Welcome to Gaia! ::

That's good that you'll have some work for awhile. If you can put off finding a car until your finances are more solid that would be good too. Me and my brother have been sharing my car since I moved home. His died back in Autumn before I came home, which ended up being my opening into "I'm going to stay in England," so they didn't waste money replacing his car. I won't need when when I move back to Europe. He probably won't take mine with him to Michigan (he's going to do his PhD at Michigan State starting next Fall as well) so he might look for something cheap or he might get by without one. Depends on how transportation is in Michigan State and if ever has to go very far from where he lives/campus. As Lansing is the capital though I feel he might be able to get by without a car, but we'll see. When you do get a car maintenance things are definitely things you want to look at. Working blinkers/speedometer is important. Working locks/windows preferable. However small maintenance things might be worth inquiring about. My mom likes her new (new to her, not new new) car however one thing she didn't know before she bought it is that it only can take a synthetic oil. This apparently costs $80 a gallon so oil changes are a bit of a higher expense than planned. So yea, definitely look into the care of the car and if the car you are getting is going to require financial care that might not be worth the car's price.

I feel YGO attracts angst, heh. Well should first worry about getting people in and then worry about anyone who can't keep personal drama under control. If there aren't a lot of people the dramatic usually fade, if there are they can usually people managed in group. One thing I did think about, not sure what kind of response it would merit but figured it's worth a shot, you could maybe send out a pm/notice or something to members already in the guild. Find out who is around Gaia, who is still interested in being part of the guild if it were more active, and see if anyone has any ideas about expanding. At the very least if a few people are still around who'd just be willing to chat with new people as they stream into the guild it would probably help. A lot of the people who've been added over the past year haven't had a lot of people to talk to. If they are looking for convo on things like card games or the other series I personally know I can't offer a great deal of conversation. If we can't find any old members who still want to play we can just go straight to finding new people, but I thought that might be a good first step.

My mom is from Michigan as well, though she's from Detroit not Lansing. I don't know that my mom hated Michigan but she's not very big on her family these days so haven't been there in over a decade. And awesome on the mechanic dad. My dad does some repair stuff because he has a lot of mechanic friends. It's why we've always gotten used cars really cheap and often pay mostly parts for labor. My dad and his friend spent a summer rebuilding an engine when I was a kid, and then spray painted it gold. I was so ashamed of that thing. xd But yea sounds like you are in good hands when you get around to replacing the car.

And yea I wasn't thinking of proposing an ask for help. Just to let members already in the guild know that hey we are trying to become more active again, anyone interested in returning to an active guild? And perhaps asking if anyone has ideas/suggestions for things they'd like to see/get out of the guild. That secondary point is also something that could maybe go into advertising/possible contest ideas. Coming up with themes for threads. Best way to find a membership is probably to find out what people would want out of a YGO guild and if that's something this guild can offer them.

I've never been to Chicago where my dad grew up but I went to Michigan when I was about 12-13. I also went to Ohio, that's where the majority of my dad's family lives now, hence why we went there instead of where he was born and raised. My dad is pretty formal with and doesn't talk to his family much though, and my mom had to finally cut ties with her family several years back because while she loves them (most of them anyhow) the relationships have always been unhealthy and abusive. So I doubt I'll go to any family places again anytime soon, if ever. Depending on how things go I might end up in MI to visit my bro, but we'll see. I'll have a hard enough time finding the money/free time to get to Cali over the next few years.

Anyhow I have finally watched TAS 55. Been exhausted the past couple of days for some weird reason but decided if I watched that I could at least update this if I can't get my brain to wrap around the RP. Anyhow I fairly enjoyed it, I always love fake Kaiba witticism. Although at the moment it's been so long since I've seen that arc in the series that I can't honestly decide if I feel if that's the funniest abridgment. It has very little of any of the actual duel in it, however that might be a good thing. I doubt I'll have time to give the main series a re-watch anytime soon but I eventually would like to. It's been awhile since I've indulged a YGO fix. Though I also kind of want to give one of the spin off series a shot. Shall see if I ever have a block of free time large enough to consider such things. There were several series I stopped in the middle of (such as Naruto, Ranma) and a few other series I'd like to check out more (such as FMA Brotherhood, Code Gease) that might take priority.

Meep!

I finally watched 58. And gorramit, it's been a while since I've done any YGO. So Jonouchi losing the duel because he very rudely and inconveniently became unconscious was hilarious to me, and Yami's 'wtf, how did me not paying attention make that happen?' was the cherry on the cake.

And then LK said "In a few hours the sun will rise" and it was like coming home.

So yeah.

I have been very poof this time, I should get some sort of going poof award! It's been pretty crap, my job starts at 6am, and Les Mis fandom has totally eaten my brain, but I missed you guys like woah, so I decided to get a pretext to come back and say hi.

Where said Brum was crap? I don't disagree, but I am. Interested.

I hate the sun. Hate it so much. Bleh. Enemy.

I've literally forgotten everything. Errm, YGO is the one with the ... things that... happen, right?

Good luck! Phd? Woah. We've all grown up so much <3

Hiiii Morgey! I adored the last episode. I felt the series kind of waned during the Noa Arc, but it got great immediately again once they restarted the tournament. And the Jounouchi vs Malik was one of my favorite duels/sets of episodes in the whole series, so that was double awesome.

And JK, California so doesn't have too much sun. It has like the perfect weather. Arizona has too much sun. I got a sun burn yesterday driving home with the tinted window rolled down because my car's air wasn't working.

Ohh, Les Mis~ Love that series, though I wouldn't say I'm immersed in the fandom. Really liked the novel when I read it years ago, and quite liked the newest movie. Hugh Jackman is yay. Though I'm mostly immersed in the Marvel fandom at the moment. Oh, and Supernatural. I finally started watching that, but am only on season five right now.

Kits - I'd say it usually has the perfect weather, but sometimes summer in some places can be a bit too hot in CA. Personally I prefer temperatures in the 70s (low 20s C), so the summers that creep into the 90s/100s are definitely too warm for me. I like sun when it's cool outside. Winter used to be my favourite season in CA because it had a lot of sun + cool breezes. In England it's more late Spring that I'm loving, sun + cool breezes. Rained tons last year apparently but this year hasn't been too bad (though way too much snow a few months ago).

Morgey - I do love a dramatic re-entrance. This is why I haven't seen the Les Mis film, as I haven't seen the musical/read the novel. My friend Morgan was a tad obsessed with it though and kept quoting it at me. Luckily I don't see him too much these days. razz Hopefully he's over that by now as well. When you say Mass Effect didn't end well, do you mean Mass Effect or your experience with Mass Effect? Either way I have not heard anything about it.

Brum does have museums, and theatres, and chocolate factories. Plus tons of other things, so yea it's hardly boring, I'm not sure what this survey included or what it expected. It's hardly the most exciting in Europe (or even in England), but it's a far cry from dull. You can probably travel to the sunny places, you'll just need to take a sun umbrella.

Hahaha, umm everything...okay. So my PhD is in English Literature. I'm looking at English literary canon-formation in the seventeenth century, attempting to piece together early modern contexts and mentalities about preserving literature in this period. So it's a bit of a historical and intellectual survey sampling a variety of texts to see how 'canons' were built before the term was actually applied to literature. I've just finished my provisional first chapter which is on canon-formation within commemorative texts (generally elegies, epitaphs and epigrams). People I've been looking at include Ben Jonson, Thomas Carew, Abraham Cowley, John Milton and Sir John Denham. Think that's mostly it in regards to my thesis directly at the moment. I've also got involved in public engagement projects, the first was within archives on campus, the next one will be longer term and involve working with the cultural sector in Birmingham (so see, not boring, we've got culture!). I've also organised 2 conferences this year (one happened in March the next will happen in June). One was with the postgraduate forum the Graduate Centre for Europe, the other is as an employee of the graduate school (so this one pays) and it's the annual research poster conference. I've also been invigilating this exam term which is SOOOOOOO boring, but I need money. Makes me wish I was taking exams though, at least I'd have something less dull to do with my time in those stuffy rooms. Most of the invigilators tend to be older non-students or international PhDs. Guess most British PhDs are probably funded (not much overseas funding) so they don't need to waste their time with such nonsense. At least the hours are good, I actually had to get them to take shifts away b/c I was pushing my visa limits. Think that's it for now, hoping I'll be able to teach in some respect next year, but guess we'll see how that goes next year. I have 2 and a bit years left (I started this past end of September). Hope that was enough of everything, it probably wasn't, I fail greatly. *hides in shame*. However, what have you been up to post-Brum, I assume you are post-Brum and not just hanging about here still?

Everyone - TAS has been going on for a long time, I wonder if LK will actually finish the whole series. I never saw one of the seasons, I think the Kaiba Grand Prix or whatever it was called. I couldn't find it subbed or dubbed (and my Japanese is not so good, nor is my German or Italian, b/c I could find it in those languages. I almost gave French a shot but decided nah). I guess if he gets there I'll give searching for a sub/dub another go. Actually atm watching it on this one site so hopefully it'll be there. Haven't looked much further ahead than the season I'm currently in though.

Love Supernatural! It used to be my favourite show. Recent seasons not so much although while I'm behind in season 8 it is starting to pick up for me again. The first 2 seasons have always been my favourite though. I just liked the case to case, brother bond nature that existed before things like apocalypses and purgatory and whatnot. That stuff is interesting in its own way but not what I originally loved about the show.

I am neither much of a DC or Marvel fan. I've seen the new Batman trilogy and like that, but that's about all I can say I like in terms of Batman. I've seen most of the new Marvel films minus the Hulk one (I've never seen any Hulk films, I found him a good character in the Avengers but I don't think he's a good stand alone character). I've enjoyed them enough but definitely can't say I fan over them. Will probably go see Iron Man 3 after the bf finishes exams, as well as the Star Trek sequel. Mostly though I'm just looking forward to more Hobbit. As annoyed as I was about the split into 3 movies I really enjoyed the first one.

Mkay, think that's enough of my dull rambles for now.

I enjoy cool and cloudy too, but after about 4-5 straight months of cool and cloudy with the only reprieve being freezing and grey I'm starting to definitely appreciate the sun a bit more. I still won't like it if it gets hot though, I can handle the heat but I don't like it. When I'm cold I can at least bundle up and cuddle people. When I'm warm there is only so much I can strip off and the inability to find comfort is unbearable. Plus AC is so expensive even in places where you do have it (and in the Bay it's not so common as it doesn't usually get hot enough to warrant the cost, in Davis we had it but couldn't afford to turn it on so we just slowly melted into the sofas and wished for death).

I've seen that the animated series exists, though as far as I can tell it is meant to follow the beginning of the show and then I'm not sure if it's meant to end, seriously remake the whole series as an anime (what's the point?) or if it'll go in a different direction. It's online, so I'd suggest maybe giving it a stream before committing to buying it as I can't say I've heard much about it barring it existing. There are books as well, which I haven't read but if I was going to branch from the series I'd branch there as books are more likely to either offer more character development or some new (and possibly good) material. Sam is my favourite character, and these days in part because he was originally my favourite. I really started to dislike Sam in season 4 and while I've liked him more since he's never been quite the same Sam I fell in love with. His grown, which in a developmental sense is good, but in many ways he also changed and I can't say I've ever loved that. I liked the dynamic b/w him and Dean, and I think what's frustrating about the change in it is Dean won't let it go but Sam clearly lives as if it's gone. So the interplay that existed between the two main characters that I always loved doesn't really exist anymore and I find that bothers me throughout the series. Seasons 1-5 are my favourite. Season 6 starts a new arc that I have to say is probably my least favourite as a whole, but season 8 is picking back up for me again finally, and seasons 6-7 do have their great moments/episodes, won't say more than that as you aren't there. Minor character wise I did really like blond Ruby (not brunette Ruby, totally knew she was evil, and the actress that plays her is Jared's (Sam) wife in real life, not that that is any reason to dislike her ;P ) and Bella, although first time around I really hated Bella. Once I knew how that'd all play out though I found myself enjoying her as a character though. Of course love Castiel and love Bobby. Like Sam, there are times I don't like Castiel. Also, I love Crowley, he's probably my favourite minor main character. I was not a big John fan either, but I did like the basic find dad/kill this demon/what's wrong with Sam overarching plot more than I liked the dire/dramatic/end of the world type arcs. It just gets to be a bit too much with everything being life/death/fate of mankind (which reminds me, I also love Death, Death and Crowley are my favourite minor characters). There's another reason I feel this way but again, you aren't far enough along yet for me to say. smile

Might watch The Incredible Hulk movie at some point, but not as likely. I've never liked Hulk and while in the Avengers I found I liked him more than I expected to I still couldn't see myself liking a film that revolved around his Hulk side. Especially as my assumption is that if he doesn't really learn how to work with it until the Avengers it's going to just be a depressing mess in a film that precedes that, but I suppose continuity is something I expect not something that always is there. I rather liked Thor, and Captain America is alright. To be fair of all the films I'd probably put Iron Man last (both of the 2 I've seen, though I think I enjoyed 2 more than 1). So I'm not necessarily expecting tons of enjoyment from Iron Man 3, but guess I'll see in a few weeks when bf finishes exams and we can go. I've enjoyed these films more than expected, I mean barring X-men I'm just not a big superhero fan. So I'm definitely the last person to go to for a review of Marvel, DC, etc etc.