Colleen Beamer wrote:
> How am I supposed to do this when I can't login and I can't kill X?

Boot from a live CD, then perform a chroot into your system as described
in the Gentoo handbook[1] or on the Gentoo wiki[2], then you should be
able to emerge as if you were running your system normally.

-- Remy

[1] http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=6
[2] http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Chroot_from_a_livecd