and warm? That's kinda scary:(

    I think most of the people who want men-bras don't really need them... they probably just have this fetish for running around in women's undies, but are either single, or don't dare walk into a lingerie shop. Oh, and if anyone saw them wearing one they'd have the fool-proof excuse: 'but it's for men!', haha. Then again, you're right. Some guys even have breasts that jiggle when they walk. Don't even talk about jumping=.=;

    Oh I do know a lot about fashion- albeit fashion that doesn't exist in this world, haha. It's irritating to the extreme. 'I don't like this, I don't like that either'... in the end I just end up buying any generic thing that's on sale. Clothes given as presents are fine though, since I don't have to go through the whole torturous process.

    Hey, same here! Back in high shool I was the that 'strange' guy who walked around under the sun wearing a uniform shirt, a t-shirt underneath it, and a jacket over both of them. The classrooms were just too cold for me. As for shorts- since leaving elementary school I've never worn a pair. Only jeans and cargo pants. I hate the hair but I'm much too lazy to shave, wax, etc.

    Yup, that's the pants. I have something like that, only with two of the belt thingeys criss-crossing each other. They don't constrain my movement (although it's not like I'm jumping all over the place), but I took them off anyway, and now they look like normal slacks. There are weirder things, though- I've seen some pants which seem to have a large bag-like pocket hanging from the back. Why anyone would want to park their ass on their stuff is beyond me.

    Heh, so they sort of cancel each other out? Don't see what's the point of it then. As of wherever they 'bounce around laws' like that- that would be senate or congress, right? Or maybe on the beach, if Washington has one. An old conversation- ah, it all makes sense now;)

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  9. Hmm, many weighty issues here. I will note that (persecution of Joan of Arc aside) it is generally far more acceptable for a woman to wear men's clothing than vice versa.

    On another note, I can report that I had a professor who used Star Wars examples in his QM tests, and they were only made more incomprehensible by them, not less. So be careful what you wish for! :P

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  10. @Moritheil: That's true. I wonder why society seems to have forgotten that men used to wear skirts in the olden days (ie, the Greeks and the Romans). Back then it wasn't odd to be seen prancing around in women's clothing, either. At least the movie-makers haven't forgotten- viva Hollywood. And the Scots, too, but it seems that everyone trys to be polite and ignores them.

    That sounds like fun! QM, as in quantum mechanics? I can already imagine Jabba the Hutt discussing Einstein's theorems with Han Solo while watching slaves duke it out in the arena below, haha. Yeah, I suppose it would be highly distracting, especially for those who know the series- but still fun:D

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  11. Often when you buy chapstick here, it comes in a package with multiple tubes of the stuff. I'll toss one in my purse, one in my messenger bag, maybe throw one in the car, one in the bathroom, whatever. I just forget they're there and don't use them.

    Yeah, I guess that alcohol keeps you warm thing is quite the urban myth. I mean, it DOES make you FEEL warm, so for the short term it might be helpful. The only other thing I can say about it, is that while you're dying of hypothermia, at least you'll be too drunk to notice.

    Ah, I don't know much at all about fashion. :( I often think "Oh, that'll never look good on me. I can't pull that off." So I just kind of go for my staples - jeans and tank tops. Most of my clothing is pretty generic, design wise. And the colors are usually all the same, too. I like my black and blues, hate white.

    Oh, I didn't wear quite that much clothes! I wasn't wearing the jeans because I got cold; I just didn't like shorts, or didn't want to bother finding a pair that wouldn't get me in trouble with the length at school. Bit of both, really. I don't mind as much now, but I hate shaving, lol. My legs are long, sensitive and dry. It's a serious pain!

    I don't think I've seen any pants with huge back pockets like that. Unless you mean cargo pants or something? But what I'm imagining in my head are these enormous, saggy pockets that you could put a liter or soda in or something.

    If I'm to believe Fallout 3, Washington does indeed have a beach. But I'm not sure what stage the marriage tax break law thingy is right now. I haven't actually looked into it for a while.

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  12. @Kris: Ah, that explains things. I've never seen chapsticks sold in packs of more than.. one, heh.

    Too bad it's an urban myth. Now how am I supposed to survive if I ever fall into the Baltic ocean in the middle of winter? I blame James Cameron and his Titanic for spreading the myth. And maybe causing several unnecessary deaths every year:3 'Too drunk to notice'- lol.

    I guess that when it comes to fashion (and perhaps other things as well) we just create these rules that keep us from wearing anything that would take us out of our comfort zones. For example, I've sworn that i will never ever wear a t-shirt with collars. Not ever. So it's pretty much the same for me- jeans/cargos, t-shirts, long-sleeved shirts, jackets. That's pretty much an accurate description of my wardrobe, haha. As for colors, anything goes. No orange, though, and white is rare- since it gets dirty all too easily.

    I joke you not- they're jeans, not cargo pants, with these large, flappy, extension attached to the back- I don't know if they're removable- like a reverse apron. They're a a rare sight, even here. Most people have the good sense to not wear such weird things.

    p.s. And long pants cover dry skin too, lol. I'm way too lazy to smear moisturiser over 'em and wait for it to dry^^;

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