I'm so glad I went to the anime convention in San Jose last month. Watching the Naruto Shippuuden "Rescue Gaara" arc was so amazing that I switched to watching the Japanese/English subtitles version of Naruto and started devoting more time to the fandom and fanfics. I am absolutely loving Naruto.

Just catching up with the rest of the universe, as I am currently watching the arc where Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru are trying to rescue Sasuke from the four Sound shinobi. I have to say, the episodes leading up to Sasuke's decision to leave the village were heart wrenching. I actually cried (1) when I realized that Naruto could have actually killed Sasuke with Rasengan during their rooftop showdown; and (2) when Sakura (who I dislike intensely -- until of course she grows some, which I witnessed during the Rescue Gaara arc) makes her loving plea to Sasuke and he says "Thank you" to her before placing her on the bench to sleep off whatever he does to knock her out.

I can't decide whether I HATE Sasuke or not. He's such an incredible jerk. Yeah, I feel sorry for his incredible losses and the torture at the hands of his brother, Itachi. But he FAILS to listen to Kakashi, who tries to help him choose a path which doesn't involve revenge. Anyway, I'm sure that Masashi Kishimoto will continue his utter genius and I'm so looking forward to catching up.

Seeking more Naruto fan fics: I've found some amazing Naruto fan fiction here on Live Journal ... but if you have recommendations, please let me know. I'm always looking for something to read! Pimp thyself, please!

One more confession: I absolutely love Shikamaru -- so lazy, smart, funny, supportive and yummy! What does that say about me? But if I had to dress up: Akatsuki all the way! I love those guys, so naughty!

Thanks also to laurabryannan for posting the link for  Junjou Romantica... downloading the episodes now... ooooh, more yummy[Bad username: for me today! Tried to reconfigure my Mac running new new OS Leopard so that I could play AVI files, but after a few hours of messing around, reading a few forums downloading a sh*tload of plugins I gave up. Thank gawd for VEOH and Google. I can't wait until there are no more AVI and DivX files! Seriously, without LiveJournal and all those friends, I wouldn't know what to do with myself!]