Wahoo! Ten things to nine people!

I did 10 things for 9 people, so NGAH. =P

Those nine are:

Chanuka, Iris, James, Jerzy, Lana, Raphael, Shannon, Tim and Tinsawrs.

The tagged list is in alphabetical order, but everything's out of order, have fun guessing. =P

1. Should've met you earlier in life. Seriously. Maybe the interstate thing might've been an issue, but still! =P *grumbles about it* Really, thank you for all you do. Despite the fact you're so bloody cocky, I still love you, so I'll let you slide with that one. =P *HUG* I reckon that if I were to pin down reasons as to what I live for, you'd definitely be up there where the "breathing is cool" reasons are. ;)

2. Ah, the lawl. What would I do without my senior Digimon trainer? =D Ehehehehe. I know you hate it, but just for the sake of procrastination, I'm not going to change it. =P You're like... Awesome. That's about it, really. Not really more to say other than that you're hair is equally awesome. =P Not that we haven't already drawn enough attention to it.... =P ANYWAY. Yes. Cheers, mah Digimon-training friend. xD

3. Oh. OH! I KNOW YOU. You're that uber wonderful person that I know from that place we both go to every so often and stuff. <3>

4. N'aaawwww. Nerds are awesome. This is a fact and it should be known. You, *you*. You are a nerd. Conclusion? Well, that's easy enough to figure out. xD Otherwise: "You're a kitty! Yes you are!"

5. HARRO HARO HARO. Dude, you're a bloody infectious person. =P I'd have to say that I now owe you a billion boxes of Pocky to make up for all the times you've managed to snap me out of my grumpy moods. =P So thanks man, and also: I'll make a big effort this year to make an exrta-large sized Haro present. =D

6. ZOMFG FURRY. I LOVE you. I know I'm straight and all, but god DAMN I *LOVE* you. =D I know it scares teh random Mac dude, but come on, you can be my Romeo and I'll be your Ruriette. =D Thanks for making the tough days easier and for making the fun times unforgettable. =) 

7. Ahahahaha, I was carrying your G-string around for a couple hours ( /me steals Lardman's dA joke) =D Along with the other 5 different kinds of strings too. xD And you're right, ups and downs, we've had them all, but... Hey, if world domination is on the table, I reckon we can push it up a notch and have penguins wipe out the human race. We're the exception 'cause we're penguins. And we're awesome. NO YOU CAN'T DENY. =D

8. Ah... can't even tell what's going through your head half the time, but that's normal right? You can usually see right through me and I actually do appreciate not needing to explain myself. Which is because I, as a general rule, usually sound stupid. =P I thank you for being there and you should know you absense was greatly felt. I don't know how to make it up to you, but I hope that someday I'll be able to properly tell you just how great an impact you've made on my life. =)

9. Well, what can I say? You're Bruce/Brucey, so you're just like my left arm. I know you're going through a really rough patch, and no matter what you say I still feel partially responsible. I have no idea how you manage to cope, but I want you to know that I'll always be here for you. The past couple weeks has taken off a weight from my shoulders, and put it directly onto yours. The very least I can do is share it with you. I love you Brucey! Glad to have you around. =)

10. Nerds, otakus, geeks, musicians, artists, gamers. We. ROCK. =D I'm so glad you guys are part of my life, 'cause really, I reckon it'll be dull without you all here. xD

Have fun guessing, and don't post your guesses please, let other people be confused. It's more funny that way. =P

- Yay, I successfully procrastinated. =P

ME AND TEH LANA-AWESOMENESS

Ruri signing out~!

Tadaima =)

Yup, I'm back, and ready to tackle the storms.

I'm afraid I'm guilty of not posting in a long long time. However, I shall endeavour to post more, and hopefully will actually have something to post about.

I recently got back from a trip from France. That was fairly pleasant, aside from the insanely cold weather.

I found that there were anime magasines in France. That was rather entertaining, seeing as how I don't recall ever seeing anime magasines on the shelves of Canberra's newsagencies.

But! I acquired several posters from some magasines in France. Thankfully I can read french, so yay. XD

Yup, dotHack.

Trinity Blood =D

Ouran High! :D (the picture's fuzzy... that'll teach me for taking pictures in poor lighting)

Prettyness but I don't know where from =(

LUCKY STAR. YES. WIN. xD

Well, aside from that, I got a few new little figs, nothing too much to report. I'll do an all-fig post later.

I'm pretty sure that with my classes this year, it'll be easier, but at the same time - harder.

Classes I'm taking are double english, Japanese, IT and Maths.

So hopefully, when I'm done with College, I'll have a double major in english, a major in Japanese, a major in IT, a major in Maths and a minor in psychology. =)

The UAI I'm aiming for is one above 85%, but to be honest, it's not looking good. I know what I want to do in Uni, and that's a double degree of IT and Commerce.

I'm fairly torn between the two Unis. At UC, the IT is good, and at ANU Commerce is good. Hmm.... I guess I'll have to wait and see where the wind takes me. =)

On another note... Did anyone else in Canberra really *really* despise the heat we've been getting lately? =P I have to admit that after leaving the -10'C in France, I was relieved. But getting home just to walk straight into 38-40'C outside of the airport... =P

Although, some nights there were storms and rain, then sunshine the next morning. It was rather nice, it'll keep our grass vaguely green for a while yet. xD

Well, I think my maths homework has been deprived of enough attention. Off I go to do more homework~! =D

Signing out,

Ruri~ ♥

Photoshopping, again.

Just thought I'd muck around with Photoshop for a while. Kind of sad that I only have my own photos to work with. :P





End of post. xD

Signing out,

- Ruri xx

Excess spare time

Me again.

I seem to have developed a habit of photoshopping pictures of myself when bored. So here is the end result.
Also, since I'm uploading pictures, here's a screenshot of the dodgy 3D batpod I did for my IT group project. We did a spoof type thing of "Batman Returns Again". =P
AND! My dad got a new/old camera. It's an old model, about 2 years old, but the image quality is excellent. Although, I must say the lighting is fairly horrible. It's a RICOH Caplio R4, and it's a sweet little camera. So image quality wise, its micro shot is incredibly awesome. This picture was taken with the camera about 1cm away from the book cover. If you don't recognise the book, it's The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, which I recently bought.


Also, the other day, while driving home, I noticed some clouds with holes in them... Holy clouds. =P Oh god, lame holy hole jokes. =P


Aren't those pretty clouds? xD

Ruri, signing out~

Another day, another reflection

Okay, so I recently got my Shuffle cosplay, and yeah, it was from eBay. I would have to say that it's really nicely done, the hat in particular is incredibly cute.

I won't draw too much attention to that, but yes. Just planning on venting/musing a bit here today.

Hmm. So... A bit ago, I was thinking about certain things such as the whole "spirituality" and "psychic abilities" thing. As a child of Buddhism, I believe in such things of course. However. I was just thinking about how things like channeling and psychic spirit calling and so on, work accurately. Growing up, I was told that it was highly dangerous to try an "out-of-body" experience, along with many other extremely scary and fatal incidents. Don't worry, my parents made sure I wasn't afraid before they told me. It was up to me to decide whether to believe it or not. And I must say I do.

Basically, when you meditate and manage to remove your soul out of your body for a short amount of time. Yeah, it sounds cool alright, because then you can try to contact other spirits with much more ease. So, why is this dangerous? Because you're exposing yourself to all other kinds of evil or lonely spirits/souls who are waiting around for you to leave your body, so they can take it.

I was once told of an incident in south-east Asia where a man was possessed by an evil spirit, and it rendered him mad and suicidal. Suicidal implying that after he ran around the house and village madly flailing his ams, frothing at the mouth and his limbs jerking uncontrollably, he wound up killing himself.

Okay, so why is it that I've heard of theories on people being possessed, and it being treated so lightly? I'm sure that there are various types of possession, and I'm not well-versed, however, shouldn't it be taken more seriously than just that? Shouldn't it be seen as dangerous instead of intriguing and just a bit of fun?

Let's just say that there's someone who's been "possessed" by another spirit, or are roommates with this spirit in their head. Wouldn't this be a classic example of a dual-personality? I don't think you could possibly live idly if you had another whole soul in your body. But hey, that's just my humble opinion.

Alright, so, let's just say that you're trying to kick your own soul out of your body. It means that you should have people meditating with you, in order to shield your very limp and soul-less body. So sitting on your bedroom floor rug with your $5 "How to" book, isn't exactly the most clever idea.

Okay, that aside.

Let's talk about channelling spirits and talking to the spirits that surround us. Yeah, it's possible, but risky? Yeah, quite possibly. Just another way for them to possess you and throw your soul into Limbo. That would be kind of horrible, you know. I know that Dante describes Limbo as a place where you can't move on, up or down, but if you notice, he makes it sound like hell.

I personally (I've been using that word a lot, political correctness demands that I do) believe that such things should be practiced in sanctuaries/safe places. Not places that you think are safe, but in places that are safe. I'm afraid that dying and losing your body is a bad thing, but losing your soul will suck a lot more. Because your body still exists on earth if your soul is ejected. Ever think about the people you're leaving to deal with that?

They'll have to keep living, knowing that you're some insane psycho freak in a mental institution, tied down to padded room for the rest of your life. Sorry for the guilt trip, but it's true. You could be destroying a lot of people's lives.

Also, bear in mind that atheists do exist, so I kind of have to frown upon those who preach about this kind of thing. A person in my family (won't name who or their relation to me) is an atheist (I'll call him that, but he hasn't said it himself, he just says he doesn't believe in anything so it's implied - besides, it makes it easier to talk about), therefore there is that factor to consider as well.

Saying that a fact/statement is definitive and can't be altered and there is nothing to do about it, is extremely WRONG. You may believe that God is almighty and that a person's spirit is horribly stained and tainted with negativity, but what the hell do you really know anyway? And is it your place to say? Preachers really need to stop imposing their beliefs on others, and yes I know that the whole point of preaching. But in most cases they'll deny that they're forcing others to believe and adapt to what they say anyway, because they're too arrogant to realise that what they saw may not be entirely true, or true at all.

Hmm, I've lost my train of thought.

But yes, that's just my little opinion on the whole. I'm very aware of the fact that I'm just a speck of sand on an entire beach, but it's still nice to vent every now and then.

All I can say, after all of that, is that people should be ready to acknowledge other opinions, views, beliefs, feelings and emotions if you're going to be loud and proud about something. It's really really wonderful to be so passionate about something, because the world is lacking that in this era. However, be conscious of others.

Ruri, signing out~

<3

So. A post eh?

Alright, in face of all the problems and issues and happiness college students face... Here's another one:

What is Star Wars?

I was compelled to ask myself that because, well, they're screening Star Wars on TV again. :P So, what I did was compiled my own definition of Star Wars. And don't be fooled, I absolutely ADORE Star Wars.

Star Wars [proper noun]:
(1) Crazy pre-teen little kids who hit on supposedly hot female adolescents and soon grow up to become the source of all evil through being manipulated by ugly wrinkly guys, as they slowly come to realise they actually like their offsprings, even though they're the ones that cut the little buggers' limbs off. *cough* Luke is a crybaby *cough*
(2) Pure freaking awesomeness.

Alright, but that aside... :P

The other weekend, 2nd August 2008, I went to the Smash Convention in Sydney! It was so freaking COOL.

I was actually cosplaying Kyonko from the whole gender-bending Haruhi Suzumiya thing. I actually walked past a table that was selling a fan-comic of Kyonko, and they gave me a discount! :D I love you guys! :D

Oh yeah, at the entrance, they gave us a stamp of the SU katakana character. That was pretty cool. It was just because the games room and karaoke room were seperate from the central part of the convention. I went outside at one point, to have a look at games room, and the girls at the door asked to see my stamp. I ask you, there's an asian girl carrying bags of merchandise, and is dressed in a Haruhi uniform, would you really think she's not part of the convention? :P If not, how the HELL did she get through to the back?? xD

There's way too much to cover about the convention, but I really loved it, the merchandise was great, the artists' work was incredible and the cosplays all around were highly impressive!

Anyway, that aside... The story I posted in my last post, actually got me a really crappy score, so I'm not at all happy about that. Imagine how annoyed I was when my oral earned me low marks too. This is coming from an A/B student in the top level of english. Which is the only thing that I can be proud of. Aside from the length of my hair, because hey, it's damned long. :P

In any case, I think I'll go watch a movie or something, possibly Evan Almighty, where God is infact (and excuse my lack of political correctness) a black guy, which I think is freaking awesome. :D

This is Ruri, signing out once again~

~ <3

The Bell

The Bell

It was their bell.

Its little round shape tinkled lightly as the wind roughly pushed past it. Looking up from his novel, Jonathan's expression softened. As an eighteen year old, he was young and his dark hair clung neatly to his head. His vibrant green eyes watched the bell as it swung in the wind. The window, outside which it was hung, was left wide open. The morning cold tickled his neck as he stood and went to close the window.

'Don't, Jonny. Leave it open. How else will we hear the bell?'

Turning around, Jonathan watched his wife emerge into sight. Light shone behind her as she stood by the bedroom door. Despite her young age, Mialoni's face was pale and gaunt. Her health eroded with each passing day. The grace of the morning light was not enough to make her seem more alive. Jonathan quickly went and held her around the waist, supporting her fragile frame.

'You're not supposed to be out of bed.'

Chuckling softly, Mialoni loosened his grip and went to stand by the window, 'Jonny, you will see one day that I am very much one to live life to the fullest, whether my illness permits it or not.'

Jonathan crossed his arms and smirked, 'Nor will you become any less stubborn, Mia.'

Laughing weakly, she nodded, 'That would be correct.'

Leaning on the window frame, she reached out and touched the bell lightly. It jingled happily between her fingers as she played with it. Jonathan was briefly struck with an image of a kitten and a ball of yarn. He smiled as he watched her amuse herself.

'How are you feeling this morning Mia?' he asked gently.

Mialoni's hand froze as the question pierced her. Reluctantly, she withdrew from the window as she lied, 'I'm doing well, I feel rather refreshed today.' Smiling uncomfortably, she turned to face Jonathan who happily greeted her response. Grinning and none the wiser about the truth, he kissed her cheek and left for the kitchen.

As he walked away, he called out, 'I'll go make something warm for you to eat then. Just relax Mia, I'll do it today.'

Jonathan hummed contently as he went about making breakfast. The kitchen was a very soft pale blue. The kitchen window was open and its lace curtains billowed slightly in the breeze, the scent of irises caressing its curves. From where he stood, Jonathan could still hear the bell tinkling. He slowly drifted into his thoughts as he cracked three eggs and scrambled them with mint leaves. Wow... I can't believe it's been three months now... he thought as he recalled an autumn day from three months ago...

It was a clear day and there were only a few clouds in the distance. Jonathan and Mialoni were lying in the green fields behind their cottage. The weather that day was ideal. There was only the smallest hint of cold and the warmth was welcoming. In other words, the most perfect weather. To them, they were lying on the greener side of the fence. Their side. Everything was ideal, all was well.

It was that day that the prophet stumbled across them. He bustled contently through the fields when he fell upon Mialoni and Jonathan. Pausing, he turned to look down at Mialoni. She radiated with good health as she smiled curiously. The pair propped themselves up on their elbows to view the man. Jonathan subconsciously moved closer to Mialoni. The stranger's face fell as he said, “You two... are in love, are you not?

The response was a silent one, Mialoni blushed and turned away whilst Jonathan grinned awkwardly. The man shifted his weight uncomfortably on the spot. He tugged at his worn out travelling clothes. Mialoni, intrigued yet slightly frightened, asked him, “What is it? Was there something you wanted to tell us?”

Jonathan quietly observed the man before them. His eye fell upon the markings on the man's bare arms. They twisted and turned around his bicep and trickled down to his wrist, where they disappeared into bandaged hands. Around his neck he wore necklaces with various symbols, none of which Jonathan recognised. He's a prophet... Jonathan noted to himself.

The man stood still and his eyes glazed over. Suddenly, he dropped down onto his knees and spoke hoarsely, “Your love... is bound to this... bell...” His hand clumsily sunk into his pocket to withdraw a small silver bell, which he handed to Jonathan.

“It will cease to ring when you die,” he said, turning to Mialoni. “It will cease to ring when the love between you dies along with you.” The prophet, close to tears, abruptly stood and nodded to them both. Without another glance at the pair, he left.

Jonathan gripped the bell in his hand and said to Mialoni in a light tone, “It's just a joke, don't worry. Don't worry at all sweetie.” Smiling, he turned to look at her.

His eyes widened in horror.

Mialoni's face was pale. She smiled weakly, “Yes... yes you're right, love...”

It must all be a coincidence, Jonathan mused, as he put the eggs onto plates. Just a coincidence. When he was satisfied with the way his eggs were presented, he called out, “Mialoni, it's all ready!” Upon hearing no reply, he dusted off his hands and pushed his sleeves up as he headed out to find Mialoni. She was lying across the couch, her arms folded delicately on her stomach. At that moment in time, the expression on her face embodied peace and beauty. Mesmerised, Jonathan stood and watched her. Approaching her, he thought, Ah, she must be aslee-

She wasn't asleep.

The funeral was held three days later.

Jonathan returned to a cold home. An empty home. Was life even worth anything anymore? With Mialoni gone, his world had come off its hinges. Jonathan slumped against the door and slid down onto the floor. He slowly dozed off, drifting ever so slightly out of consciousness.

That was when he heard it.

Jerking back to reality, he scrambled to his feet and leapt to the window.

The bell was jingling away contently, the way it did the day Mialoni died.

It was then that Jonathan realised that the prophet was wrong.

He was so wrong.

Love did not die with death.

THE END