Above all else, take a look at this link: Relief for victims of Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy. Thank you to baliwnababae for posting the original entry, and to asherfoxx for linking to it.

ETA: Read this article. It's not often that one reads about individual acts of heroism like that, and it's all the more honorable to me in part because of my current studies (i.e., atrocities committed by Allied and Japanese soldiers in Asia and the Pacific Theater).



That's from Alexander Blok's "Девушка пела в церковном хоре..." or "The Girl was Singing in a Church Choir." He's one of my favorite poets--we recited some of his poems in Russian class last year. (I'm not sure if the translations on that website are accurate, though. That one line, "About the weary abroad, far away," looks like it should be "About all the weary on the edges of a foreign land," but what do I know about poetry?)

Anyway! kencana_kencana tagged me for this meme.

1 - If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
2 - Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you. In short: OBEY. NO TAG BACKS! XD

You're walking in a dimly-lit wood. You see before you three paths: a path that looks like it leads out of the wood, a thin path that twists and turns out of sight, and a path marked with signs in a foreign language. Which path do you take?
I'd take the second path, myself.

What's one of the strangest things that has ever happened to you?
It's not one of the strangest things, but I would have a hard time typing out the more bizarre incidents of my life. Setting that aside: one morning before I left for high school, a little bird flew so close to me that its wing nearly clipped my face.

What kind of magazines do you read?
Well, I like to read The New Yorker and National Geographic; other than that, most of the "magazines" I read are academic journals. (One of these days, I'd like to pick one up and read it for fun, rather than for research. :/)

If you could see one band in concert right now, any band, dead or alive, which would it be?
Unfortunately, I can't think of any.

What's really creepy?
A lot of things: the shadow formed by the lamp and the fire alarm on my ceiling at night, sleeping in a strange place, Yuuko/Watanuki, meeting someone I don't know who claims to recognize me, and persistent moths.

Name one odd item within five feet of you.
A 300ml Florence Flask with flowers in it.

What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
Smoked cheese.

Where would you like to go right now if you had enough money?
That's a good question...I'd love to go to Russia, especially St. Petersburg or Veliky Novgorod, but I'd also love to go to Scotland.

What are you most excited for?
The end of this semester, the end of xxxHOLiC and TRC, the Russian Summer Language School at Middlebury (provided I get accepted again and actually get some financial aid this time), my parents coming up to see me...I'm excited for a lot of things.

What websites do you always visit when you go online?
Livejournal, my email account, Random Curiosity, The New Yorker website, and The New York Times website.

What was the last thing you bought?
A box of Triscuits. I know, my spending habits are remarkable!

What's you favorite season?
Autumn, followed by the Spring.

Does the weather affect your mood?
It most certainly does. For example, there's been a sudden onset of high winds and cold temperatures here; I've avoided going out to dinner, and as a result I've had nothing but Triscuits to eat, so I'm not in the best of spirits. I would have cooked some pasta, but it's too late now.

More seriously, though, the weather can have a great effect on my mood.

What is your zodiac sign?
Pisces, according to sidereal astrology. I could go into the Chinese zodiac, but that would take a while (and, considering my views of astrology in general, wouldn't be worth it).

Do you want to learn another language?
Yes! I'm studying Russian right now, and I'm hoping to take up Mandarin next year. Depending on my progress, I might be able to study Japanese in graduate school.

5 things (not people) you can't live without?
Oxygen, water, food, my family, and literature as a whole.

Do you have any siblings?
I have an older brother and a (younger) twin sister.

What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations.

What's your earliest memory?
One of my earliest memories is of a nightmare I had when I was around three years old.

And now I will tag jlarinda, technophile, asherfoxx, vegetas, mairenn_k, lavender88, countersparking, and la_vie_noire (provided they all have the time and the interest).



On a decidedly more minor note, I think I'll postpone writing about TRC until the epilogue is released next week.