The relaunch has begun. New Update Log. Check it for news on snarky new projects. I probably won't update this log anymore.

Peace out,
Kotono

Date:	2007-06-08 09:02
Subject:	Soon, I promise
Security:	Public
Mood:	working

Silken Aurora will be moving to http://bssm.deep-ice.com/ soon. Go there now to see what to look forward to.

I have a dilemma, and I'd really appreciate your input.

I am going to a college that I am unhappy with. It is too small, single-sex, and doesn't offer a lot of the programs--like Latin and athletic band--that I would like to be invovled with. I would really like to transfer, but since I would be transferring as a senior and not as a junior it would put me a year behind.

So my question is, is it worth graduating a year late? Would that hurt me in terms of applying for grad schools and such? Or should I suck it up and push my way through two more years here?

Kotono has completely fallen for her best friend. She will give details later if anyone is interested.

Date:	2006-12-03 16:59
Subject:	There you'll be...
Security:	Public
Mood:	wtf?
Music:	"There You'll Be," Faith Hill

I haven't checked my yahoo mail account in ages because my websites have been down, but on a whim I decided to log in to jovianprincess@yahoo.com and see if I had any messages. I was bombarded by a slew of myspace friend requests and messages. Here's the thing: I don't have a myspace account registered to that email address. I went to the myspace website and requested the password for "my" account. When I received it I logged in and saw this, a simple page with Faith Hill's "There You'll Be." The messages crowding the inbox said things like "i lke ur song can u make it so it plyas on m page plz????" and "your song won't go on my page can you make it so that it goes on my page?"

I haven't decided what to do about it yet. I'll probably just delete the account. Any ideas?

Date:	2006-09-18 19:32
Subject:	First loves die hard.
Security:	Public
Mood:	completely in love
Music:	"The Mummers' Dance," Loreena McKennitt

I have recently begun reading the Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon manga (via Alex Glover), and I have come to a few realizations. First, I must confess that the only real exposure I have had to the series is the North American Dub and a few English manga. What I have found by getting to the core of Takeuchi's storytelling amazes me.

One: I realize how deep a character Chiba Mamoru truly is. I had never liked his character: he seemed too much the cookie-cutter clueless prince. Glimpsing him in the original manga has altered my opinion of him significantly. Takeuchi plays off his mystery so much more seamlessly and intriguingly. He is much more clever, and one has an easier time empathizing with him in the manga.

Two: The story is much more complex than I had thought (and I'd always given it credit for being pleasantly complicated). There is so much room for a fan's imagination in Takeuchi's stories. Hardly anything is passed off as creative lisence: most things have histories, and evern if not explicitly stated, Takeuchi points her readers' minds to possible theories.

I know you're thinking that I must be either lazy or careless or a plagiarist: I have striven to build one of the most comprehensive Sailorjupiter shrines on the internet, and I have not even gotten through the entire series. I can assure you I am none of the above (well, perhaps lazy). Looking back I can't believe I put together Emerald Star without first-hand knowledge of the manga (I did my research, though, which included reading as many episode summaries and analyses as I could get my hands on). I have already begun incorporating things I'm learning into my existing articles.

I have only finished the first two volumes, so beware of more speculation in future livejournal posts.

On the plus side, reading the manga is reviving my love for Kino Makoto, which will hasten the revamp of Emerald Star.

Date:	2006-08-13 08:56
Subject:	Just felt I should keep you updated...
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

Progress has been slow because I can't focus on any one task. I'll finish a page for Emerald Star then get an idea for Crimson Mysteria. I didn't think I'd be adding anything new to my sites, but I keep getting new ideas (particularly for Ace of Hearts).

So keep faith that I am working on the resurrection!

Date:	2006-07-26 21:33
Subject:	Anatomy of a Revamp
Security:	Public
Mood:	geeky
Music:	"The Masked Marvel," George Winston

Okay, so here's the deal: Kotono is trying to get back on her internet-feet. Yes, I know some of you are saying "Yeah, sure, we've heard that before," but this time I mean it. Really.

First, I feel I owe you an explanation of what happened: Except for the wonderful Serene I have not had very pleasant hosting experiences. I suppose much of this is my fault because I was rarely friends with my hosts--we assumed a strictly host-hostee relationship. The bottom line is my hosts let their domains expire without alerting me. I decided to check up on a few things one day to find "This domain is for sale!" pages where my brainchildren used to dwell. It is every webmaster's nightmare. I had backed-up all my writings on disk, but I had not saved many of the layouts. I was able to recover a few on The Way Back Machine, but most are hopelessly lost.

The fact that I still have all my essays and criticisms is very promising (if I had lost those I wouldn't even think of rebuilding anything). There are, however, some things that will not come back and some that will come back without revamp. I have decided to relaunch everything on FateBack (yes, I know the adds are annoying, but they are a small price to pay for full control of my websites). A few of my sites (like Emerald Star and Wings of Awakening) are still up and running, but I have not decided yet whether to leave them as they are or move them to free hosting.

I plan on giving only my most beloved sites revamps. If time permits I would love to do them all, but I do not have the energy or motivation to take on that project quite yet.

Here's what's going down:

Revamp:
Paper Cranes
Emerald Star
Crimson Mysteria
Ace of Hearts

New layout:
Silken Aurora
The Orchids
Wings of Awakening
Azure Rains

Relaunch but keep as it was:
Kaze Midori
Far From Heaven

Will not come back (for time being):
Flaming Eyebrows
Blade of Healing
Apparition
In Demons' Arms
Unrequited
Sparkle and Fade

I do have a few new sites planned as well (they are not technically new, I suppose--I began work on them long ago and I would like to finish them).

I would greatly appreciate any feedback + love you could give me. I hope all are doing well, and it's good to be back!

Serene is the best hostess ever. Period. Thank you so much helping get Emerald Star back. (Go visit it at its new home!)

I have not disappeared forever, but the end of senior year is approaching and I am trying to hold on until summer. College will mean immense freedom. For those of you who don't know, anime is taboo in my household and that makes maintaining my websites very difficult. But I will be back. I promise.

Everything I hope to make of my dead sites is here. Just in case you were curious.

As much as I love to blog, I am way too tired to go back and reinstall everything I lost, so for now I'm planning on livejournaling exclusively. Nightingale might come back.

I spent a lot of time backing things up on geocities, namely Ace and Rain. My BSSM collective's host just expired (absolutely NO warning), which adds to the hard work I've lost. My fanlistings are the things causing me major grief right now, because I risk being taken off the fanlistings list. My Kaitou Ace fanlisting has already been given to a new owner (sob), but I plan on bringing Unrequited back anyways (it was MINE first).

Anyways, life outside the web has been looking much brighter. I spent a weekend at Converse College auditioning, and the flute professor said he was very impressed! :D Five more months until college! I can't wait.

Hi kids! It's been forever since I've posted at this journal (or my weblog for that matter). I might fill you in on the rollercoaster of my life later, but for now just know it has been full of twists and turns.

The main reason I am posting is to give much needed updates on my dying websites. Here it is in a nutshell: computer contracted virus, virus leeched onto files, computer died, starting over with zip. I have lost all my new layouts, ftp info, brushes, templates. Gone. I am currently going through old floppies and webarchive.org to salvage as much material as I can. (For reference, I will be uploading mirror sites on geocities just in case something like this ever happens again.)

I plan on coming back, but please be patient. Thank you.

Date:	2004-03-27 23:23
Subject:	Shopping!
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

I am an odd girl: shopping is an activity I rarely engage in. But when I found I only owned two pairs of jeans and one pair of shorts, I knew a shopping trip was in order. I spent today at the mall with my friend Liz. It was long and painful, but I did end up with a few really cute shirts and capris.

This morning I came across a bunch of garage sales while running my workout for track. Usually I wouldn't glance twice at a garage sale, but the three huge boxes of records laying in one woman's driveway pulled me near. I ended up buying and Eagles record and a Foreigner record for about two bucks. Sweet. Had I a record player I would definitely be listening to them, but for right now they make pretty good wall art. I'm on the lookout for cheap record players.

Date:	2004-03-21 16:49
Subject:	Music is the Soul
Security:	Public
Mood:	okay

Spent all day yesterday practicing my guitar before heading over to Liz's for a hot tub extravaganza. My fingers were killing me, but I know a few more chords now. God, I love that piece of wood and metal. A local guitar shop is having a spring sale and I plan on stocking up the sheet music. Must get money first, though. I applied to a music dealer, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

I was introduced to the newest resident at my house today. Her name is Isabel, and she's a nine-week-old, one-pound beagle/rat terrier mix. My mom finally caved in and let my sister and I get a dog! :D She is the sweetest puppy! My sister and I spent all afternoon rearranging our kitchen to accommodate her kennel, etc. I can't wait till she gets old enough to jump in bed with me.

AHHHHH!

At home on a school day once again. Not because I'm badass, though. I have to get three shots in a few minutes. Blech. It sucks having a sore arm at the first track meet.

School is closed yet again due to more snow. Sheesh! When will it ever stop? Anywho, getting together with a couple band kids to go sledding and hot-tubbing.

It started snowing at about 7:30 this morning. By the end of second period four inches of soft, white snow lay on the ground. School ended three hours early. XD I'm lucky because I didn't finish a paper that was due third period. Saved by weather!

Today might as well have been Valentine's Day. Everyone brought flowers and candy to their sweethearts at school. My friend Laura gave me a yellow rose for friendship.

I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a couple books, and I found a soundtrack of all the James Bond theme songs. Rock on! I've listened to "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever" at least twenty times already. I would love to be able to sing "Diamonds" at a concert next year. It's so sleezy and jazzy. I just love it! It will definitely be what plays in my car from now on.

School is on crack. The amount of reading I have to do for AP Environmental Science is about to drive me nuts. Being the world's biggest procrastinator doesn't help either.

I began another essay in math today. I am in the wrong math class this year. I should be in Honors Pre-calculus, but due to a schedule mix-up I'm in regular Algebra III. I have a 98 average in that class. It's incredibly boring. I sit next to the window, though, so at least I get writing inspiration.

My friend and I vowed to take AP Chemistry together next year. Wish us luck, it was voted the hardest class offered at my school. Yes, we're on crack, but learning is fun.