swim through the fires to stay in this world

Okay, so you probably don't know this, but I have struggled mightily to organize my DA account. And today, my friends, today I have prevailed.

After finally discovering the strategy that would allow my favs to be organized and track this organization, after weeks of shuffling, after many deletions (why do I have a billion pictures of Itachi? why do I have so many Sasuke/Sakura that do not involve him getting punched in the face? what is with all the Temari x Shikamaru? Not to mention the hoards of Naruto x Sakura), VICTORY.

(Seriously, check out my favs. I have some fabulous stuff in there - Hellsing, Saiyuki, HP, a fuckton of awesome Naruto art, some Bleach, and lots of delicious Zutara and Suki x Sokka. And if, for some reason, you find a picture of Zuko in the Hellsing folder... let me know.)

~~~

Okay, on the subject of apple and apps for the iTouch (excuse me while I fangasm over the free books) if you have money on your account from a gift card and you buy an app, does iTunes use the gift card money before charging your credit card?

~~~

And finally, today's poem:

Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,
And drink your rushing words with eager lips,
And paint my mouth for you a fragrant red,
And trace your brows with tutored finger-tips.
When you rehearse your list of loves to me,
Oh, I can laugh and marvel, rapturous-eyed.
And you laugh back, nor can you ever see
The thousand little deaths my heart has died.
And you believe, so well I know my part,
That I am gay as morning, light as snow,
And all the straining things within my heart
You'll never know.

Oh, I can laugh and listen, when we meet,
And you bring tales of fresh adventurings, --
Of ladies delicately indiscreet,
Of lingering hands, and gently whispered things.
And you are pleased with me, and strive anew
To sing me sagas of your late delights.
Thus do you want me -- marveling, gay, and true,
Nor do you see my staring eyes of nights.
And when, in search of novelty, you stray,
Oh, I can kiss you blithely as you go ....
And what goes on, my love, while you're away,
You'll never know.

"A Certain Lady"
–written by the deliciously snarky and quite astute Dorothy Parker

 gacked from silver_spotted :

If you were to have a dinner party of fannish characters/people, who would you invite & why?

I'd invite Jennifer Cruise, Jim Butcher and Tamora Pierce, because the conversations would be epic and could beg them for a cover quote for my book (in the universe where I can invite anyone to my dinner party, my first novel has just been accepted for publication, okay?), Cho Hakkai for the eyecandy factor and to keep the details of the party running smoothly, and Doctor Spencer Reid to add that soupçon of adorkableness that all good parties have.

On the subject of memes, fannish5  needs to post this week's question. *tick tock, tick tock*

I have meaning to do this picspam for years, I swear.


( 17 Of The Hottest People People To Ever Get Nicely Blooded Up For Your Viewing Pleasure )

Enjoy! And mind you don't drool on your keyboard.

tagged by ryanitenebrae ; anime specific.

Your five favorite female characters:

Maka Albarn (Soul Eater)
Haruno Sakura (Naruto)
Sumire (Tramps Like Us)
Tsubaki (Soul Eater)
Ateko (Her Majesty's Dog)

Who do you like the most?

That's an ugly, ugly fight between Maka and Sumire.

Your five favorite male characters.

Cho Hakkai (Saiyuki)
Sha Gojyo (Saiyuki)
Hatake Kakashi (Naruto)
Roy Mustang (FMA)
Sai (Naruto)

Who do you like the most?

Cho Hakkai, arguably the perfect man. But I'd totally do all of the above in a hot minute.

Your favorite anime voice actor?

(I had to ask enderxenocide  this, because I tend to watch things in subs but don't know the VAs names.)
Noriaki Sugeyama. He did Sasuke and Ishida, and while I'm not a fan of Sasuke, watching the anime I will randomly go, 'I don't really like this kid.. but the voice! It's not surprise other people adore him so!'

Your favorite anime song?

Guns and Roses, the Baccano! opening.

Do you cosplay? Or, what kind of cosplay would you like to do?

Yep. I was an okay Lust, did an AWESOME Suki, and at some point I would LOVE to do a Painted Lady Katara (but I'd want to have a hot guy to do Blue Spirit Zuko with me).

What makes you feel "MOE" the most?

Ummm, smart, bloody guys? A la Hakkai, Ishida, Kakashi, etc.

Five people who you pass this baton to.

bellzooks , enderxenocide , autoschismatic , cynchick , digthenym .

gacked from penknife : Make a list of your favorite pairings and explain who would pick up the socks and why.

Maka x Soul: Maka would maka-chop Soul if he didn't put away the socks. He wouldn't.

Suki x Sokka: Suki would pick up the socks... to throw at Sokka until he picked up the sock that had just been pelting his head and put them in the laundry basket. Then he tries to invent a robot to pick up the socks.

Ishida x Orihime: he picks up the socks, and he likes it.

Yaone x Hakkai: they both pick up the socks, and if they forget, the other one does it. And then the first someone apologizes profusely to the other, and by 'profusely' I mean 'provides sexual favors for.'

Yaone x Gojyo: Yaone picks up the socks and the pants and the beer cans and the ashtrays and cleans and cooks and at some point Gojyo realizes that she doesn't threaten his life, even when he puts out cigarettes in empty can, and then starts being a better husband.

Kakashi x Sakura: Kakashi picks up his own socks, thank you. When she's really tired Sakura throws her dirty clothes on her desk and puts them away later. However, occasionally during this process her knee-socks with the dancing cherries and the slutty strawberries vanish to reappear when Kakashi needs something to tie her wrists to the headboard with.

Sai x Sakura: Sai picks up the sock, makes snarky comment, gets boot thrown at his head.

Sasuke x Naruto: Naruto leaves socks on floor. Sasuke bitches. Naruto declares that the strongest ninja will put away the socks. House is subsequently destroyed.

Claire x Chane: God decrees that the socks will put themselves in the laundry basket. Socks obey.

Fakir x Ahiru: Fakir yells at Ahiru for leaving her entire outfit on the floor, while his nose is pressed to the nearest wall.

Kyon x Haruhi: Kyon picks up the socks and bitches to himself, but secretly likes it.

Ino x Sakura: The stockings stay on the floor.

Temari x Shikamaru: they hire a maid.

Issac x Miria: they make a game out of throwing all the socks on the floor.

Saiyuubito Q&A (p72) translated. In which Yaone is awesome and feeds my OTP and Kougaiji is a dumbass. Seriously, I feel SO SORRY that both Yaone and Dokugakuji wound up with him.

Dead-one fanart with spoilers for Naruto 434:

( view the hilarity )

More with the funny:


If Anko Taught Sex Ed... by =MSkyDragons on deviantART

Also, I find it terribly sad that there is so little Iruka/Anko art that I find (bad) Kakashi/Sakura pics when I search for it.

And one more...

Sneaky Anko by ~kiasca on deviantART

It's the expressions on their faces that make this so very perfect...

Okay, now for some Bleach commentary (I originally mistyped that Blech). Up to 308:

( cut for spoilers )

Sanzo & Yaone meet unexpectedly by a river bank.

In which Sanzo is his detached self and Yaone is demure as water.

from this week's fannish5 :

Name five characters who would make terrible parents.

1.) Aang. I think it's important to not be a child when you're raising one. Aang would love doing all the fun things around having a child but he's suck at disciple and doing things that make them unhappy at you but mean they'll be a.) safe and b.) grow up to be good adults.

2.) Buffy. Part of it is the same as above, but most of this is that Buffy has had her life ruled from the time she was a teenager by other people, and I think what she really wants to do is live her own life.

3.) Sanzo. If you're going to go crazy and abandon your kid when he needs you, have the courtesy to come back carrying someone's bloody head.

4.) Slone. Jack should had adopted Nadia. Lord knows he has his problems but torturing and killing his daughter and saying that it was because he loved her was never one of them.

5.) Anyone with a last name of Uchiha.

From this week's fannish5 :

Name 5 characters who you think are great parents, or who would be great parents.

I picked five characters who 'would be', because I've done great fictional parents already, and I love speculating on who would be good parental figures based on what we know.

1.) Hakkai. I don't have words to describe what an awesome dad I think he'd make. He'd love and (probably over) protect his kid(s), but he'd make sure they grew up smart and strong and awesome-tastic. With great eyes and pretty, platonic hair.

2.) Gojyo. Would be the male equivalent of Lorelai Gilmore. He would be possibly one of the funniest dads ever and he'd love his kids to death and when/if they got bullied he'd teach them how to fight back and sure, that may not be the best option, but his kids would grow up scrappy and loved and badass. Actually, they'd probably be the kids getting into fights with bullies who are picking on OTHER kids, 'cause I think Gojyo would raise empathic little spitfires like that.

3.) Katara. She'd be a great mix of loving and strict and would always raise her kids up and gently push them to be the best they could be.

4.) Charlie Crewes. Would drive his kid(s) crazy and it is only looking back that they'd realize what an awesome dad his is. This is partially inspired by the fact that I watched Life today, and Rachel and Charlie's interactions are made of sheerest win. (This is also how I think Kakashi would parent.)

5.) Iruka. Arguably the only teacher who has saved the world by buying a student ramen.

Honorable Mention: The Mayor. Yeah, he was evil, but he gave Faith the attention and love that she was thirsting for. If Giles had been her Watcher instead of Wesley... well. I think it would have worked out far, far differently.

(Note: I realize that four out of five of these answers are guys. This is partially a reflection of my own preferences/issues/dreams and partially because I didn't want to just point to a female character and go, 'she's got a womb, she's sane, smart and patience -she'll make a great mom', thereby making the assumption that she wants kids because all chicks want kids. Plus, I see Katara as a mother much more easily than characters like Maka, Sakura, and Veronica. They need a decade to get their wild oats sewn and to find the right guy to say, 'you know... babies have adorable little socks.' Whereas I would STRONGLY argue that Iruka, Gojyo and Hakkai want and should have kids. And yes, I realize that the men I listed are older than the women, which throws those dynamics off.... but now I'm just rambling.)

This was a fun meme, so I decided to do it again with questions from okroginator :

Comment to this post and I will ask you about three top 5(s) (ships, songs, non-canon ships, movies, characters etc etc... whatever) that I would like to see you post about. I was asked about top 5 Sakura faces, top five songs that remind me of my favorite pairings and top 5 things that are awesome. Just anything, any fandom, that ever made you go, "YES."

5 Times Sakura's face was winsome:( One Girl Army Will Overcome )

Top 5 Songs That Remind Me Of My OTPs:

( After All, I Was There When We Made It )

Top 5 things that are awesome. Just anything, any fandom, that ever made you go, "YES."( spoilers for Life, Avatar, Baccano!, Soul Eater, and Bones )