As of Tuesday, I have completed my second year of university! Only 2 or 3 more years of racking up student loan debt to go! (I am NOT looking forward to how big that number is going to be when I'm done...) So, I'm officially into summer now, which is always a good feeling. The good feeling is diminished by the knowledge that I now have to start working full-time, but whaddaya gonna do. For years now I've gone from school to work in the summer, so I'm kinda used to this feeling of semi-freedom.

Also, I applied for an apartment yesterday. My house was sold a month ago, so I needed a place to stay at the start of June. This new place isn't perfect but I'll be living close to my school - a 2 minute drive, 10 minute bus ride, or 25-30 minute walk. The view is also pretty sweet, as I can see two towers on my school's campus (both of which I have posted images of on here, Middlesex College and University College), so I'll be trying out some panoramas. Before then, however, comes the ordeal of packing, getting new stuff, and moving in. I'll have lived alone in this house for a year by the time I move - a house that my whole family once lived in, all to myself - so moving into an apartment is going to feel highly claustrophobic. I'll also miss the gardens here, which have provided me so many opportunities to play with my camera this spring.

Summer also means an opportunity to catch up my reading and my gaming. During the school year I can't bring myself to read any novels or anything for my own pleasure; since I have so many reading assignments for school, I feel like if I should be reading it should be for school. As a result, I end up only reading magazines or manga for my own enjoyment. Now, ever since I was a wee lad I've read for fun, so when I lose that opportunity, it's pretty sad. I plan to catch up on my leisurely reading with Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (sounds so leisurely, right?), and I'll probably read Homer's The Iliad at some point too. As for gaming? Well, there's Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Mario Kart Wii to fill my free time.

So! Onto the tagging feature.

=Whitewings05 has tagged me for this in his journal. Since I've never been tagged before, I figured I'd give it a shot (also, Whitewings is apparently a "maple Ninja", which fills my heart with dread). So here goes.

The "Rules"
1. Post these rules AGAIN
2. Each person tagged must post 10 random (hopefully interesting) facts about themselves
3. Tags should write a blogpost of these facts
4. At the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5. Go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

I. The first picture I ever took was one of my Oma (great-grandmother) playing with a hummingbird thing for her garden. I was using a disposable camera that my parents had got for me. I was...probably less than 10 years old, or about 10.

II. Although practically all of my creative energy goes toward photography these days, my real aspiration is to become an author. I want to write fantasy fiction, like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, or Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series. However, I've had pretty bad writer's block for a while, so the novel I've been working on, the introduction to the series and world I have in mind, has kinda fallen to the wayside.

III. I wish I could draw. My dad's a pretty good artist, and as a kid I tried to emulate him, but I really don't have any talent for it. If I could draw, I'd probably bombard you all with fanart.

IV. Back in the days when I tried to draw, I created my own superhero - Dangerboy. Inspired by the comic books I read at the time (Sonic the Hedgehog and Spider-Man), I made several comic books about him, and even wrote a crappy little "novel" about him, which, I am ashamed to say, is one of the only writing projects I've finished, and is also lost. My Nanny (maternal grandmother) even made me a Dangerboy costume one year for Halloween.

V. I'm obsessed with Final Fantasy. As a kid I played the original on NES, and as soon as my brother and I got a Playstation, I dove into Final Fantasy VII. Since then I've beaten every game in the series (I through X, X-2, XII, plus some spin-offs) at least once. I've played both FFVII and VIII through completely about seven or eight times each.

VI. The only thing I obsess about as much as Final Fantasy is Bleach. I watch the anime in Japanese and English, read the Japanese-translated manga weekly, and collect the English manga as it is released. Ichigo is one of the best characters ever, in my books.

VII. I have seen Matthew Good perform almost once a year since 2002: for the first time in 2002, then from 2004-2007, and I'll be seeing him again in June.

VIII. When I become an English teacher, I will probably fail students if they use internet abbreviations in their assignments.

IX. My best friend Caroline, ~upsidedown-i, was recently tagged for something like this on YouTube. While making her video, she got up to get something and ended up falling, injuring her shoulder. While writing this journal, I was sitting cross-legged on my couch; I got up to get some pillows to lean on so I could lie down, but my right foot was asleep. I tried to put it down so I could walk, but didn't realize it was sideways still from falling asleep that way, so when I put it down and put all my weight on it, I injured my ankle somehow. It now hurts like hell. I think these tagging things might be cursed.

X. If you think I'm an exciting person because of all these facts, you've probably been misled. I'm kinda boring.

I shall tag...
~Irish-Baby
~GESH-in-the-house (He's a good artist, please encourage him to be more active on DA!)
~Kynreeve
*jayxxbe
*Whazel
*PendulumPhotography
*I-eat-bugs
(You don't have to do it if you don't want to. Who am I to make you do something that is apparently cursed?)

- hoog out