shattered glass

and so // never again

2009-11-30T10:53:38Z

In which I freak out over the fact that it's almost the end of the year. ~~Since when...~~ I... cannot really remember much of what I did the whole time. Aside from playing hours and hours of games and drawing/writing when I had better things to do.

I don't know; there's still a month left. So, some random writing:

amusement

knew

hypothetical

smashingly

kidding

Since I never write anything in Kazune's point of view, I have no idea how/if I'll be adding this scene in. Karin probably runs into Jin after escaping anyway, so yeah. In any case, I was rather amused by the images in my head, and since I have nothing else to show...

~~Why is December here~? D:~~

all the way to france

2009-11-12T08:18:57Z

Because. I was watching Chaser dvd extras, and the very first extended scene was for this:
(Guess it's sort of long, but totally worth it. If you find a guy wearing a suit and helmet trying to get free rides amusing XD)

...

Hm... have another random video.

The many ways I kill time. When I should be doing other things. Huh.

useless posts just keep piling up

2009-10-26T10:57:42Z

Lots of rain today. And yesterday. ~~askljlakj why can't you just rain over the dams or whatever? OTL~~ Also spent the majority of today doing very little productive, having already completed the required work and... yeah.

what is this... I don't even... what. Just... akljslak *dies*

[ and some random reference-less Kazusa 'cause I can ] I keep telling myself to draw more KcK fanart, but, uh... clearly I'm not doing it.

Hrm... I was probably going to say a whole load of other semi-useless things ~~like leveling up in Parasite Eve is a pain, but she asl;dkl that boss battle irritated me D: I also need to get a haircut at some point~~, but I've forgotten now, more or less. Though staring at numbers and the computer almost constantly really isn't a good thing and my poor eyes...

So have some random linking to a video instead: [ Starduster PV - Hatsune Miku ] *is such a Vocaloid fangirl orz*

Progress - 11.10.09

2009-10-11T11:29:27Z

Progress? What? There is very little of that, as of late. And it seems rather pointless to keep telling myself to do things when I don't actually do them. *headwalls*

Anyway, a while back I dumped some unfinished writing here because I actually really liked them. Despite the fact they were, obviously, incomplete (and the chances of them being complete weren't very high).

Then I dug up some other things I didn't mind showing, but with the font size of my journal being rather small... well, you know. Seemed sort of mean/painful to dump it here (my project journal has pretty small font too, and I dumped a lot of text in my last post as well, so ._.)

Since I'm weird, I didn't want to put it in my writing journal, since they weren't complete, so I wasted time to create another place to dump my random writing/art/stuff/crack/etc (text size only being marginally better, because I am stupid). Although chances are I'll forget about it in a while. Anyway, what I wanted to show in the first place, for whatever reason:

[ KcK // random AU. Cliches are cliche? I was amused, at least ] There's also a small Hetalia-fanfic fragment at the end. ~~Australia likes to throw koalas at people. That's all.~~

Pfft, this post is so useless. As always. Uh, take a look at this video instead? ~~Sort of makes me wish I'd learnt how to play a musical instrument.~~

Also, killed a mutant dinosaur earlier today. I feel accomplished.

runs

2009-10-01T12:13:53Z

FREEDOM. ~~*metaphorically torches building*~~

So. Two week break, in which I may or may not attempt to get other things done. And realise I've got a backlog of things I keep forgetting about (or just don't want to remember).

As usual, I got distracted during class:

~~I am so proud of myself, which is sort of sad, when you think about it.~~ Now I want to draw other characters with randomly-shaped balloons. It'll be awesome.

she didn't like that song of yours

2009-09-27T11:28:25Z

This is me attempting to get out of my semi-art!block/slump/whatever. ~~This is me kind of sort of failing. Maybe.~~

Wednesday's dust storm. Sort of wish I'd had the mind to do it on the day. Ah well.

LOLWHAT *shot'd*

Must get out of this semi-rut and do... things. I don't know what, but it's actually pretty frustrating right now. OTL

... ha.

2009-09-13T12:43:20Z

Feel free to ignore this post. I'm just pretending that I have nothing better to do right now.

...

I love my original characters. They say some of the strangest things, and I have no real idea as to why. And it's so much fun to read back later and realise I've mistyped a whole load of things.

Just discovered something

2009-09-05T12:23:23Z

... I'm actually pretty tired. Oh wait-

Anyway, meme taken from meg_inatree.

Chose a fandom from the list below, and if you want, some characters as well. Then pick a prompt from one of these three websites; fml.com, mlia.com or tfln.com (FMyLife, MyLifeIsAverage and TextFromLastNight) and I will write you a drabble concerning that prompt and characters.

In return, post in your journal.

Fandoms:

Kamichama Karin (+chu~), Axis Powers Hetalia, Lux-Pain, Pandora Hearts, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, Rune Factory (1 & 2), Pita-Ten, Monochrome Factor, The World Ends With You, Lost in Blue 2, Riviera: The Promised Land, Rozen Maiden, Lagoon Engine, DNAngel, Golden Sun, etc

fff I've only written for some of the fandoms listed. IDK just spread it round? Also, it might be nice to just write some drabbles, in my case, since I'm failing to do much else.

this post is useless. no, really.

2009-09-01T12:17:28Z

Spring is here~ ~~Where'd all the time go?~~ Yes, random post is random. And I'm just trying to distract myself from other things. Possibly.

[ Kate~ ] I do not draw enough of my original characters. Seriously.

[ Himeka, Kirio & Miyon ] ... I actually intended to add more, but I sort of died due to the last pic.

[ Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong (+China, Japan, Thailand & Korea) ] I hate my scanner. And need to re-educate myself on colouring traditionally. Anyway.

I need to stop re-watching The Chaser as well (seriously; Ad Road Test, If Life Were a Musical, What Have We Learnt From A Current Affairs...) 'cause you haven't heard anything until you've heard this.

/random

Progress - 24.08.09

2009-08-24T12:08:12Z

*changes a whole load of things to journal to scare random people off*

Weather... why so strange today? ._. Other than that... OTL I've done next to nothing in terms of things I'd planned on doing. Makes you wonder why I bother making these posts, don't you think?

Requests: *dies* Will get to that when my brain isn't mush/I have the heart to continue. Because doing it in a half-hearted manner will only lead to disaster.

But of course, ~~all~~ most of my focus is on Hetalia right now, so~ yeah. My mad photo skillz, for one (I was bored, y/y? It's going to look like everything I do, anyway.) Also, loads and loads of crack, since I can ~~and it's more or less meg_inatree's fault~~. Because this post is more useless than it should be, I'm linking some videos of crack!ideas on mind (actually, you can ignore the notes to self, and just have a laugh. Hopefully):

- Taking world famous landmarks and claiming them to be Australian.
- The only horse resistant to horse flu: the pantomime horse. (... America and Canada would totally make up the pantomime horse, that’s the only reason why.)
- Alternative childcare. (Because seeing Australia trying that with Sealand is just awesome.)
- Revolutionising: the French way. With an Australian mentality.

Also, for whatever reason, I'm trying to make a Hetalia video with this song (Japan-centric, possibly implied Japan→China, Greece+Japan, etc. They're not all that important though). Since I'm using Windows Movie Maker, I'm severely limited ~~no zoom/panning option? OTL~~, but have a random image anyway (it still needs to be coloured).

~~Yes. As the days go by, I will keep being fail-tastic.~~

emoooooooo-tastic

2009-08-17T11:54:59Z

Because while the lessons aren't bad ~~incredibly boring at times, but that's business for you~~, some of the people in the class are... really, really loud. And have a tendency not to listen to the teacher at all, etc etc. Hrrrrnnngghhh I can't bring myself to complain out loud, after all ._.

So, to distract myself, I doodle/draw/whatever.

[ have some asians ] I obviously have no grasp of height/age differences ~~and I'm planning something semi-suicidal with this, but anyway~~; aside from really obvious screw-ups, I have no idea about Thailand's outfit... OTL

i are feeling random tonight-

2009-08-13T12:45:08Z

So. Last night I was messing around with this random title generator ~~and completely and utterly failing to do anything on my list of things to do; I haven't touched it for a couple of days, actually. Argh.~~

Then this came up (amongst many other amusing suggested titles):

Pastel Yakuza Vampires

...

Yes. ~~I want some pastel vampires now. It'd be amusing.~~

It also came up with Passionate Train Letter, which I might actually use, so I guess I got something out of it. And in other news; my original characters got themselves a shiny new journal layout for some reason (I keep thinking their lives are more interesting than mine, but that's obviously a lie ~~... right? right)~~.

measuring insanity; one day at a time

2009-08-03T11:46:19Z

So. Have some pics. Just because. x4 Kamichama Karin chu- ~~(LOL improvement)~~ and x1 Hetalia

[Jin, Michiru & cats] ...technically, this is your fault icki_akki :) Man, it's been so long since I drew them.

[Kiro & Miyon] because I have to counteract the gay somehow ;) I hadn't even realised how much I've missed drawing them~ ♥♥♥ Man, I really hate the girl's uniforms; I mean, those skirts D:

[Michiru, Shingen, Rika & Jin] lol I have no idea? ~~BFF AMIRITE?~~

[Kazusa] white space filler doodle~

[Liechtenstein & Switzerland] Once again, counteracting gay ~~because I've been doing far too much GreeceJapan and it was turning my brain into mush ♥~~. Actually coloured it, but, uh, you're lucky enough to get the original. Or something.

I seriously need to find better things to do with my time ~~although for some reason today, the water in my bottle tasted a little like metal D: maybe I need a new bottle or something, since we just refill them over and over again.~~

brb staring at self

2009-07-28T11:34:04Z

So, for whatever reason ~~and feeling forever guilty about never managing to complete that KirioxMiyon fic I meant to do however far back it was OTL~~ I went off and began digging through all my files and semi-complete word documents. And noticing that the majority is Kamichama Karin stuff seriously, so many folders there... I was actually looking for a Kiriyon drabble I did (this one, and I found it) as I realised I use the same general idea over and over again. lol yeah I'm attempting to write some Kamichama fic because I can

But, anyway, digging through numerous word documents with very little memory of my crazed ideas and realising... well, I have no idea what I realised. But since it'll never make it to the internet at the rate they're going ~~and since I've more or less forgotten which direction they were going in the first place~~ I'm tossing some out here.

ha... OTL They're all AU, by the way.

------

first up:

Jin stared at the ring in his hand – a shade of yellow bordering on a tinge of gold with an inconvenient design he thought unnecessary – before he glanced back up. With a nod, Kirihito returned to his notes.

“I-I’m supposed to do what?” the young teen finally managed to splutter. His mind tried to wrap around the concept and the strange ring, as he received a frown in response.

“As I said, go and find a way to break the curse on that thing.”

“But what curse?” Jin asked, exasperated, “You haven’t given me any details about this at all.”

Kirihito sighed; “That is something for you to figure out on your own, Jin. Kujyou’s brat will, no doubt, give you a garbled version of events, but-” he raised a hand to keep back interruption, “-I am almost certain my own words are just as false. A difficult web of lies may truly lie behind that single object, and I do not want to become part of the problem more so than I already am.

“Besides, one other of your travelling companions is bound to shed more light on the individual involved.”

Turning the ring in his hand, Jin shook his head slowly. All of this, complete and utter madness. I was forced to cancel a tour for this? “Someone’s actually a victim to this thing?”

------

Note: ... for some reason, the idea of Michiru more or less being in Jin's head was amusing to me, which was the idea here. Somewhere. ~~You know, Michiru's in some sort of coma and the ring is evil, etc etc.~~ It only has 200 more words after this, and then I forgot all about it.

------

and second we have:

Let me set the scene: three dead, one survivor, one gun, and one shooter. The question is, who shot and why?

There was a scuffle and a muffled shout of surprise, as a pair (a boy and a girl) found themselves in an unwanted situation.

Without another thought, Kirika’s foot shot out and connected with her twin’s shoulder; he promptly fell back into a pile of boxes with a resounding crash (if Rika had been able to face the evils of too much dust, she would have been incredibly amused with Kirio’s rather ungraceful descent). As he tried to extract himself from the mess, Kirika scrabbled for the window latch, so as to open the single window present in their attic.

As a thankful gust of air entered and began to rid of the strange, stale atmosphere that fell from ten to seventeen years of being undisturbed, she turned back to face her twin, who merely glared back. His glasses remained lopsided, and Kirika grinned at his current state.

“Sorry about that.” Although, admittedly, she didn’t sound the least bit sorry.

“Apology not accepted,” Kirio grumbled, as he accepted her offer to help him up. “I told you to wait a minute, and I did not want to be kicked into a pile of boxes.”

She dusted herself off flippantly and turned back to the pile of papers and boxes they had been commanded to attend to. “Well, nii-san, that’s from a male’s perspective of the situation. Family or not – twins or not – I’d rather not be groped by you, as good-looking as you are.”

Kirio spluttered in a mixture of indignation and embarrassment, as Kirika crouched to get a better look at what they had to shift through; “You know that wasn’t what happened!”

------

Note: The first part (in italics) is actually spiraling_sins' words from an old Kamichama fic I can no longer actually recall ~~if I'm wrong... then I'm just an idiot~~. I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of making something out of it, and this was supposed to be it. Er, didn't even finish the first part properly. I'm just thoroughly amused with the twin's interactions here ~~but that might be my mind acting immature, amongst other things~~.

------

and to finish up:

“That still doesn’t explain why you were out here, in the middle of nowhere.” His voice cut through the crackling of twigs, and he glared at the girl. She remained huddled by the small fire, cloak wrapped tightly around her frame; never once did she turn to face him.

She shivered a little, and poked the flames with a stick, sending wayward sparks into the air; “Can’t a girl do what she wants now?” Her voice was sullen, daring him to continue on the particular train of thought. But he didn’t care about the consequences, and ploughed on regardless.

“Yes, she can do whatever she wants; but not if she can’t even defend herself, and especially not if she doesn’t know, where in Hades’ realm it is she’s actually going,” he snapped, as he pushed stray strands of blond hair out of the way. “Thick-headed women need to realise that they can’t do everything they think they can and—”

“Shut it, Kujyou, or I swear I won’t hesitate to stab.” She meant it.

And as much as he hated it, he knew it would be best to do as she said: it wasn’t just because she currently had a dagger poking him in the stomach. Satisfied that he would drop the subject, the curly-haired girl flopped back into her crouched position and continued to warm her hands.

------

Note: The idea of Ami threatening Kazune was something I had to write, apparently. The whole story was going to be mad, mindless running around, but... uh, you know.

------

Alright, I'll shut up now. Maybe work on the Lux Pain prompts I have, and the other stuff I have lying around right now.

dies

2009-07-20T12:42:59Z

Pfft, it's supposed to be kid!Greece with Japan, but I think I failed. Ah well.

I really should stop doodling in my text/workbook (although that didn't stop me from doing that earlier this year... I was bored). ~~First days really are killers, but that might have been because I kept almost falling asleep. It's going to be a fabulous second half of the year, I'm sure.~~

*goes off to die again*

so ttly random

2009-07-17T12:02:23Z

... I hate filling out forms.
And because of that my OCs are annoyed at me. I think.

OTL ~~pfft so obvious I have no life~~

Also... I should be doing things. But I'm not. I don't even know why D: Will definitely be attempting to put more focus on the prompts I've already received, but other than that... -goesofftodie-

lack of sanity is worrying

2009-07-09T11:56:56Z

Hrm, should probably focus on the requests I've received ~~what? Use my brain? Never~~ which is what I'm kind of, sort of doing. Sort of.

OTL Visual novel currently at a stand-still because I'm lazy/stupid/etc. Need to stop getting distracted with that as well and get working on it.

But mostly, I'm a little worried about how my original characters live their life. Maybe giving them their own livejounrnal was a mistake (even though it was created about two years back now).

I have no idea why the first thing they say to me is cannon fodder. In all caps. Like, what? Then they get talking about my social life, or lack thereof.

Uhm. Very, very worried. About my lack of sanity, anyway.

and then the child cries, as there is nothing left in this world

2009-07-05T13:17:04Z

Taking requests. Why? Because I~~’m a) insane b) stupid c) spontaneous d) stupid e) all of the aforementioned and then some~~ can. And it’s not like I have a million other things that need to be completed, after all -coughs- Time to dig myself another grave >_>

Also, chances are I’ll never get any of them done anyway (who knows, I might get inspired) so, uh… yeah. Moving on.

Open to the following communities: hetalia, kamichama_karin & lux_pain. Will also do stuff for Golden Sun. ~~go figure~~
List may change over time, but… probably not.

Just leave a comment with the following:

Series:
Characters/Pairings:
Prompt:
Fanfic or fanart:
Rating:
Other:

lol Read this, please? Just to clarify~

[series] Self-explanatory, really. ~~which series is it from exactly? XD~~

[characters/pairings] Again, I think it’s a little obvious. Naturally, you don’t need to make it a pairing request (and really, my definition of ‘pairings’ is a little… er, nonexistent? But I’ll work with it.)

[prompt] Basically what you want me to work with, I guess :) Don’t ask for anything sex-related, please. Obvious reasons are obvious, of course, but just to make that clear. sorry.

[fanfic or fanart] One or the other, or just say either (which means I choose which I’d prefer to work the prompt with). Examples of my writing can be seen over here, while fanart… uh, I suppose you can take a look at my livejournal scraps or dA account (you might’ve already seen work by me anyway). ~~Pfft, I’ve only been doing Hetalia fanart as of late~ and still can’t draw backgrounds to save my life…~~
I will not be taking fanart requests for Lux-Pain at this point and time. I think my brain would explode if I tried (and who knows, I might).

[rating] This. Uh, just for the record, I don’t really go over PG 13+, solely because I can’t. The only reason anything would even touch upon the mature rating would be because of possible psychological themes ~~and overuse of violence, but even then it’s pretty tame~~. maybe it's sort of pointless to have this here, then? OTL

[other] Uh… other? Clarifying, something, etc. etc. I don’t even know why I placed this option in the first place anymore.

Go nuts. Request as many times as you want (as I said, chances are I’ll never get around to doing it, unless we’re all really lucky or I get a burst of inspiration) and… just remember I have a hell of a load of limitations ~~AHAHAHAHAHAOTL~~

Also… don’t ask for anything psychotic? I don’t really need people’s prompts to write ~~emo-fests~~ those sorts of things; I seem to be doing that well enough already. -shrugs- Unless, of course, it’s for Lux-Pain, which uses dark themes the whole way – be a little psychotic there, if you want.

… a part of me reads this entire post and believes it sounds like I’m whining OTL And it was longer than I thought -dies-

Progress - 16.06.09

2009-06-16T13:50:21Z

... more like notes to self ~~which I will then ignore~~ of what I've got floating around and really should finish. Maybe.

- Kamichama Karin chu-: ... well, yeah. Mostly, I really should attempt to finish Whispers in the Dark (Ami~ also, vampires. hrm...) and maybe Collision (the highschool AU is really cliche, but I was hoping the characters would push the story along, more than anything). I also sort of want to explore the psychological effects on the characters if they'd remembered what had happened in chu- before time was turned back (the scanlations indicated they all forgot, I think... I only skimmed it, really.) Hrm, well, whatever.

- Lux-Pain fanfiction. I actually really did mean to write more, but haven't gone around to doing it >_> ~~The whole thing is, like, an angst pool, and that's pretty much all I write.~~

- Original work. Pretty much anything goes when it comes to that.

- Actually, I need to go back to slaving over my visual novel OTL I keep getting distracted. I knew this was going to happen ;_; Guess I should just keep chipping away at it, and hopefully I'll get another burst of inspiration and push on.

But, more than anything, I'm a little worried about how my characters interact with each other. You know... something like this (warning: Chandra's mouth, also large text and something like a conversation in the subject box of their comments) They've never been so... vocal before. Mostly because I didn't think it necessary back when I created the journal, and I was too lazy.

And now... well, I guess I'm wondering how long I can keep up this one-person conversation until I get bored again, and they take a back seat in my head (why they were brought to my attention even though I haven't worked on their story at all... I have no idea).
</random>

my insanity trumps yours

2009-06-08T13:27:41Z

Although not really, since it's more... apathy. Just... can't do anything OTL That, and I think I've been using capslock far too much as of late ~~although more to myself, or when one of my characters decide to crawl out of my head and attempt to bring life back to an old, forgotten journal I made years ago.~~

And, uh, I'm trying to type. Fanfiction and original stuff. But everything sucks, or isn't really all that good. Semi-writer's block? I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too hard on the matter, although there are a load of things I had planned but never finished >_>

But this is probably why I shouldn't let things type themselves out (which is actually how everything I write ends up being done ~~SO THAT'S WHY I FAIL IN LIFE~~ OTL) lol Hetalia fanfic extract:

“Yao-!” Yong Soo bellowed from within school grounds, earning a what?! in reply, “Alfred just said he’s declared war on Korea! You’re going to support me, right?”

Yao gaped wordlessly for a moment, and it was near impossible not to feel the indignation build up to exploding point; “He what?! That’s it, if the only way to teach him a lesson is to cause bodily harm, I’ll-”

“I’ve already got Hong Kong and Vietnam fighting for us as well-” the Korean chimed as Yao stomped back onto school property and left Kiku on his own, although it wasn’t for long.

Uh... AU!fantasy!highschool!crack? (since the school they're apparently attending has students brandishing weapons and declaring faux-wars or whatever. Sadly, the school is also an old creation of mine, because normal schools are so boring~ or something.)

~~It also gives me the right to make characters OOC when I feel like it.~~ It started out as a fail!attempt to fill a prompt, but since it doesn't even really reach that point at all... I don't know. I'm just waiting it out to see where it goes.

Other than that, I think a small part of me fangirls over my own artwork a little too much when I believe I've done it right. (Really. I'm insanely proud of the first one for some reason.) And to finish off, this:

F-fanart practice of other characters? Can't draw animals or hands? ~~Not to mention the painfully gay background.~~ Yeah~

it's so random it's not funny

2009-05-16T13:54:24Z

LOOK, I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE. ~~My sanity no longer exists, you see.~~

I-it's China~ OTL

Thought process was something like this = RPGs are good → dungeon crawling is good (~~argh, I haven't even finished Etrian Odyssey yet~~) → Hetalia is crack → China would ttly be the ~~MEDICINE MAN~~ healer... um, maybe → I really do think healers should be allowed to run around with sharp weapons.

...

I GUESS IT DOESN'T HAVE TO MAKE SENSE THEN D: ~~Colour was a last-minute thing, and... uh... I don't know. It's sort of obvious at which point I gave up on that.~~

Just... uh... I SHOULD DO MORE PRODUCTIVE THINGS, DAMN IT.

Progress - 11.05.09

2009-05-11T12:40:51Z

~~NO, REALLY. WHAT PROGRESS?~~

Well, I'm still typing things, apparently. Although I really, really should get back to finishing at least a couple of the things I started OTL. I-I'm just so lazy, and lack any sense of determination.

Actually, there's only one real reason for me making this post. ~~I'M AN IDIOT, THAT'S WHAT.~~ Uh, yeah. Nothing really big, I spent a bit of time wondering if I should make a separate journal for my larger project-type thing to keep things here a little cleaner (as well as to prevent actual spamming of posts).

Then I re-realised how many rp journals I haven't touched in a lifetime, and decided to recycle it for this very purpose. frank_optimism.

Will probably end up filling it with random stuff, only to drop it and let it rot after a while :D In any case, it now exists as something actually kinda-sorta-useful (although I'll probably make progress reports on it every month or something... unless I forget, then whatever).

~~UGH, LIKE WHATEVER. I NEED TO GO BACK TO TYPING OR SOMETHING, Y'KNOW.~~

not so amazing discovery.

2009-03-30T10:31:50Z

Mostly because I was aware of it for ages, but for some reason I feel like mentioning it anyway. ~~Maybe just to reassure myself that I'm still here and breathing, or something.~~

My characters lack hormones.~~And brains, but that's sort of obvious, right?~~

That is to say, they don't really, truly care about romantic relationships. And when I write fanfiction, it's all generally platonic if anything. Ignoring how crazy the majority of my original characters are, and my plots have a tendency to make less sense than my brain on a bad day...

I'm not particularly worried, seeing as I'm not planning to write a romance anytime (if ever), but-but you know. It just seems a little weird when I look at it. Even when I do have characters in romantic relationships, they... don't really do anything romantic. They get along and stuff, but... er... I have no idea.

It's all a little strange.

ahahaha what

2008-12-25T12:26:02Z

Apathy totally ate my brain. That's the only excuse I have.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays~ ♪

Have old fanart/junk, because I've been that lazy. And struggling with my own writing lately, since I stopped for reasons I don't actually know anymore.

:P

2008-10-16T12:04:59Z

... XD

Yeah, I have nothing to actually say. ~~My scanner annoys me, though, but that's sort of beside the point.~~