I am done with everything for school!!!!!! All that's left is to wait for grades and hope I somehow didn't fuck it up & fail at the end.....and graduation itself, I suppose XD WHATEVER. I do feel significantly less stressed now that it's over~~~

Anyway, I did some stuff this past week, but the most important thing came from Pat browsing Craigslist free stuff: A PACHINKO MACHINE


We had to drive down to DC for it but it was so worth it!!!
uhhhh literally everything else has left my mind because of how fun and exciting this is :D We're probably gonna have to get more of the pachinko balls for it, cuz the guy giving it away only had so many left, but!!!!! It's awesome!!!!!

Pat called it "I can't believe we're getting an actual working pachinko machine because blorbo gave you good luck" and he's not really wrong, especially since it was the day after Rinne's birthday. He's always talking about going to pachinko parlors, and now we can play in our own home :D Very kind of him to share his birthday luck~

OH RIGHT YES I FORGOT THE OTHER BIG THING: We're going to Chicago this coming weekend!!!!! It's a sorta impromptu trip to celebrate my graduation, and we picked Chicago because 1) Liz & I have never been and 2) dual cicada emergence :D It was so cool to see brood X a few years back, but this is gonna be even moooooore.

We're heading out on Friday afternoon and stopping about halfway at whatever cheap motel we can find (probably in the middle of Ohio somewhere), because it's a 10+ hour drive :T I'm excited though!! I haven't been that far into the midwest since, uh, 2011???? The infamous Youmacon trip to Detroit~ We might take a detour up to Detroit on the way there or back, depending on how much time we have.

AHHHHH I JUST LOVE ROAD TRIPS!!!!

.........I don't know what it says about my life that this is the first time I've used "vacation" as a tag :T I don't think all the tags imported correctly from GJ...I think............

featuring her accidentally attempting to destroy my iTunes library
Anyway. I dropped one of my classes, because it fucking sucks and I don't technically need it. I just could not take going to screenwriting class anymore :T I also worked out the shit I need to do for my capstone portfolio, so I'm gonna spend this weekend putting together the first draft of it for my professor to look over. Other than that, I still need to finish a short story for workshop next week, and maybe not just reskin a fanfic again XD

Uhhhhhhh very unashamed to say that I stayed up until 2 am last night - despite having an early morning psych appointment today! - so I could see the preview of the upcoming ALKALOID x Crazy:B event, because Liz & I have lost control of our lives re: everything to do with enstars. I don't fuckin know. It's taken over XD

When I'm not just like, nonstop playing the stupid fucking merge game that's currently happening in engstars, I've been reading basically every story I've managed to unlock in English and select ones in Japanese, since that takes me...way longer........ I'm upset at how well it's written. Like, real talk, I barely read anything in Love Live; most of my knowledge of characters is gleaned from aesthetics and my wife filling me in. But that's mainly because it wasn't nearly as engaging as enstars is. I don't have enough smart words to explain all of what's drawn me in (and I think I'm maybe rambling in this entry to procrastinate homework lmao), but just know that I'm having a really good time.

Oh!! I also found a new last.fm widget to put in my profile, finally replacing my old one that broke like, a decade or so ago... So that's nice~

My entry titles suck XD

But I am quite tired. It's been a long weekend into the week and I am pushing through, the best I can. Next week is spring break and I cannot wait to get a chance to play catch up.

In better news, I've continue to enjoy enstars~ I've been playing engstars and jp simultaneously (because I have an extra phone) and having too much fucking fun with all the big plot stuff that's happening in jp right now...I'm learning to like Knights because so much is going on with them XD They're a fucking mess and I could not STAND Leo at first, but between his really good stage play actor + reading more stories with him in them, he's growing on me, like mold.

Also, writing music with his own fucking blood in Checkmate was raw as hell and also the angst is just *chef's kiss* so I guess I like him now. His obnoxious autistic swag has intrigued me ;D

ALSO ALSO excited for the official English subs for Element, aka staying up until 1 am to watch 12 minutes of anime every night is definitely not at all contributing to my fucked up sleep schedule XD So worth it. I will watch this story every single time it's adapted, which is why I'd also love to see it as a stage play OwO plz give me moooooooore I love the five eccentrics.

uhhhh I'm supposed to be critiquing someone's poetry in class but I'm lost in enstars I'm sorry to everyone who needs me to do responsible things I am the worrrssssttttttttttt

I somehow lost track of time and now it's March and I have to apply for graduation by the 15th AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

okay okay okay

Mostly, I've been watching enstars stage plays and they've been so good, actually?????? They're really well adapted and delightfully entrancing; I can't stop watching them. Oops???? It's just been fun!!!! We finished up the Valkyrie one right before my class started this evening and I'm still reeling from how much I wanted to punch Shu in the face the entire fucking time, in the best way possible.

uhhhh Liz & I went out last night and saw my classmate's band, which is a recurring thing since they're indie and play in a bunch of small, cool venues. Also, affordable XD I'd lost track of the days and almost missed it, but remembered like...an hour and a half before it started. SO. GOOD ON ME FOR REMEMBERING IN TIME!!!!

I'm also dying my way through screenwriting class...again......it's so fucking bad that I can't deal with it. The teacher just isn't very engaging; she has no idea how to lead a discussion or organize the class. And then there's a disruptive student that she also doesn't seem to be able to wrangle, making it basically impossible to contribute to discussions without him interrupting.

oh my godddddddddddddddd we're "discussing" the academy awards from last night (which I didn't watch because I never do and also was seeing my friend perform soooooo) and by discuss I mean she's just rambling on and sorta like....saying things like "Has anyone seen this movie?" as if that will spark a talk?? I don't fucking know. It's not working. I wanna rip my hair out.


OH RIGHT I DYED MY HAIR LAST NIGHT!!!! It's mint now~~~ I've never done this color before and it's not quite right yet...partially because my hair was still kinda red/pink in sections. I think one more round of dye will fix it, but it was after 2 am sooooo I was done for the night.

Instead of doing homework, I'm working on a new tumblr theme, which is rich considering I don't even use tumblr super often; I'm mostly active on here. But somehow I got lost looking at themes, and now I'm most of the way through a new one.....

OOPS.

Anyway. I did fill out all the extra financial aid stuff for Hopkins, so fingers crossed that keeps trucking on!!!!!!!

....also, I'm almost certain that I've used this title (or something very similar) for an entry before, but I'm not going through 20 years of blogging to find it XD Just know that I am a creature of habit, and sometimes, I've only changed so much since I was a teenager~

seriously tho I gotta do homework

Thanks to much help from my amazing wife, my applications for transfer have been submitted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I just applied to two schools: the two colleges in Baltimore that have creative writing undergrad programs. One of which is Goucher, aka the college I went to right out of high school over and subsequently dropped out of due to mental health struggles, so that's like...a lot...... And then the other is Johns Hopkins, which isn't quite an ivy league school but it also isn't easy to get into.

FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Please send good vibes; Hopkins is my top choice and I feel like it's very unlikely I'll get in...Goucher is pretty much guaranteed, so I'm not worried but I really, really wanna go to Hopkins. Their program is more what I'm looking for, and like...it's more the vibes of what I'm trying to do.

SO YES!!!! Getting the applications submitted is a huge weight off my shoulders ;w;

I sure did pass the fuck out basically as soon as I got home yesterday XD I have very little memory of the post I made yesterday; I was so fucking tired. I sat down on the couch, ate dinner, and fell asleep...and then woke up a few hours later to go to sleep in my bed.

ANYWAY. Apparently, I had some reading + homework to do before class today, which I realized at around noon when I finally rolled out of bed. It was all due at 1pm, so I had to scramble to get it done. I did it, though!!!

Class was good! There are only six of us (including the professor) and I'm by far the most talkative in it XD I appear to be the only one with any previous interest/experience in literary nonfiction, and the professor was very excited for that. Also, we're starting with memoirs, and apparently my 20 years of online journaling between GJ, LJ, and here is gonna come in handy~~

ALSO EXCITED TO HAVE SOME FRIENDS IN CLASS!!! I know two of my classmates from previous classes, probably because the creative writing major is so small, and one I thought one of them had graduated already, so I'm extra excited to see him again. It's a shame that the class is entirely online, but still!! Good to see people I know.

uhhhhhh I'm physically starting to feel better, but now that the worst of it is fading, I'm starting to realize just how not good I'm doing. I think I'm still struggling with brain fog from having covid over Christmas/New Years, and I didn't realize it until now because I spent most of the month sick >< I'm really hoping it clears up, because all my classes have a pretty heavy writing workload and being this out of it is gonna make that hard.

In some actually fun news, I'm joining an orchestra!!!! Baltimore has a gaming symphony orchestra, and I was invited to join :D Tonight's the first night!!!!!! I'd been wanting to play my violin again, but it's harder to do when it's just me alone in my living room, you know? Frecklez might be joining me as well - they were part of it in the past - but I haven't heard from them today...so maybe next time? We'll see~

I also gotta get on my college applications for transferring...the one for Hopkins is due March 1st and it's my top choice, so I wanna get it done before the semester picks up too much. I'd wanted to do it during winter break, but...sick........SO NOW IS THE TIME!!!!!

I KID I KID, I HAVEN'T SKIPPED ANY CLASSES OR ANYTHING!!! I've just been really into making sparkle icons this week, and that's consuming my mind way more than the fact that this is my last semester of college XD

srsly tho someone take photoshop from me, I've done nothing but play enstars and make icons for days~~~~

I dunno, I wanted to make some Love Live icons despite my disappointment in how SIF2 has been handled (sobs), and I didn't think my usual edgelord grunge style worked nearly as well as my other aesthetic: sparkle sparkle. I didn't spend my teens ignoring homework in lieu of making icons for nothing!!!! Now I can make cool shit for myself - and anyone else who wants them - and really, isn't that the most important thing?

When I finally update killiansicons again, it's gonna be a fucking trip, because half the post is gonna be edgy Trigun icons (mostly featuring Knives and Legato, so it's EXTRA) and then....the other half is cutesy sparkly Love Live icons XD I am a man of many talents and layers, okay.

The first two days of classes have gone well, though!!! I had Screenwriting yesterday and then Advanced Creative Writing Workshop today. Tomorrow I have my Creative Nonfiction class, and I'm really looking forward to that. I actually read mostly nonfiction - outside of fanfiction, lmao - so I can't wait to actually get some practice writing it :D

Ohhhhh I have to send a fucking email about registering for my capstone class so I can actually graduate. I'm gonna be working with my favorite professor to really hone the poetry work I've been doing for the past couple years in her classes, so it'll be good. She told me she's gonna push me really hard, as a warning I think? But I'm not in school to stay the same; I wanna improve and become the best writer I can be, so I'm glad she wants to help me get there.

I'm also fucking exhausted because I couldn't sleep last night + my sleep schedule has been destroyed, but I have another half hour before Liz is off work and I can go home. I had to get blood work done after class, so it was kind like "why bother going home when I could sit in a bubble tea place and make icons?" and so here I am. I wanna nap so baaaaaad.

flops on the ground

plz appreciate my icon, I think it's my fave so far and I'm so proud of it. I love combining multiple animations in one icon, even when it's tricky to get it all to line up...I think the end result is SO worth it :D

The past few days have been a blur of 3D printing and my newest tap tap phone game addiction: Ensemble Stars. I've been playing LoveLive since uhhhhh 2015? 2016???? but it's been a fucking shit show. SIF2 is not even close to the original, and it's shutting down in a couple months. Worldwide is apparently launching next month, but it'll only be open for a few months before it also shuts down.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

lays on the ground sadly

But look I hate change and I really like 1) the songs and 2) the play style of LL, so no other rhythm phone games have stuck for me. UNTIL NOW, APPARENTLY!!!! I even tried enstars a few years back and didn't really care for it, but I guess I just needed to try for a bit longer? I've barely been able to put it down since I started a few days ago XD

ANYWAY. The other important part of this post is 3D printing, namely the inevitability of me printing a bunch of tristamp Knives's blades.......not a million of them but as many as possible XD I bought a 3D model on etsy and it's been.....challenging to get it to work right, to say the least :T


Knives is disappointed in the many failures >:O
Something about the model isn't working right; it's basically too HD???? Pat's brother has been trying to help us sort it out, because where the blades come to their "sharpest" point, it's too narrow for our printer to actually render/print/something???? I dunno. I'm not good at 3D shapes in general and considering we just got this printer a few days ago, it's been a lot of messing around to try to get things to work.

Micro Center did have small packs of fun filament - because of COURSE we went back to get more already - and I also got a big thing of shiny silver to make the blades...once they work right :TTTTT I had to take a break from it for a bit.

Also, classes start tomorrow!!!! It's my last semester at community college :D I'll be graduating with my associates in creative writing after this, and hopefully transferring to complete my bachelors :D I have to work on filling out some transfer applications, but I started them just as I got sick and couldn't really work on them for the past couple weeks.

I'm both nervous and excited, tbh. I kinda thought I'd never finish any sort of college and now here I am, just one semester away from success!!!!!! And my top choice school to transfer to is definitely a reach, but I'm still gonna give it my all~~~~