In light of my recent weigh-in, I've been trying to cut back on how much I eat. I have bad habits — eating when I'm bored, eating when I'm sad, eating when I'm happy, eating because it tastes good... basically, eating anytime I'm not full, as opposed to when I'm hungry. (No wonder I weigh 170lbs.)

So I'm thinking baby steps, right? I'll cut back to eating three times a day, and if I get hungry in between, I can only have healthy snacks, like fruit, yogurt or a salad. I've never been on a diet of any kind, and I'm generally very bad at denying myself purely hedonistic pleasures (such as eating), so this is kind of a big thing for me. I've been doing it since Monday, and so far, I've been sticking to it. I've only snacked between meals once, and I had an apple. (I've also taken to brushing my teeth twice a day, complete with fluoride treatments but no flossing because my mouth is too crowded, but that's neither here nor there.)

When I decided all of this on Sunday, I thought to myself, 'Now, don't bother telling the family about it. That can only go badly.' I was right, of course (am I ever not?).

Yesterday, I asked my mom what was for dinner, and she waffled about it (no pun intended, truly). I prompted her by telling her that whatever was for dinner would be lunch for me, so I wanted to know if she was making anything. If not, I could make something myself. She suggested a meal, and implied that she might make it right then, at which point I asked if she couldn't wait an hour or so, because I didn't want to eat early.

(The late-night / wee hours are the most difficult for me, because there's no one being noisy and obnoxious in the kitchen to discourage me from cooking, and there's little else to do. Therefore, if I ate lunch early and got hungry later, I might be inclined to indulge. No willpower, I tell you. Some Scorpio rising I am.)

This led to my explaining my diet to her, because she wanted to know why (or more like 'since when') I didn't want to eat right then. When I explained it, she laughed at me. I tried to explain that I weighed too much, and I needed to stop eating when I was bored / not full / feeling hedonistic, and this, too, was apparently funny. Thanks for the support, Mom.

Today, Falon asked if I was hungry, probably because she wanted me to make something for us both, and I told her that I couldn't eat right then. (In retrospect, I should have just said 'no' and walked away. I'd be less moody now.) She asked why, and I successfully dodged the question once via distraction, only to have her ask again when the distraction was over. I answered her that time, saying that I was trying to cut back to eating only three times a day, instead of constantly.

She laughed as she walked away, in more of a 'yeah, right' way than the amused way my mother laughed. I almost wasn't sure what kind of sound it was (or was hoping I'd misinterpreted, maybe?), so I asked, "What?"

She said derisively over her shoulder, "Good luck with that."

It's so nice to be supported.

The thing that really gets me is that these are the same people who don't care that I'm a lesbian — my mother, who took my sexuality more seriously than my father, and Falon, who's slapped people in the face for talking trash about her 'dyke sister.' Is there some reason they can't take this seriously or support me? Jesus H. I'm not asking for gel bracelets or sponsors, here.

Anyone on the f'list want some pounds? I have 15 - 30 to spare. Will also sell in kilos (that's roughly 7 - 14, right?). Free ground shipping within the US.

I have court tomorrow, and none of my nice shirts or vests will fit me. Actually, the shirts won't fit because my rack is too big, but I'm not selling those yet, so.... Yeah, I'll figure something out, I'm sure.

In semi-related news (that is, related to court, not related to my being a fat kid), when they dropped Miranda off at our house on Thursday, they did not bring any of her effects with her. It was mostly clothes, but also a couple of stuffed toys (one of which actually belonged to me) and her inhaler. (She uses a medicated inhaler daily to keep her lungs healthy, because she's very prone to bad respiratory infections.) What they told us was that they could have brought her back with her belongings, but they would have had to wait until Friday, and they thought we wanted her back ASAP, so they took option B, which was bringing her back Thursday and delivering her effects Friday.

It is now Tuesday, and we have yet to receive any of it, including her inhaler. She came home from school yesterday because she was coughing and running a fever, and stayed home again today in similar condition. Mom called DHS and the foster home yesterday to ask them about it, and they claimed they'd be by 'Tuesday afternoon.' Now, at a quarter past six, Mom and Dad have left to go get Miranda's things themselves. Mom's a bit unnecessarily pissed, and I'm wondering what we're going to do with Miranda when we go to court tomorrow — she's in no shape to come along, and she can't go to school, either.

Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll leave me home to look after her. I mean, anything to get away from the sickies; all the coughing and germs make me insane, but really. Anything to get out of waking up at 7am and sitting at the courthouse from 9am on.

Meanwhile, the musespace grows ever more crowded. More on that later, I think. ♥

Oh, also — new layout (and matching profile layout). :D tokyocentricity~

A timetable for yesterday:

0500: Went to bed.
0900: Woke up, did paperwork.
1200: Went to get documents notarized and turned in to DHS.
1300: Finished up with client's PC.
1400: Helped Grandma move Christmas tree and decorations.
1500: Cleaned out aunt's PC.
1600: Returned and set up client's PC.
1800: Came home and vacuumed, scrubbed and otherwise cleaned.
2000: Ate pizza.
2300: Finished cleaning and fell into bed.

DHS sent a worker out (ironically named Miranda) to do a home interview this morning at 11am, hence all the cleaning. We now officially have provisionary foster care of Miranda (the child, not the social worker). She was dropped off here at home not half an hour ago. If we want actual custody of her, we have two choices.

Become her foster family. Thirty hours of training for my parents, learning how to meet the DHS requirements for foster care (locking up medicine, chemicals, etc.; enclosing the pool, and many, many more), and looking over our shoulders constantly to make sure DHS doesn't catch us breaking the rules.

Gain legal custody of her. Since she's technically not in Tara's custody anymore, we would have to get the state to award us custody. This is what we're hoping to do. I have a cousin in Memphis who works for a law firm that employs one of the state's biggest public defenders. The idea is that he can talk the judge into awarding us custody.

The second option is obviously preferred. We've taken care of Miranda nearly all her life without any problems so far, and it wasn't due to our negligence that she was put into foster care, but a legal technicality. Hopefully, the judge will agree.

Thanks so much to everyone who's been thinking of us, and keep doing whatever it is you're doing, 'cos I think it might be working. ♥

My parents have filed for provisional foster care, so that we can bring Miranda home before we ever go to court. Hopefully, she'll be home this weekend — we'll have people coming by for a home inspection sometime this week, and we're going in to sign some papers this afternoon.

I probably won't be around much tonight, and only here and there this week. Things will be busy. ♥ Wish us luck~

So, on Sunday, my sister's eleven-month-old daughter was taken from her home by child services, because my sister's live-in fuck-up boyfriend tested positive for meth. Tara's trying to get her back, and I hope she does, but I hope it's at the expense of said boyfriend. He's a loser, and he's not doing Tara or Maci any good.

In the meantime, nobody told Miranda, Tara's other daughter, who lives with us. Tara didn't want her to know, because she planned on getting Maci back, so she didn't want to upset Miranda unnecessarily.

Child services called today to tell my mother that because Miranda is Tara's child (by a different father than Jason, who is Maci's father) and my parents don't have legal custody of her, she also has to go into foster care.

Mom's a total wreck, but we should have Miranda back in short order. There's nothing stopping us from getting legal custody, so it's only a matter of time. Miranda cried, of course, but she seemed a little better by the time she left half an hour ago. I'm sure that won't really hold — she'll cry tonight, and probably every night until she comes back. I just hope she'll be okay.

I complain about her a lot, and we all give her a hard time — she's difficult to get along with, to be honest — but she's family, in the end.

Keep your fingers crossed, or pray, or whatever it is you guys do, that she'll be okay. ♥ Please.

eta: There's a court date set for next week, and we have to get the house ready for a home inspection. I guess this is going to take a little longer than expected, but it's still only a matter of time.

oh my god.

i need to stop doing that, seriously.

i just woke up hallucinating a spider the size of my fucking hand, and bolted out of bed and across the room so fast, my legs are still shaking. aagjkal;fdsa, i hate having to convince my nerves that there is no fucking spider, or wasp, or whatever my brain has conjured up now.

i should so be in bed. there's nothing in it.

STOP FJKHFDSCKING CROSSPOSTING.

... with that said, I will also say this: I crosspost.

Do you know what I don't do?

I do not crosspost:

- in five different communities at once
- to pairing communities when I'm selling something
- to pairing communities when the post only concerns one character
- to communities where my post isn't even relevant to begin with
- when my post sucks in the first place

You know what that means?

You shouldn't, either.





someday I'm gonna freak out like this, then crosspost it. everywhere.

AIZEN/GIN IS IN NO WAY 'RARE,' 'UNUSUAL' OR 'UNDERAPPRECIATED.'

sfjalk;fjkls'a. I'm so sick of seeing all these pairings in asterisk_plus that do not belong there. Ichigo/Hitsugaya? Shuuhei/Kira? Aizen/Gin? They have decently-sized fanbases, and their own communities, if I'm not mistaken. Sure, they're a little weird, and they're not canon, but last I checked, asterisk_plus wasn't a community for non-canon pairings. It's a community for pairings that don't have a big fanbase or communities of their own. Just because it's not listed in the 'cannot post' bit of the info doesn't mean it really belongs. Use your fucking brains.

... God.

01. I pulled up the update page, and it asked if I wanted to restore from a saved draft. I clicked 'OK,' not really remembering having left anything unfinished, and the following was in the update box: N. ... Yeeeeah. Anyway.

02. I haven't talked to Rachel in what I'm sure is only a day or two, but it feels like a week. :/ My schedule's all screwy now; I don't know what I'm doing. ;; I just hope everything's okay with her. ♥

03. My Atobe is, at present, quite engaged with Rachel's Tezuka, Julie's Atobe, Rachel's Atobe, and more recently, Jocey's Jirou. I would like to turn him off, however, I do not know how. ;; He seems to have enough love to go around, as his tendency toward polyamory (not!promiscuity) has become apparent now. Even he and my Yukimura are getting along, which may have something to do with Yukimura dropping his attitude to help cheer Atobe up with impromptu Wicked performances the other night morning.

04. Shishidiva has followed the trend my Atobe has set in falling for his other sel(ves). Jocey's Shishibitch, Jen's Shishichii and Julie's Ryouko are some of his newest favourite people (all still second to his boyfriend - yes, he has one. You couldn't tell, could you? ;;). Shishiorgy FTW. ;x

05. Niou switched again, the other night, and was Yagyuu for a good couple of hours before switching back. Earlier this morning, he and Missa's Yagyuu got into an emotionally-charged argument which ultimately led to Niou switching to Yagyuu and staying that way, insisting (and believing) that he was, in fact, Yagyuu. (See this post if that made you WTF too much.)

     A bit later, Jen's Yagyuu showed up to take him apart, and Niou is currently freaking right the fuck out. It's gone beyond 'am I Yagyuu or Niou?' at this point. This is 'am I real? do I exist? does anything exist?' Hopefully, we can wind him down more later. Either way, Jen, you're a lifesaver. ♥

06. I want to watch PuriPuri D solely for Saitou (and Kenken!), but I'm too lazy to download, so I'm waiting for the only person on YouTube with the subbed version to friend me so I can get at the private videos.

07. I want a thunderstorm, because it's Friday the 13^th. ♥

08. There is no number 8. There never was. These are not the droids you are looking for.

09. I love my Rikkai muses to death, honestly, but I wish they'd shut up and let me write Hyoutei. I still only have about ~1500-2000 words of my pexchange fic done. ;; I've never been unhappy with Rikkai's soul-owning, brain-eating ways before.

10. In hopes of coaxing my muses into order (Atobe being distinctly out-of-order (think broken vending machine, not unruly and haphazard) doesn't help), let's do a drabble meme. I can't promise anything, but if all goes well, I'll deliver.

     If you make up a title and specify a character/pairing for a fic I didn't write, I'll show you a short snippet from said non-written story. [Prince of Tennis, Hyoutei preferred, other schools accepted, no Rikkai.]

     P-please? ♥;;

11. MOAR HIGA. ♥ by popular demand.

1. See subject line. I got off the phone with Rachel around 7:30 am, then came out, checked my f'list, and made myself something to eat (mistake #1). Shortly thereafter, I took a work call, and the guy said he'd drop his PC off here within the hour (which should have been by 9:00). That was the longest hour ever, since it took about two. Bastard finally gets here with his PC, then tells me he needs it fixed by Wednesday morning, which is confuckingfabulous, since I have a driver's exam tomorrow.

2. After he dropped off the PC, I realised I had a raging headache, so I hopped in the shower. There, I was accosted by a herd (yes) of ants that decided 'omg it's rainin!!11one' and swarmed out of the wall above the shower head. I figured, all right, I'll finish my shower and then come back to kill the fuckers. So, y'know, I turn away to grab my shampoo, and there's a Big McFucking Huge spider right there in the bathroom window. I kind of spazzed, but hey, there's a screen between us, so I can deal.

3. I get out of the shower and come to another realisation: I have no towel. So I proceed to charge into battle run, naked like the Celts, through my house to get a towel from the laundry room. ;; I dry off and all that jazz, and go back to the bathroom with the bugspray only to find that Sir Big McFucking Huge has vanished, and the ant army must have been French, because they've hightailed it outta there. I sprayed the whole goddamn place, anyway.

4. I need to eat something that is not potato chips and jalapeño cheddar dip.

5. The dog needs a bath. She smells like ass. :|

6. I was going to ramble about OshiGaku and ShishiTori relationship dynamics, and then decided I'm too lazy. Maybe later.

7. Sanada and Mizuki need their own soap opera.

8. I told Buchou that I'd try to be around when she got home from school, but I'm a little tired, and I think I should try to get in a nap before Rachel calls. Off to bed with me, I guess. :/ ♥ Sorry if I'm not awake when you get home, Buchou. ;__; Tensai needs her beauty sleep. Ily~.

9. Oh, yeah. And Kite's hot. ♥

"Trapped in the Closet," by R. Kelly.

I loled.

>|

Talking makes me cough. Laughing makes me cough. Moving too much makes me cough. Eating makes me cough. Right now, the only things I am able to do with my body are breathe, drink and suck on cough drops. And if I'm not sucking on cough drops, then I can't do anything else, because I'm COUGHING NON-STOP. Which means I can't sleep, either, and I'm tired.

safl;j4tioj,weotjwe;tj.ersyhtrhj. *Bangs head on things.*

S1: Azuma Keiko (sira)

Azuma Keiko

Third-year

163 cm

All-Rounder

Ambidextrous, favouring right

Keiko is the captain of Hyoutei’s female tennis club. She is highly respected by most of the regulars due to her extraordinary skills on both the court and in other activities, and can occasionally get carried away with her ego because of this. By default, she plays S1, but occasionally switches between S1 and S3 with Ryoko, her arch-rival, who she also tends to have arguments with at least every day.

S2: Moanna Hatsumi (dynastic)

Moanna Hatsumi

Third-year

164 cm

Counter Puncher

Right

Hatsumi (affectionately called ‘Sumi’ by her team) is the rather pretty looking team manager. She spends a lot of her time collecting data on the other girls’ teams in the region and also secretly lusting after Oshitari Yuushi, the boys’ resident tensai. Normally, she plays S2 and is quite content with that, although she would love to play S3 because they would always get to play. Hatsumi loves tennis with a passion but she also does theatre and reading in her spare time, she worries about her academics just as much as she does with tennis.

S3: Shiraishi Ryoko (hikaridonya)

Shiraishi Ryoko

Third-year

150 cm

All-Rounder

Ambidextrous, favouring left

Ryoko is the vice-captain of the team, and rarely if ever agrees with the Captain - which mostly ends up in daily arguments. She switchs between S3 and S1 depending on her mood. She certainly isn't a brat, no matter what certain people say.

D1: Hidaka Kiyora (songsheet) & Hououji Yukiko (uozlulu)

Hidaka Kiyora	Hououji Yukiko
Third-year	Second-year
158 cm	161 cm
Serve and Volley	Baseliner
Left	Right
Kiyora tends to worry about things, from how she did on her math test or what the line up for matches are to her teammates (or most of her teammates). She enjoys watching Keiko and Ryoko argue if only because it's at least not her arguing with Keiko. Other than that, she usually spends her time practicing or hanging out with her doubles partner, Yukiko.	Yukiko tends to fangirl random people whether they are truly famous or not. She enjoys tennis immensely and is always excited to play a game no matter how she feels. She also has a tendency to give out nicknames. She is typically easy going, but if someone is threatened, she is not afraid to step in and protect them.

D2: Kazekoji Yumeko (tokyocentricity) & Midori Mizuko (mizukomidori)

Kazekoji Yumeko	Midori Mizuko
Second-year	Second-year
162 cm	167 cm
Right	Right
Aggressive Baseliner	Serve and Volley
Yumeko is Hyoutei's female tensai; she sleeps and eats, and sometimes plays tennis. She'll wake up for her own match, but usually sleeps through others'. She has her eye on the captain's spot (and D1!) for next year.	Mizuko is generally very nice and caring. She's always ready to help out when someone needs it. She's also constantly looking out for her doubles partner and waking her up when need be. However in contrast to her normal nicety get her on the court and she can be a real bitch. Snarking and taunting. "Saying words that no one ever thought she knew," as Cassie put it.

R1: Shiro Hikari (hikariblue)

Shiro Hikari

Third-year

164 cm

Right

????

Hikari's interest in tennis is more in managing than playing -- fitting, since she's been named the team's training specialist. She is observant and quick to suggest ways her teammates can improve, sometimes in a way that seems tangential to the team's good as whole. She may or may not be involved with some of the "promotional items" that have floated into the general populace. She prefers to be mysterious and may go out of her way to appear unique or contrary.

And now? We can totally start with the ficcage. It'll be EPIC.

uozlulu made an extended profile; fill it out in the comments if you want.

<b>Name:</b> <b>DOB:</b> <b>Year:</b> <b>Height:</b> <b>Hair:</b> <b>Eyes:</b> <b>Playing Style:</b> <b>Dominance:</b> <b>Family:</b> <b>Favorite Color:</b> <b>Favorite Food:</b> <b>Favorite Class:</b> <b>Hobbies:</b> <b>Collects:</b> <b>Bio:</b>

Also, for our profiles:
<center><small><a href="http://tensaiface.livejournal.com/803.html"><b>Hyoutei Girls' Tennis Club: Regular Lineup</b></a> S1 → <lj user=d_angel777> 「Captain」 S2 → <lj user=racketglomps> 「Manager」 S3 → <lj user=hikaridonya> 「Vice-Captain」 D1 → <lj user=songsheet> & <lj user=uozlulu> D2 → <lj user=tensaiface> & <lj user=yousogaisaki> R1 → <lj user=hikariblue> 「Training Specialist」</small></center>

Hyoutei Girls' Tennis Club: Regular Lineup
S1 → sira 「Captain」
S2 → dynastic 「Manager」
S3 → hikaridonya 「Vice-Captain」
D1 → songsheet & uozlulu
D2 → tokyocentricity & mizukomidori
R1 → hikariblue 「Training Specialist」

( Extended Profile; Azuma Keiko [Captain] )

---

( Extended Profile; Hououji Yukiko [D1] )

---

( Extended Profile; Hidaka Kiyora [D1] )

---

( Extended Profile; Kazekoji Yumeko [D2] )

---

( Extended Profile; Shiro Hikari [Training Specialist] )