( The first holiday request is under the cut! I'm sorry for the wait. )

Also, good news: my applications for graduate school are all finished, save for the one for Cornell! I'm glad that I can finally enjoy my break.

Here's hoping everyone is having a good winter or summer thus far!

This is something of a "state of the union" post for momoizumu. As for my state, my vitamin levels are now normal, my schoolwork is under control, and I got fourth place in that Russian competition. If I had only performed better on the "reading aloud" segment, I would have had a chance at making second: I scored fourth in that and second in both the poetry and monologue competitions. (What's strange is that the text I had to read aloud was apparently about Peter the Great's daily schedule, including his magnificent lunch of many different kinds of sausages and cheeses. At least my reading comprehension is all right?)

( It is so much easier to make previews than it is to make completed products. )

♠ If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new question.
♠ Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

( It is also much easier to fill out memes on the Internet. )

I'll tag mairenn_k, jlarinda, lavender88, lady_kikyou, vegetas, countersparking, baelheit, and ianthefira for this one.

( But wait, there's more! )

Hello, everyone! I have returned from my journey home, as well as from all of the surprises that met me when I came back to university (including daffodils, a hurried overview of the life and death of Ilya Muromets, the connections between Russian and Greek epics, an unexpected article in French, and a JSPS survey).¹

Special welcome to baelheit, ianthefira, and kaiyashe, whom I met in the Baten Kaitos thread in a "Small Fandoms" friending meme. If you added me to your friends list because of that meme, and I failed to add you back, please comment here so that I can go ahead and do so.

( A road to the dignified future. )

¹The research coordinator promised the participants a free Japanese handkerchief, retail value 15 USD, with the return of the surveys. They were even designed by a Living Natural Treasure! Wonderful!