New Year's Eve '07

Yesterday I got back from Wisconsin, packing a bunch of rad X-mas presents (minus the HD TV, which wouldn't fit--hopefully the post office can handle it, and by handle it, I mean actually deliver it to ME), some tasty X-mas cookies, and a cold, which has only gotten nastier. As a result of that last, I'm not really doing anything for New Year's Eve.

The plan was to go to Oleya's house and drink homemade eggnog, meet her bf, play videogames, probably watch cartoons or something, I dunno. Instead I'm having some soup and cookies, playing BioShock, probably gonna watch some anime...

Which sounded good, but I'm kinda bummed out now. I should just play more BioShock 'n stuff and not think about things but then I got all sappy and was reading back entries of my blog : /

Mrrf.

I'm psyched to see the New Doctor Who ep. Scotty saw it already and he was happy about it, so it must be good.

Yesterday at the grocery store I bought some "Puffins" cereal and...it's so delicious. If anyone who reads my blog is the reason I am addicted to these, please let me know. I had always meant to try them, but it was someone elses addiction that finally pushed me over the edge and I can't remember whose... All I know is that the original flavor is delicious. I bet the other kinds are good, too. Anyways, it's a good way to avoid eating whole wheat all. day. long. They are made out of corn.

Well, probably gonna do the dishes and play more BioShock. It's nice to just do whatever. I wish that soup would've been more filling. I feel like I didn't eat anything...except cookies heh. They're so good...

Hum : /

Representative of X-mas Evening

It only LOOKS like this is all I did on X-mas. Clever editing.

Representative of X-mas Morning

We played some Blokus. Fun!

IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR

Everyone watch the new holiday classic!



So good.

I found it originally on boingboing, but you can find more stuff at For Tax Reasons.

O: Return of the 'taku

I couldn't really think of a cornier title than that.

Anyways, net friend Louis, Oleya, and I HIT UP J-town today in a big way. First we stopped off for Okonomiyaki, which I haven't had since Tokyo. It was...amazingly delicious. Beefy, shrimpy, saucy, hot hot hot. I didn't burn my tongue though, surprisingly. We proceeded directly to the green tea ice cream cone for dessert, which was the exact brand of tastiness I had been pining away for.

After that it was time to see how much money we could save while ideally spending our entire bank accounts on manga, anime, snack food, etc. Personally, I picked up the first two Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei manga (in Japanese) as well as the first 20th Century Boys (also in Japanese.) I figure it's studying if I study them, right? You can make anything in a foreign language into studying! Just learn the words ;p I mean, that show is why I know what zetsubou means after all...

Speaking of shows, we ended up in the video store where for some reason they had more anime than I ever remember being aware they had. Pretty much anything I wanted was there, but we found the sale rack where Yami no Matsuei was only 28 dollars plus tax...the whole series. This was a nostalgia wave meant especially for me. Pre-viewed, but do I care? Do I really care? The answer is no. Oleya grabbed an identically pre-viewed and taped all together in a "box set" version of Love Hina and then we pranced away.

Nijiya was BONKERZ on a Saturday of course, and a near holiday Saturday you can expect even more. We grabbed some Gokuri Grapefruit (which they didn't have last time I was there!) and I picked up curry roux and SECRET INGREDIENT NUMBER 2 so I can make kickass X-mas Eve dinner for my family in WI.

Today is...awesome! I need to take a shower and eat some food before heading out to a concert. I don't even know who's playing, but Oleya does so it's cool :D

Punkin' around

Well I did end up picking up some work this week. Turns out there are always more games to play (that aren't BioShock or Super Paper Mario, etc.) While running errands today, though, I picked myself up a year end game trade-in bonus extravaganza present. Took in a bunch of stuff I got for free and wasn't terribly keen on and came out with the Castlevania PSP game (with Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night) Fun stuff.

Recently been addicted to Blokus. It's a fun strategy game for four players...

Uhmmmmm...other than that been hanging out with friends. Oleya and I were burrito buddies and watched Ratatouille. Good movie, as of course, the entire rest of civilization already knew, heh. Dunno why I started blogging when I'm so tirrrrred. Sackin' out now.

mrrf

My doggy died yesterday. Very sad. She was pretty old and had lots of problems, so my mom took her to the vet and they put her down. I guess we're gonna get the ashes and think of something nice to do. Maybe sprinkle them around out in the woods where we used to live.

Last night Oleya invited me to her company X-mas party, where we proceeded directly to the open bar. Not like we got plastered or anything, that's just all there was to do before the awesome dinner. I had prime rib with garlicky mashed potatoes and veggies. Even the salad and bread was ridiculously good. Finished off with the richest carrot cake I've ever had. So much creamy frosting it was almost cheesecake-like in consistency. Met some of her co-workers, which was fun. There was live jazz.

Today is my last day in-house at IGN as they've decided they don't need a freelancer to sit around bored at the office while there's nothing exciting going on in the PC dept. Just as well if other things pan out, I guess, but we'll have to see if they pan out.

I did manage to scrounge up some work to putter about on after the deadline on Saturday, which I STILL haven't written anything for. I think it's probably just that holiday syndrome. Well, that and I've just been out doing things.

Like eating too much Japanese food and watching Advent Children with dudes from IGN! That was fun. I liked the movie, too. So pretty, la la la. Yes, I know how late I am to this party.

Speaking of parties, we're supposed to be having a Rock Band etc thing at my house on Sunday completely with holiday cheer, but I really need to clean up my room if anyone is going to fit in it. Only four people, but I have enough trouble finding places for two. Need...shelves. I wish I could just move in a studio nowwwwwwwwww...

*impatience ensues*

Anyways, I don't have any work to do at the moment...so...guess I'll just surf more.

A blog post

Oh hey I have this thing called a blog and I post on it!

HA

Uhm, let's see. ELO. I really like ELO. I've been listening to Time nearly everyday. That and Sam's Town by The Killers, even though it came out last year. I'm also gonna start getting into Bowie. I can just feel it.

Other news...is secret for now.

I spent Saturday afternoon in J-town. Found out they have the Sayounara Zetsubou Sensei manga at Kinokuniya, but they didn't have the first one. That's probably fine, since I spent enough money on miso ramen for lunch and snacks at Nijiya and the latest edition of Otaku USA (which I'm in, but probably not at my best...) annnnnd also an onomatopoeia book. I've never seen this one before and it impressed me with it's cute sample sentences. Also, there are adorable cartoon illustrations. The main character's name is Michey, which I'm pretty sure is a goofy misspelling of "Mickey" XD

So maybe now I'll study more.

heh

If I get some freeeee time.

Been making some new friends, which is cool. Maybe I'll use some of my social time to learn about other people's hobbies even though I don't have time for my own.

That could be fun.

Also: I rock at making J-curry. After learning the ancient Japanese method from Kayo, my curry is amazoring. So happy.

Oleya and I feasted on it this evening and are now about to make cupcakes for her birthday. Then I will introduce her to Super Mario Galaxy and life will be good.

A House and a Crazy

I have a place to live!

Good. Glad that's out of the way.

It will be much much MUCH better there once I have Internet, which is thankfully (in time for the holiday!) on Monday.

I am certainly a very busy person. Still. I hope that I shall always continue to be one.

Focusing more on health would be good, though. Since my job is the anti-health hahaha Couch potato! If only I had a couch!

Other than that...there are probably things I mean to blog about...

Like how someone painted over my door in French, "Protect us, St. Christopher" and also something in Japanese.

Or how I never really see my roommates very often.

Or............how....I'm going to the FFXI Fan Festival this weekend :D

For Gamasutra!

Nooz abounds, but it seems sort of silly to ramble about it here. I ramble about it all day anyhow ;p

I can't wait for my PC to have internet so I can a) fill out invoices b) update my game blog.

I can spaz about Elebits heh


'n stuff

Wow, this is a pointless blog entry! I think I just wanted to emphasize that I have NO FREE TIME and am in fact, working even now.

I'm quite fond of today's title.

Chacha Limbo...

Ah yes. Well, the time has come to update on many things. There are certain things going very well, for instance, work. Excepting the fact that I don't have any internet things are going quite well. I have an awful lot to do and having a computer online would make them a lot easier. I mean, having a desk and a chair would, too, though, so...

I'm moving tomorrow, but I don't know where. I got out of the crappy place, but haven't gotten in anywhere else. So begins my couch surfing journey. Probably I will start at Oleya's and work my way towards Patrick and Karen's. Meanwhile, the majority of my earthly belongings will be shuttled over to Sharkey's for the time being.

This is all assuming I don't get a miraculous phone call announcing my acceptance at the new apt I looked at the other day. Doesn't seem likely anymore, though...

*sigh*

What else? Oh plenty of things. Lots of parties. Halloween was pretty great. We had a party at Oleya's house with pumpkins and Japanese curry and spice cake with pumpkin ice cream. And then I got all gored up to go to a more purposeful party involving work acquaintances and alcohol. The music was bad!

Uhhhhh...

So far this week has been rather busy, and I feel like it will keep getting busier since I will have to plan careful how and where I spend my time @_@ since...

I'm homeless.

HA~

I think I had something I wanted to blog about

but I can't remember what that was. Lately things just sorta keep going on. They happen. I still need a new apt.

I'm finally reading some more Tom Robbins, which is a good thing. Remember when I read Villa Incognito? That was like LAST last summer. Sheesh. Now I'm reading Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas.

Got a sweet new wallpaper for my work computer:



I love the texture and the colors. Despair is sunshiny!

Got some fun work and some silly work, but tonight I'm hanging out with Oleya.

I'm gonna change my title to something else. People are already accusing me of meaning something by it o_o

"The forgotten once the hay bale is removed? The final curly one that doesn't have chocolate milk-caked insides? >_<"

That was more what I was going for. It's ok, though.

I'll think of something else.

A proper update: Life on the L and most recent adventures

There is a girl giving enthusiastic spoken word and song performances for small children in the next room. Up until a few minutes ago there was a girl sitting in this chair, using it as her home base. Which means just because it was empty doesn't mean she wasn't off somewhere collecting her next attempt at chapter book literature. But her Dad and brother are gone now, too, so it seems like it's safe to take over.

This morning I dropped off After Dark, Haruki Murakami's latest (translated, at least) novel. Good stuff! You can just count on it from him. That same surreal thoughtful feel. Chris and I were talking about this last night on the way home from Berkeley, actually.

We were there for the launch of MANGA: The Complete Guide, since we are both connected to Jason Thompson in one way or another. The after party was like a big spider web, in that respect, with Jason as the spider. We met a pretty groovy chick, though, in videogames, of all things. Was a producer on a bunch of Dreamcast stuff, but she's never played a Wii, so I said she should come over sometime.

After the party we took one of the last BARTs home and then I had to get on the N since I don't live up on the hill anymore. Then the 91 owl was running late or barely at all, so rather than wait 55 minutes for the next train I walked down to Taraval. This is from Judah...and the streets run alphabetically. So..not exactly what I wanted to be doing at the moment, although it's not a bad walk.

Lots of gas stations and lots of gated apts with parked cars out front. When I got down to my street the Hawaiian BBQ/Breakfast place was open as I had been hoping. It felt like the hike needed a more exciting end than "I went home for Cheerios and my comfy couch bed."

I was pretty impress with those guys running a tight ship. Even when a big drunk guy walked in and fell off his stool they just picked him up and pointed him out. Forrest Gump was on TV and I ate a Mahi Mahi burger which...is not what I had expected. More like fish 'n chips stuck between a bun, but it was good, and good for 2 am food, too. Of course, the prices are the type that reflect the huge menu selection and crazy hours, but that wasn't so bad. It was worth it.

Would've been more fun with friends! But my night owl friends in the area can't eat there unless they get the fruit dish or something...

So here starts the backlog of recent events:

I moved to this place on Taraval, on the L line which runs both downtown and to the Zoo. I also take the 28/91 to get between the L and the N after 9 pm because there is construction on weeknights...or something like that. The apt is pretty shitty and I should've paid more attention to detail when I was looking for the place, but I was most concerned about price and neighborhood is sooooo perfect.

It has everything, even my bank. A Walgreens, an all night Hawaiian BBQ (;p), an Asian dessert cafe on the corner, some other restaurants, all of which seem pretty hoppin'. There is also a Safeway just a few blocks down and an organic food shop even closer. Tennis courts and a library are directly across the street from where I live.

Which explains me at the library to steal Internet.

But yeah the apt is pretty crap. I can get neither my laptop nor my Wii to connect to the Wireless there so I haven't even bothered to pick up a card for my desktop yet. Seems pretty futile. There is also no heat.

Needless to say I am looking for a better place.

My roommate doesn't seem to mind any of this, not even the mold in the shower. She is super rare. You need like +20 luck to even spot her through a crack in the door.

I also recently started my job at IGN, where I freelance part-time from their office. This is pretty groovy and pays better than I've ever been paid before. So far I've worked on some Diablo riffs and I just started a Nancy Drew mystery (#17...something about a skull.)

I guess that's pretty much all I can think of at the moment. Otaku USA issue 4 is due for Monday, so I have a couple of articles to finish up, including one for a game I have barely played...so...

yippee.

Oh, and the boy and I aren't broken up, which I know is the question on everyone's minds. Nope. Haven't. Which only begs stranger questions, I'm sure, but whatever ;p

HOLY UPDATE POST BATMAN!

So I changed the title of my blog.

And I moved into my new apt.

I thought about starting a new blog, but I think the title name is enough, and it keeps the old address, so the vestiges remaine.

My new apt has poor air quality, but my room is pretty much set. A couple other items still have yet to make their way over from the boy's, but maybe this weekend we'll get it settled. Then I need to help him put his place back together, probably.

I will update with some pix when I find my camera battery charger, of my new place and the neighborhood. I'm using the wireless at the library at the moment... They also have Haruki Murakami's new book, so I'm gonna check it out.

There are tennis courts right across the street from my house, which makes me happy.

I'm gonna get a haircut, now, I think.

And then go home or something.

I have leftover pizza.

Also, I think I'm just gonna throw the Japan pix up on flickr, or forget about them entirely or something. I don't have the energy to blog it all, I don't think. So if you really want to know about the trip, you'll probably have to just ask me...*sigh*

I dunno if I will really blog too much anymore or not. It doesn't really serve too much of a purpose, I guess.

Mosquito bites

I have a bunch, including one that is not bothering too much (contrary to what one may think) on my foot, but also two that are directly on top of the knuckles on my right hand which DO bother me quite a bit.

And there's been something in my eye, although may have finally worked itself back into my brain. Crossing my fingers. I feel a little better, though.

Japan was awesome, which you see as the other blog continues to unfold. Probably there will be some stuff up on 1Up again at some point too [and here I come back and edit what seems to be a serious plague of typographical errors...I can't seem to put two os on "too" for the life of me : /], but you can already check out my TGS '07 collected works (;p) minus the mag write up that has yet to be...polished...and of course, published, since that won't happen until December.

In the meantime, well, what meantime? I'm busy as hell, as usual. I made a new friend the other day. She treated me to Indian food for lunch since I am broke. I feel sort of bad for allowing myself to owe her lunch before she even really knows me, but we hit it off pretty well and she also, coincidentally, is friends with another fellow in the same building I live in-- I have a feeling we'll be hanging out A BIT. But not this weekend since she's going to visit Ian, which is how I got acquainted with her in the first place.

Well, saying I have an awful lot to do won't make me any less busy, so I should probably just get cracking. Hope everyone had a good month. Sept is pretty much gone...

Wow, I never post!

As if I can even manage this malnourished beast of a blog, I'll be moving operations back to the overseas page starting TOMORROW. Off to Tokyo for two weeks of pure awesome. We'll see if I can even manage to pack all my crud. That will be an adventure in itself.

Game stuff will continue to be posted to that other little land, which obviously given the ratio of game stuff to normal stuff in my life, is far less dejected than this blog here.

TA-DA! As my parting shot I bring you...uhm...

this:



WA HA HA HA I'm going to Tokyo @_@!!!X!!:D!!^_^!!o_o

ZOMG DIGIMON

This is brilliant. There was a period of time in high school when I listened to this song multiple times in a day. I guess I either didn't realize or had forgotten that this was the theme to the first movie. Wow, it's so good though. The video there is someones carefully put together amv, but I'm just so into the song.

Anyhow I watched Digimon Adventure (the movie from 1999) and actually liked it. Taichi and Hikari are adorable. I'm supposedly researching for this game I am playing, since I've never done anything Digimon before, but now I sorta just want to watch some Digimon anime, as if I'm not watching enough things already haha

Photo Dump

If you go to flickr and search for "Company Halt" (under people...with the space between "Company" and "Halt") you will find that I have added a crud bucket and a half of pictures. In sets, even. These are the long lost zoo and bay cruise pictures, as well as the most recent pix from the Palm Springs trip I took.

None of them are terribly exciting or of any consequence, really. I feel like I take very drab pictures. I am uneasy photographing people I don't know, so unless my friends and I decide to have a photo-op, I don't generally take pictures of them. And I would never ask someone to take a picture of me, and sort of forgot to do the self portrait myspace thing...

Ah well :D

Enjoy if you would.

さよなら絶望先生

I'm in love with this show and I know I've spoken of it briefly before, but here I will try to maybe describe some of its appeal and brilliance, and maybe some of its oddities as well.

First off...



It's still on TV in Japan. That means that as fast as the fansubbers can crank them out we will see them. Or at least I will, but I doubt you will not be able to stop watching once you start.

The premise is wonderful: a teacher who is incredibly negative and depressed (as you may be able to guess from that flattering shot of him hanging from the tree by his neck) and a student who is positive to the point of ridiculous naivety. In fact, she suggests (and you get the feeling she's almost OC positive because of her past, maybe...could be some interesting developments in store, either that or it's just more goofy fluff) that he is only trying to make himself taller, and not attempting suicide at all.

As the show continues it becomes a parade of strange classmates such as...



in episode two. There is also an exchange student, a bandaged girl (which is apparently out of style according to), a crazy cell phone girl, and others. You may notice they are all female. It seems only incidentals are male. OH, let us not forget the stalker! That episode was terrific.

The opening and closing themes are rather emo and a bit punk, or at least alternative. Definitely not your typical happy fly J-Pop love and bunnies. Of course, if you couldn't tell by now, the show is primarily dark humor.

Each episode also features a moment like this:



wherein our handsome scholarly hero descends into despair, crying, 「絶望した！」And followed with the reason. He really does get upset about everything and even visits the school counselor regularly, to her annoyance.

Apparently the show started off as a manga, and the creators are very open about the fact that they won awards and have met with much success. Comments are included that almost make you think they are a little put out to be doing an anime, but I'm sure it's meant jokingly. Hopefully they'll get over the little asides, though, because it's a bit tiring. I'd rather just enjoy their work.

Also of note are the censor icons, which are not little black bars, but the face of...the director? Someone. Maybe just some random fellow. They are used sporadically, sometimes to shield an innocent's panties or the nipples of someone's daydream, but at other moments panties are flying with wild abandon, so it just depends on the context, really. It's more a joke in and of itself (he is often glancing off camera) than it is actual censorship.



Anyways, I feel like I've already said too much, but hopefully it will entice you enough to want to see the show. Episode five has just recently been subbed, so off you go to catch up.

The awful dream and its sequel

Well, of course I'm still behind on my blog. Quite behind. But I'm awake early enough that I don't necessarily feel compelled to start working right away (which is bad, because I really have way too much stuff to do) SO I'm gonna describe the creepy dreams I had.

First of all, there were two and I'm pretty sure they took place in the same city. What city that was or if it exists (doubtful) I have no idea, but in the first dream it was also apparently part of a video game. There were various characters, most of whom I seemed to trust, but with one in particular our relationship degraded severely over time.

Getting around the city was fun, except when you were bombarded with salespeople handing out fliers. This happened on occasion and it seemed to me (even in the dream) that these were the fodder enemies of the game. Just there to be obnoxious and slow things down a bit. But they could also come at you in huge groups and be very overwhelming. In fact, when I woke up (with an audible yelp, so you know it must've been pretty bad) I was struggling to get through a doorway and they were all holding me back, trying to pass me free samples and pamphlets.

That was not nearly the most disturbing part of the dream though. There was one point (I assume there was some kind of storyline, since it was a pretty detailed dream, but I only remember the most harrowing portions) where I was sitting with two guys. One was across the sitting area, but the other was on a couch next to me. The latter was upset for some reason. Can't remember why. Anyways, he started crying and I felt bad so I was trying to hug him and say something encouraging. I don't remember. Next thing I know he's not crying, but pawing at me. Like, literally. Scraping his fingers (and then teeth) over my ribcage. And it wasn't like a, "haha I'm joking this is silly" more like a "haha I'm going to rape you and check out my creepy fetish of wanting to rip you to shreds with my bare hands" It was immediately obvious that that was what was going on. He was trying to dig a hole in my torso and it was super disgusting. So anyhow I screamed bloody murder and somehow kicked him off (the other guy did nothing at all) and then ran away.

I ended up meeting one of my friends (in the dream, anyhow) and told him what happened and that's how I learned it was a game. He said there are some characters in there that are challenging, so you have to just learn how to deal with them. And I told him something along the lines of that yeah, I understood that, but it was just really distressing. He didn't seem to have too much sympathy, but by then he was one of the only characters I felt like I could talk to.

There was one other character near the end that I started trusting, but I don't remember what the scenario was. I ended up inviting him to my house for some reason, an Asian guy, I think he was in trouble and needed help as well. I forgot what happened, though...

Then came that scene where I woke up. I was pretty creeped out, mostly about the fetish rapist, so I wanted to wake up the boy and get a hug, but it turned out that I woke him up out of his own nightmare, so we really didn't talk much, but just tried to go back to sleep.

I ended up having another dream, and like I said, it took place in the same city, but then this time I don't think it was a videogame.

I was actually a games journalist (person, thingy whatever the hell) in there, too, but a friend and I decided to join a theater group. Well, I think we were sort of tricked into it (somehow, dunno how) but after the fact we decided it might be fun. My character was actually one of the main ones, named Quitty. The premise, or at least the opening premise, of the play was that my character was transformed to resemble a slightly larger version of this mouse-sized person with no legs. Then I guess the rest of the thing was the trials and tribulations or something of being in that situation. It seemed compelling at the time, probably because that little mouse-sized thing was real.

It turned out that practice was going to be from like 12 to 7 or 10 or something, nearly everyday until the show came out in...October? So we had like a month and a half or so to practice. I had no idea how I was supposed to do that and get all my tons of work done, but I decided it would be worth it.

Some other things happened, like there was a restaurant or a convenience store, but I can't remember what went on there. Also I remember going home, but I don't remember what it looked like (although I think there was a garage??) or what I did after that...

Needless to say, the second dream was much better than the first, even though it challenged my ability to get things done even further than I already am irl.

AH ha ha

SO at least ONE avid reader has called me on my failure to inundate, although if you look closely you'll notice I wasn't really promising so much at all!

The real problem here is that I am much keener on being out doing things than writing about them. Writing is certainly important, but being out doing things is MOREso. In fact, if you never did anything, you wouldn't have much to write about.

So in the case of today I was off eating a mountain of cheesecake while pretending to know Japanese and messing up on the movie times, causing us to instead end up in my living room with a Genki II book between us, translating dialogs for bilingual practice. YAY!

Also applying for that Nintendo job finally NOT after being endlessly pestered-- although I did try last night to no avail-- NO, the final straw was that one of the OTHER ripten writers got a phone interview. That's INSANE. I would very much like in on the action, so my hand is on the table. We'll see what happens!

AS FOR:

my personal anime club - I wanted to spend some time taking screenshots of the appropriate shows, but this is time consuming and ultimately not that important besides a little jazz on this otherwise TERRIBLY WORDY blog. So, erm, not happening. The crux of the post was going to be how I was introduced to this GREAT WEBSITE by my friend who is now in Japan. With all the streaming anime and drama goodness, my schedule is...well, actually my schedule is pretty manageable at the moment. This is two days in a row that I have worked, watched anime, studied Japanese, and read more Harry Potter--way to go!! *flash of the two-fingered victory*

There are so many shows to watch and I keep finding more and more that are MUST SEES. For instance, Kayo told me today that for those 25-30 (or for those who would be culturally aware of the...erm...generation?) Touch is a must-see/read. Currently, I'm checking out Kimagure Orange Road, which I've been wanting to watch for just about ever. Retro anime ALL THE WAY. Or rather, half of the way, because the show I'm watching it back to back with is Denno Coil, which as you could see if you clicked the link, is brand spanking, not-even-through-its-original-run new. How exciting!

Both are wonderful in their own special ways. The former in that ORIGIN OF ALL CLICHES way and the latter in that funky character design, fluffy cyberspace way. Maybe I'll talk about them more later. I'm only up to the fourth ep...

three weekends ago (or whenever that was) - The problem with this post is that I am too lazy to take the pictures off of my camera, fiddle around with them, and post them finally to the Internet. What happened is actually quite simple. The boy and I had an outing to the Zoo, which was pretty brilliant besides their near complete lack of reptiles. We also ate Chinese food!

Then the very next day I forgot to wear sunscreen ON A BOAT (!) with Ian and his visiting friends. We sailed around the bay like a band of merry rogues and then indulged in Ghiradelli sundaes. After gallery-hopping down the street, we decided it was time to head further afield, but not so far as J-town. Eventually settled on Washington Square Park, which according to Ian looked bigger in the painting (or was that his friend who said that? Someone was dissatisfied with the size of the park...hmm hmm hmmmmm) In any case, we weren't there long because the idea had been to have a walk to get hungry for dinner. But after that we decided not to have any, so I got a ride home and put aloe on my face!!!

THE END :D

Catch-up blog day

PREPARE TO BE INUNDATED. Ok, not really. But I'm hoping for like three posts today of which this is clearly the first.

1 (this one) - most recent happenings
2 - my own personal anime club
3 - three weekends ago (or whenever that was)

Obviously I've been REALLY BUSY. That seems to be what I tell people, what goes in my blog, and how I feel. QUITE busy. This weekend I finally got to a point where I had some free time and it was weird. I studied, I read some Harry Potter, I got ahead on work, I played a game that wasn't work, I watched anime (to be elaborated on later), and even got ahead on work because I was BORED.

The thing I really meant to blog about, though, was how my friend left for JET on Saturday. It's a weird feeling, because I probably could've been going right with him if I had applied. It's pretty much the same feeling I get while not applying to this Nitendo job that I stupidly explained to everyone (so now they expect me to get it). Just because you think you're good enough for something, does that mean you have to do it? I like doing what I do now. I'd rather be doing it full-time for someone, or at least I have an idea I would, but writing reviews and especially previews of videogames is a job I can continue doing for quite some time. Maybe that makes me boring.

We went out for lunch in J-town, before his orientation on Friday. He had beef curry and I had some fusion spaghetti. For dessert, we split the most insane crepe (which I believe I have had before with Scotty and which is probably the only one I will ever order at that place because it's delicious and amazing) with green tea ice cream, red bean, kuromitsu, strawberries, and whipped cream...am I forgetting anything? It's pretty intense. Anyways, the point was, he was leaving the next day for a year+ in Japan and I was not. Well, no, that wasn't the point, but it's my point now. It just felt weird, like I wasn't living up to my potential or something. Not like JET is a measure of THE MOST EXTREME POTENTIAL LIMIT or anything, but I had always envisioned myself living in Japan, at least for a while, and I'm not there.

I'm here, of course, which is something I had never imagined. Well, I guess I did at some point, since that's how it all happened, but it wasn't something I had ever wished for on a star in high school or something. My life pretty much rocks, so I feel like things are good. Am I getting stuck in a rut? A six month rut? Is that even possible? I dunno. Change is great, but I want to make sure I'm moving in a direction that goes somewhere. Ideally, living in Japan doing what I'm doing now. That would make sense. But I wonder if I'm screwing myself over by not trying to get more opportunities.

But that's ridiculous anyways. I've made myself a ZILLION opportunities in the last month alone. I dunno. When it comes down to it I'm partly envious, but I know it's dumb to be envious, especially with a job like mine. My friend said I could always apply later and that's totally true. I dunno. It's just a weird feeling, seeing other people carrying out plans you used to have.

B-day Pie GET!!

So after having this crazy craving for banana cream pie for pretty much 3 years, I think, the boy and I finally made one today. Usually I would have Stoughton Cake, but since I had that recently at my grad party I decided to go to the pie route.

We used a recipe in the cook book I got for X-mas, doing it the real custard way with egg yolks and everything. We switched to a graham cracker crust, though, instead of macadamia nuts and shredded coconut. You have to be very patient to make the kind of pie that results from not using instant pudding. I suppose that goes without saying, but really. There were about 4 hours of waiting around for custard to cool and the pie to set. Even in the end it wasn't really set. I wonder if it will set tomorrow. Didn't matter so much. It was tremendously rich and delicious and I'm looking forward to having a second (slightly smaller, I think @_@) slice/scoop of it tomorrow.

PS - This is not the entry that is supposed to contain pix of the zoo and other sites.

At SOME point...

I'm going to blog about last weekend and how the boy and I went to the zoo and how Ian and Co. came up from Santa Cruz on Monday to see some sites. I have pictures. I will post them...just not right now.

This is the thing about bloggin! Takes so much time! For instance, I am now 22. I have been blogging since I was...18? Not here, but yeah, since then. Four years of blogging. I can still go look back at those first posts and wonder how the hell I even made it.

Basically, I'm sort of a workaholic. I even went to the IRS in the Federal Building yesterday (which is only slightly less difficult to get into than an airport) to discuss whether or not I have to prepay my taxes. ACTUALLY, as it turns out, I don't, because I didn't file taxes last year (didn't make enough.) On the one hand, that's great. On the other hand, even if I don't, I don't think I will make enough money to pay back my student loans much less cover the expenses of Tokyo for two weeks even if I do have that super affordable and awesome homestay now. NOTTINGHAM! I want to go to Gamecity, but I have a feeling it won't happen. I need a fundraiser.

Fundraising! Writing about videogames, at least at this juncture, is not terribly good at that. Yet, I hope? I think maybe once I start getting paid for things from some people it will turn out ok, but I still don't have the money NOW to do things in October, and I probably won't until like March, if even then. And how am I supposed to be pick up the last two consoles in the midst of all this mayhem?

Anyways, writing about videogames IS a really good way to suck up your Friday night, or every night! I guess it's good to have a job that you don't particular MIND doing your every waking minute, but it would still be nice to read Harry Potter since we did end up picking it up (the day of) at the grocery store...

and study Japanese...

and get some laundry done...

and watch some movies...

cartoons...

maybe!

One thing I don't have to do unless I strictly want to is run all over town. I've been out and about quite a bit more than I ever expected this week, making the trip to 1up (or further!) twice in a day at least two days of the week. Honestly, I can't believe that it was just Monday that Ian was here and Tuesday was my birthday. Feels like a month ago @_@

Anyways, I'm off to putter about or something. Maybe read a bit before locking myself into a Sword of the New World marathon...

snacktime

I am supposed to be taking a break from staring at games, but I decided I had to blog about this is the worst hummus and carrots I've ever had. This brand of hummus is just way too plain. Needs some spices.

Since I got my first job from IGN I've been working pretty hard. Well, I got a pile of stuff for GamePro, too, so basically I've been working on one game all day and will switch gears after dinner to the MMO project.

Then again, it's Harry Potter night, so I'm guessing (well I was guessing, until I was told) that there are to be not a small number of festivities occurring. I'm not sure the boy will be up for that, but it's possible that we may go out and run amuck. I'm almost tempted to get the book, because I would really like to read it. I don't have any of the other ones, though, as the HP series was a family collection (or mostly my brother's I suppose, in a prominent family location so we could all have access).

Kinda hoping I can leech once someone finishes. I know plenty of people who are getting it and they all intend to read it straight through without stopping, as is the fashion.

THE PAST

I received an e-mail today from a fellow who didn't think I remembered him whereas, in fact, I remember him rather more clearly than most because he had a crush on me and it was a source of some distress when we were paired together for a history project. Then he moved away which I guess was sort of sad but also relieving. We were sort of friends, though, so probably more sad. There was probably much geeking out to be had that was missed.

Anyways, I am supposed to be on my way to lunch with my friend and got sidetracked by this whole thing. Now he'll think I'm a flake!

Taxes o_o

Mmm, so it turns out that I should be on my third tax payment this September...I think. That's bad. And really it's more like my fifth and sixth because I owe both state and federal. Hell, I half wonder if there aren't San Francisco taxes. So much for...anything, I guess. I feel sort of doomed. Taxes are very complicated and it's not like I can afford to hire an accountant (much less much of anything anymore. Gah, I wonder how much I owe. It must be hundreds of dollars...

I don't really want to think about it, but I should probably go down to some offices tomorrow and figure out what I'm supposed to do...

: /

Good day - the coffee

I made the mistake of drinking coffee with caffeine in it today. Forgot to ask for decaf espresso in my mocha. Aiie.

Other than that things were quite good. Met up with a friend from UOP for lunch and we had a bit of a wander. MOMA wasn't open, so we ended up at the mall that is near but not actually the Metreon. There are fancy clothes there.

One of the stores in particular has a rather interesting set-up, but alarmingly all their male manikins had seriously stuffed "packages". Like overly so. I was tempted to mention this at that moment to my friend, but thought he would find it odd that I was putting so much thought into the crotches of manikins.

He (my friend) seems to have evolved his tastes. Or maybe he always had good taste and just wasn't able to afford them. In particular, I enjoyed his exchange with the staff at The Art of Shaving. Apparently he's quite interested in getting a cleaner, more comfortable shave. Challenged that clerk's knowledge, and I think the guy did pretty well.

After that I stopped home quick to grab my J-notebook, the number of whose pages is swiftly dwindling. I need a new one. Anyhow, met Kayo, a neighbor of Shin's, who arrived from Japan almost two months ago. She seems really cool and I'm looking forward to not only studying with her, but also the possibility of just being friends and doing things that friends do like watching movies. She likes the outdoors, so I'm thinking we will maybe have the opportunity to visit parks together. I said we should go camping and wasn't really kidding, although I'm pretty certain neither of us have neither the equipment nor funding necessary for such a venture. Getting my mom to bring tennis rackets from Wisconsin, however, is probably a viable prospect. Until then, I think once the apt is a bit cleaner we will make do with Wii Sports.

Six hundred posts

and this blog is such an emo train wreck! I studied some kanji today. There is one weird one that has a component that is like a stretched out kanji eye. Hard to write because you want to write it like a regular eye would be written.

Yesterday I met up with the guys from ripten for lunch at this Chinese place on Clement. Ate way too much food and it wasn't so much a business lunch as just a screw around lunch. He didn't bring the build he was going to (but we hadn't discussed it lately, so I suppose it's fair that he forgot) but he did bring his gf and his friend's gf and another friend. Ah well, we had fun, I guess, even if it was a bit awkward.

It's been a week since last Sunday when we all went out to the wharf for videogames and goofiness. Checked out the Ripley's museum. It feels like it's been longer, but I guess that's what E3 week feels like...even when you're not anywhere near or having anything to do with it? Maybe that's what a deadline week feels like then, how about that? I like deadlines, though. Keep life interesting.

Today I'll end up going to the grocery store and picking up this place a bit. The bedroom has turned into my creepy freelance nest and really needs some organization and just a good clean. Still have a lot of games to play before I start writing stuff. Worried that the feature is going to come up a little short, or at least feel half-assed because I only got to play half of the games I'm talking about. We do what we can, but I feel like it was a mistake to not import the PSP game, maybe, even though it would've cost me half the pay for the article... That's so silly, though. I hope we find an import sponsor soon. I mean, a discount is only a discount, but every little bit counts. And really, they'd probably be making MORE money off of us that way because once we have a discount we'll feel more inclined to buy things. Right now we just really can't afford it but every step we come closer to affording it makes us want to say, "Screw it! For the good of the magazine we shall import until our pockets are full of sawdust!" Hahaha, I hope not. Too much other crap to pay for, but not quite as much as I thought...at least, I think.

My mom mentioned that my dad got something in the mail that reports my monthly loan payments as a good chunk less than what I had anticipated (on purpose, of course-- always overestimate!) so that's pleasant.

I'm gonna get back to what I was doing now. Mostly I just wanted to get that horrible pathetic post off the top of my blog : / I should really just stay away from my blog when I'm in a bad mood. It never helps and it just makes me look stupid @_@

Snacky Slug's Stupid Fuck-Off Day

This is the syndrome of me as a stay-at-home freelancer. This is why I hate staying at home! That's why I thought wcities would be so great. Big walk to work every morning. Big walk home. Interacting with people IN THE WORLD instead of in the literal closet. (That's where my computer is, for those who've forgotten.)

I guess it's just one crummy day and of course it's compounded by the fact that I'm playing Japanese games I can't understand. I have no idea what I'm going to write about any of this stuff and it's really really discouraging, if not downright depressing. Then there's the matter of the mail, which should have been delivered and was not, at least not TO me. Granted, it's probably our fault that the buzzer doesn't work, but I specifically requested that the thing be sent in a way that made it end up in my ACTUAL mailbox WHERE THE MAIL SHOULD JUST AUTOMATICALLY GO. Yesterday the UPS managed to tag a note on my door in the building, so I figured they would just knock today, but it must've been a fluke. Found a sticker on the door outside when I went out to buy...chips...

Uhm...

Yeah.

So today is shaping up to be a spectacular failure in pretty much every way. And I'm tired. There is absolutely no reason to be tired, but I am. I hate not having a reason to be tired. The best days are the ones where you absolutely kick your fucking ass and then go to bed feeling like you deserve it. I dunno if I'm gonna get many of those...

I guess the only upside is that I've been lent a copy of Lumines and enjoy that quite a bit...guiltily, when I know I'm supposed to be doing something else.

Thanks for stopping by the emo post of the week! Regularly scheduled programming to return tomorrow...or the day after.

The Day-Job-Less

Well, that's that. I called wcities and told them I had been offered some exciting opportunities doing more writing (which isn't entirely untrue, and maybe be even less untrue in the hopefully near future) and had to quit on the spot. Which they were totally fine with. They even want to pay me 20 bucks for last Friday.

Anyways, I'm free! Lancing! This is it. I just have to work super hard now and write as much as I can and then hopefully I'll be termed something akin to A SUCCESS. Even if only within my own little realm. Feels good, though, to be on the way to that.

I wish I were at E3 because that would've been a huge opportunity to write tons of stuff, but so it goes. There are other events to head out to, so hopefully I'll get to check out one of those. In the meantime, especially this week for some reason, I have plenty of stuff to do. The magazine deadline is a week from today and I've got tons of stuff to get done. Of course, after that who knows what I'll do, but so it goes.

Bloggy blog

Man, I always feel like I'm stealing time to blog. Like, right now I should be doing a hundred other things, but I'm sitting here typing about nothing. I should be studying Japanese or reading or working on a feature or getting ready to leave! Blah!

But no, I should really blog about the weekend before it's next week because Sunday was such a good day. I got the bathroom clean, so if we do what I did and split the place into four "rooms," then we can almost say I got 3/4 of the way done cleaning this weekend. Of course, laundry is a very big chunk of that and I only got a tiny bit of that done, so it probably equals out to more like half.

Also went on a shopping quest for cute clothes, but they didn't have the skirt I wanted in my size. Not a complete failure, though, because I found a cute tank that it's never going to be hot enough for me to wear *sniff* That's another thing I liked about Wisconsin. It was summer and you KNEW it. HOT out. Oh well, I mean it's not like not sweating and sitting around like a lump was any good for me, but I liked being hot for a change instead of cold or accidentally too hot because I expected to be cold.

After shopping we dropped our stuff off at home and went to the newly remodeled and re-everything'd Nob Hill Grille. Used to be a diner, but it's turned all swanky and expensive. We had a date. The boy had steak (which was so tender and delicious) and I had chicken (which was equally so.) Everything was so good that we didn't have room for dessert, which we'll have to do another time because I bet they have something crazy good like mocha cheesecake or something. I'll be disappointed if they don't ;p

Ok ok ok, and now, WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE THE SEASON WAS OVER? The boy brought it up all nonchalantly and I nearly cried. It really snuck up on me. Thirteen episodes all blown by like nothing. X-mas is too far away! We decided to watch oldies until then. Sundays just need some Doctor Who.

Anyhow, yeah, Sunday was pretty dreamy. Even managed to fit in a little gaming. It was a perfect balance of yucky chores and fun happy.

As for today...it will be my first full day at wcities. I hope I can take seven hours. It can be a bit of a slog, but I think the break schedule is definitely fair. And at the end of it I get to wander over to 1Up and have anime club, so I think it should be ok. We'll see...

And then Wednesday is my last day at the grocery store! Sweet. I will maybe have more to say about that later. I had some things to say, but you can't blog instantly from your head yet, so I forgot them.

A week ago

I was at home : /

I dunno why I miss it so much now. It's ok, but it's not spectacular or anything. I guess I'm just really not a kid anymore and it's kind of a bummer. I mean, it's cool to grow up and I've been not a kid for a while, but maybe it's more pronounced now that I'm done with school. Plus I just had a really good time visiting and I miss my mom. I didn't used to miss everything so much...

Anyways, it's not like we've been having a crappy weekend or anything! Quite the opposite. Yesterday got a whole ton of stuff done, like most of the kitchen and the living room are clean. Could fix up the coffee pot and touch up the fridge, but other than that it is pretty awesome-looking in there.

Today the challenge will be the bathroom and this bedroom. The bedroom is only a pain because all those clothes on the floor have to be washed, which is its own separate pain in the neck. Luckily we have lots of stuff to sandwich in between the lame stuff, like going shopping (*crosses fingers*), playing games, watching Doctor Who, and the boy's other b-day present finally came the other day so we can rewatch alllll of The Venture Brothers, too :D

Gotta go to the grocery store. Dunno if I'll be able to carry everything, but I should at least try. And then after today it's MONDAY again...a week after my fillings. Oh, and it's July. The summer is moving along, I guess, but I can't wait till my mom comes to visit in August. That'll be sweet. And jeez I'll be 22 by then @_@ Hmm : / 22 is a lame number. Then again it doesn't necessarily mean anything. 12 is the best number and nothing spectacular happened that year. Yeah, I'm gonna quit screwing around and try to get some stuff done...

"Hello. Going out tonight?"

I couldn't tell if he was actually hitting on me or just making fun of how frumpy I looked. Really though, I had every right to look frumpy. It was Friday night of a rather ass-kicking (meaning it kicked my ass, although there was nothing wrong with it) week. Scary, considering it only really started on Wednesday. Those three days, though, were pretty much full to the brim with work and as much play as I could smash in.

I guess the biggest news item is that I'm going to be at wcities until something better comes along. That could be taken as a given, really, except I was hoping something had perhaps come along already, which it hasn't. Wednesday morning with them was no sweat. A five hour Thursday shift was cake, compared to five hours at Nijiya, which of course, sometimes turns into six because (as the argument recently goes) "It's still light out." Yes, so let's continue to let people in until 8:30 after close because the sun hasn't gone completely below the horizon. Not like anyone notices I'm only scheduled 'till 8. Not like anyone notices how often it is PAINFUL for me to stand there. I was thinking about it. It's not really the cashiering that bothers me. I like that. It's just people and incidents and being kept past my schedule, etc.

For example (and this has already been vented on a billion times irl, but for those who haven't heard it yet...) there was this older lady the other day who came in and I checked her out, packed up her groceries the way I normally would. Well, normally for Nijiya. You may remember that post that I'm not going to bother linking to (sorry) I put up when I first started about all the various wrapping practices that go on there. It's pretty lame. Anyhow, I tried to do an ok job and she bit my head off, "ZEN ZEN DAME No experience! You're so bad!" She then proceeded to unpack all her stuff at the end of my lane for like 20 minutes, wouldn't let me help, kept repeating how bad I was, how I can't wrap anything, and making sure every customer who came through during that time knew it too. "This girl is so bad. She can't wrap anything!" Flaming hell!

At wcities if you make a mistake that gets noticed an editor will come and somewhat sternly request that you change it, but at least there are no crabby old ladies. The job isn't quite as engaging as the fast paced cashiering, but for some reason it also goes by a lot faster. Maybe just cuz I'm used to sitting at a computer? Thursday all I did for five hours was work on a spreadsheet google doc. There was this ginormous list of fnac venues that a bunch of us French speakers were asked to check the database for. If it was there, we listed the entry number and display title. If it wasn't, we put "create" and tried to find a website for it. That's what I did for five hours. Got a couple breaks to hit the bathroom and have lunch. Was pretty ok.

Of course, I can think of things that would be better.

Like writing about video games all day. Speaking of which, I think I'm probably supposed to be doing that now before we launch into the Doctor Who/Cleaning marathon.

Lots of cousins and cake

and some other stuff. Barely got to see my Dad at all the whole time I was here, but definitely lots of cousins. Played some cool games that I'll talk about later, I guess...

Mostly I just wanted to worry about my teeth since they are apparently all rotting and breaking. Or something. I had three cavities at the dentist this morning which would seem a little overkill considering I do actually brush AND even floss at times. I don't think most people floss everyday. Do they? I never used to, but now that I do I have cavities. Go figure.

I'm not saying you shouldn't floss. Obviously I just have to floss EVEN MORE.

Anyhow, I was numb and drooly and didn't get to have lunch with my friend. My other friend came over for dinner, which was cool...

This whole weekend has been a bit of a food fest. Lots of grill-outs, cookies, cakes, pies, bagels, chips, zomg. I decided to just take advantage of all the celebratory whatever and eat the food. This strategy always works ok until you're done eating.

Oh well.

To not dwell on that we will continue on with the sad teeth story. So yeah, in addition to the 3 cavities that just got fixed today, I have 4 or 5 other spots that are in danger of becoming cavities unless I stop screwing around with my teeth. I really thought I was doing an ok job, so this is rather disappointing.

I'm hoping the fillings are ok. The one in the back seems fine, but I'm worried one of the ones closer to the front is hitting my bottom teeth weird. But then, my teeth may have always done that. It's hard to tell and I don't want to waste their time looking at it if it's fine. I think maybe I'm just still sore from all the everything. They polished and water-jetted and drilled and I think maybe I need more recovery time.

Of course, I leave tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, what else. Well, there's a boat at the lake sometimes now. I didn't ride in it because when I got there they were already out, but when they went out a second time it was right after dinner and I was too full as well as supervising some cousins on the Wii. Ah well.

That was at my graduation party. We had it at my g-ma's house on the lake. Very nice. One of my Aunts made this spectacular strawberry pie which didn't exactly show up my mom's Stoughton Cake-- I mean, it's impossible to do that-- but since it was a new experience I was very excited about it. In fact, we have some leftovers which I will partake of tomorrow morning alongside ham and eggs. It'll be glorious. Can't wait.

Then I'm getting on an airplane, ready to outsmart Kansas City by buying TWO water bottles in mke before I go and not stepping off the plane for one second. Stupid Kansas city. I left the waiting area and saw the guard. Didn't realize the guard wouldn't let me back in! There's nowhere to buy drinks or anything once you're through security, so you have to go outside, but then you can't bring anything back through security!!! It's a nightmare. Luckily I was in the mood for some orange juice or I would've been one thirsty kid. Everyone knows airplane water sucks.

teeth teeth teeth

I had a dream last night that I was at a game press event party thing with some of the guys from 1up. It followed the theme of everyone being horribly ill. In particular, Jeremy was trying to not feel throw-uppy. I don't remember anything else happening except a lot of people dancing while I stood around, which is weird, cuz that never happens. Also a tall guy. Maybe he was a videogame character? There was something surreal going on, that's for sure.

Xav just left a while ago. I guess it was almost an hour ago now...

Mrrf.

It was good to see him. We played games and watched youtube. Just as we should, I guess. Also ate steak which my mom grilled expertly, but which sort of hurt my tender teeth.

Wherein MTV does something good for the girl here

ZOMG!!!

Robin Thicke, formerly just "Thicke," has released a new CD as of this past February. Of course, I would have no idea. I pay no attention whatsoever to these things. But then there he was on MTV Live and you wouldn't even recognize him with that short hair, yadda. Yikes yikes yikes. Gonna go get that CD like...tomorrow, I hope. Can't wait o_o Guess it's one time that secondhand MTV has done me some good. W00t.

wcities

I work there as of yesterday. Yeah, imagine my shock upon receiving a phone call two minutes after sending my resume. They wanted an interview that very afternoon (this was Tuesday) but that was no-go since I had game stuff to do.

Tangent: Actually, soon after that I barely had anything to do because Alice had typo'd my demo time in the e-mail she sent out, so she had to cover it.

Anyways, I went down there Wednesday morning before going to the grocery store. Took the 27, which is really not much more convenient than walking by the time you rack up 20 minutes waiting on the corner and walking a substantial number of big SOMA blocks anyways. Might as well get the exercise and take a more direct route. Unless it's raining, that is, or freezing. I may look into an alternative bus route for foul weather conditions. At the moment, though, I wasn't sure I would even take the job...

wcities.com is a travel guide website. What I do is write (under close and efficient supervision) things such as this. That one actually is mine, not like you can tell. For an hour of said activity I make ten freelancer dollars. Anyhow, I thought at first that churning out these throw away snippets would ruin my writing, that the computer lab-like office environment was a little freaky, that I would perhaps rather continue at Nijiya despite its shortcomings. In the end, though, the tantalizing proximity to both 1Up and GamePro, as well as the fantabulously flexible scheduling won over.

The End...err, beginning

My first day went pretty smoothly. Everyone seemed friendly enough and not too annoyed when I asked questions or requested that something be printed since the computer I was on was oddly not hooked up fto the printer. First order of business was distinguishing me from the other Emily, which we did the old-fashioned childhood soccer team way-- by calling me Mikey instead.

I was pretty nervous and I'm always worried I will make a mistake entering the data. Writing the blurbs take a bit of thought, but the data feels harder because it's so important. If you say they take VISA and they don't, or you typo the phone number, some poor traveler will be out of luck, or rather, they will goto a different website more informed than ours and find what they want. The company would slowly decay in this manner and...well, yeah, the point is I would be doing a bad job and that's bad, but it's also sometimes difficult to nail down the stats.

The editor-in-chief is a pretty kooky fellow. The remembered me as the freelance writer who for some God forsaken reason left Milwaukee for Stockton. Fair enough.

"You speak Japanese, right?"
"Well, not fluently, but I'm still studying."
He flags down the assistant editor and tells him to have some chick come over. "You speak fluent Japanese, right?"
"Noooo," she says, embarrassed, "I only studied..." trails off mumble mumble....
"Well, this girl here speaks perfect fluent Japanese down the letter," he announces, pointing at me, "In fact, she translated the first edition of Hirohito's War Diaries and got lots of great press." I begin my disagreements as the girl reacts,
"Wow, that's amazing! I'm so jealous!"
"No, totally not true."
"Oh, don't be afraid to take a compliment. She really did it."

x_x

I think this is his strange way of getting us all acquainted, whether that means spreading crazy rumors or immediately making connections and citing our common interests or both, I'm not exactly sure, but it does seem that way. Later on when I mentioned that my Dad lives in NY he made a phone call to some fellow who wandered in (of course, from NY) and became involved in the search for where exactly the Gardens at Turtle Point are. (You would think "at Turtle Point," but it's a little more complicated than that.)

Seems like the guy thinks I'm ok, though. Seems satisfied with my writing and was also very impressed when I pointed out that "ok" and so-so" are the essentially the same thing. It's good when your boss thinks you're smart.

Only bummer of the day was that I thought I would have time to finish the MCJP and Walt Disney Studios Park (East Paris,) but 5:00 hit faster than was convenient so I had to quit and send it unfinished to someone else for later. The great thing is that I can just do that---there's no take home work whatsoever. That combined with the fact that I can take off to do demos or whatever else I need is pretty awesome.

Next week will be a short one. Don't even get back to town until Tuesday (I'm in WI, ne, in fact I wrote this by hand on the plane out of extreme boredom after my DS died five minutes in.) Won't make it with enough time to make going into the office worth it, but Wednesday morning I'll be in for three hours before doing some residual cashiering (yeah, I gave my two weeks) and then Thursday is my first full seven hour shift. Shouldn't be any problem, though. Lunch at 1:30, break at 4, it's a front-heavy schedule, which is the way to go.

Friday, I actually took off because I get to go to a big cool demo before grocery storing.

Once the grocery store is done with it will be easy to fit in 20-30 hours a week, but I'm worried that I won't have tome to do stuff I need to do otherwise. Hopefully not getting home at 9 pm will balance out with the extra working hours. That and I shouldn't be quite as bushed afterwards since it's a desk job. Then again, commuting on foot for an hour and a half most days may take its own toll. WHO CAN SAY?

I really wish my DS wouldn't have died. Totally meant to find a plug while I waited to board the airport but check-in with Midwest took about three years since they only had two people at the counter. By the time I got through security and grabbed lunch, it was already my turn to board.

Guess I may just have a nap before we get to Kansas City. Wish we didn't have to stop.

Flickr exhausted

Well terrific. I've just been informed that I'm not allowed to have over 200 viewable pictures in my flickr account. The old ones will scroll under the rug until I start paying them. DANDY.

I guess I'll have to start stashing them at facebook or something. Any other ideas?

Not exactly sure what my deal was yesterday

My weekend was pretty rocking, actually. I guess I just let a couple stupid things bug me enough that I got upset for a while. That's lame. Also not sure why I was so down on LOTR yesterday morning. I realize it's not the measure of my entire worth whether I can read these books or not, so I shouldn't have to if I don't want to, but I wasn't having that much trouble before then. I think other things just compounded to give me one of those THE-WORLD-IS-CRAP-tinted glasses.

Gonna blog about double xp in CoH in my other blog, so I'm not sure what else to say here. Oh, the boy cooked a tasty food. We had eggplant parmesan with steamed green beans and crusty bread. Although the bread crumbs in our cupboards boast they are suitable for breading, they are, in fact, totally useless, so we ended up just using flour. Still turned out ok. Very very tasty. And there's enough to do another round!

Did also manage to get every single laundry done. A semi-major accomplishment. We picked up quite a bit.

So yeah, overall, nothing is half as bad as I make it out to be, but please don't not take me to the hospital if I think my arm is broken. That would be lame.

A Weekend for Feeling Lousy

Well...I shouldn't really dwell on stuff that makes me feel crummy, but it just seems like the overriding theme of the weekend is feeling bad about something, whether it be having my (apparently awful) Beautiful Katamari preview completely rewritten (ten times better) or giving up again on LOTR.

In the case of the preview, not only do I feel bad for turning in something that wasn't fit to run (evidently), but I feel like what they eventually did some up with was something that I wouldn't have been able to come up with. Plus, just as icing, you'll notice it's top of the site at the moment. Feels really crummy to have everyone reading an article with your name on it that you next to nothing to do with. AND I know that if I would've done a better job (or something) I could've been proud of myself instead, and satisfied with all the hits (even though it's just because it's a highly anticipated game...)

In the case of LOTR I just feel rather stupid and lame. Or lazy. Already know all that if you read the link, but if you didn't catch the vibe, in sum: I just feel inferior.

I'm also stuck again in the latest game I'm reviewing, which is discouraging. All that's really left for me to do at this point is clean more. Got some laundry and dishes done yesterday but meh.

Made some blueberry not-scones this morning and they turned out ok. Or as well as the not-scone recipe ever does.

...

Yeah, this was a pretty pointless and depressing blog, but that's just sort of the way of things right now. I think the thing bugging me the most aside from the more immediate cleaning is my complete relack of confidence (or "recent even more lessening" might be better, since when did I feel confident?) in my writing. I mean, I'm going to be writing a lot and I'd rather not suck if I can help it....

Anyways, yay, look at me taking everything in my life and finding what's wrong with it. Luckily there have also been some good things, like double xp in CoH + happy task-forcing with Boy and the Jerks. Also putzed a bit with the Wii (that I did get, if I didn't mention that here yet) last night.

I guess maybe I'll go throw in some laundry and do some more of that, even though I should really try to get through the part I'm stuck on in that other game...

...

...

before whatever...

: /

Friday, thank you

But I have a little bit of creeping horror about this weekend. This weekend is what I will get for being so slack not only last weekend, but all week. The place is OVERRUN with just...crap...everywhere. However, it is also double xp in City of Heroes. I can tell this is going to take a delicate balancing act, but I'm willing to try! I'd also like to get outside at least a tad bit, even if it's just walking to...somewhere. The boy seems to have contracted some sort of flu-y thing, though, so it will probably be mostly games and cleaning. Which, you know, is ok. I should really start on some of it this morning before I go to cashier, but how likely is that to happen when I have a ROM of Drawn to Life to review? Ok ok, I'm going! Sheesh!

Results and challenges

I finally got the boy his b-day presents. I also got some other stuff that I needed. No more shopping. No more shopping unless I suddenly land a job with a real salary. I dunno how I'm ever going to have enough money for Japan, or, you know...groceries. I mean, right now I'm fine, but these student loans are going to add up to almost precisely what I make a month. Granted I've added new freelance stuff, but it's not PAY THE BILLS kind of stuff.

That and I'm kind of a workaholic now. I think the boy is upset. If I'm not physically at work at Nijiya, I'm at my computer, chatting with editors, e-mailing contacts, writing, or playing. Playing sometimes gets recreational, but more often than not lately it has something to do with something.

That brings me to that horrible Wii dilemma again. Found some great bundles on craigslist, and it might even get mostly bought as a graduation present. It'll be good to expand my reviewing capabilities, but I doubt I will have it by tomorrow, which is the problem currently at hand. I NEED A WII TO PLAY. I'm never doing this again, that's for sure. I'll have to just stick to the systems I actually have. Yeah, pretty much-- common sense has failed me. Really, my friend would've been able to let me borrow hers if the timing weren't so messed up. The way things are now, I don't even want to bug her anymore. My only choice may be to go back to my editor in ruin...

I should be asleep. Or at least writing up stuff. I think I'll take "asleep," though, at this point. Been a long day.

An exercise in indulgence

AS IF THAT'S NOT EVERYDAY @_@

No, but really. I got home from my job interview this morning (went ok...blah, mlah) and was ready for an early lunch since I had been up since like six. Had leftover turkey club sandwich from last night. Was going to go healthy for dessert, but the peaches had gone nasty. White ones tend to really quick for some reason. Anyhow, that just meant some of that groovy awesome cake. Layers upon layers, was my lunch.

Then I've been cruising the Otaku USA forums, and people keep mentioning deepdiscount.com. I now know why. WITNESS, as I lose all semblance of frugality (but when am I frugal?) to shell out (shell out...come now it's a mere) 30 dollars and change for the ENTIRE SECOND HALF of Gundam Wing. When I STARTED collecting this show (the first disc was the first anime DVD I ever bought...in fact it may have been the first DVD I ever bought, period) each single volume was that much!! Now I'm getting five for that price. It's ridiculous. I'm so excited :D

In addition to spending minor amounts of money on major amounts of anime, I've also been considering just up and buying a Wii if I can find one. This is a basic business expense, the way I see it. I mean, I should quit relying on my friends to lend me their next-gen toys so I can get my job done. Technically, I probably shouldn't have taken this particular job in the first place, but where there's a will, there's a way? I dunno. I just got my first check from IDG (huzzah!), so I feel like that's a reason to celebrate.

...

Craigslistin'...

There was a weekend in there, somewhere, too

Saturday was an indoors game playing, forum refreshing kind of day. The boy got into some old DOS games. I was not so keen on cleaning or anything, but I did do a bunch of dishes, and so did the boy (after we got all the dishes dirty again making gyuudon.)

Sunday, my friend my Santa Cruz drove up for the afternoon. We met at a Thai place on polk for some tasty foods and then had a wander up to North Beach/the wharf. Checked out the Barnes & Noble where they had IN STOCK a bunch of Otaku USA issues. We geeked out about comics and I drank some really good cinniminuminuniuminin tea. Then we huffed it back up the hill (and down) to the apt where we took in some of that cake I made and the pilot episode of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr..

I knew Ian was pretty into this show so it was good to finally get a taste. The feature length pilot is pretty much set-up material, I guess, but of course you still get an excellent feel for the goofy tone they're undertaking. I've never really watched any Westerns before, but this seems totally accessible. I sort of wonder if there are nods I will miss later on, but from what I've seen so far it's completely enjoyable on its own merits. Of course, what I've seen so far is liable to be all I see unless I find someone on hand to borrow the DVDs from.

Speaking of watching DVDs (and reading manga?) I'm feeling sort of driven lately. I want to get into it (again.) There are a lot of things I want to do...

Particularly, I'd like to get this blog over with and play a game or something. I'm more likely to continue my aimless net wandering and finish this tea, though. Time management. Damn.

There is no reason for being away right now...

I got up a little after seven after being up until almost two. What the hell is the point in that? Obviously I enjoy having time to screw around in the morning, but I'm TIRED. The whole reason I got to bed so late was that I was tired, but not tired enough, and now I'm having the same problem. Too awake to lie there, but still sleepy...

Been researching digital voice recorders finally. Ever since my Austin experience I've been wishing I would've had one. Then again, it's probably really rude to have a recorder going during dinner anyhow, and that was where all the good stuff was getting said...

*shops around...*

Yeah, getting a digital recorder would be a whole new can of worms.

*shrug shrug*

Oh yeah-- my new job

I guess this is as good a time as any. Remember how I said it would be really cool to write for Otaku USA? Well, now I do! Funny story!

Actually it's really SHORT. All I did was comment really lamely on the myspace page and, of course, the nature of comments is such that it's still there if anyone is curious exactly what was said. Patrick, the editor-in-chief, mailed me back right away saying that he'd love to have me write for them.

*_* O_O X_X :D ^_^ @_@ !_!

You can imagine how I felt at that moment.

Anyways, I was going to say anything until issue two actually came out, but that's a long ways away and I might as well let everyone know early so they know to camp the bookstores when it hits in August. The submission date is sometime next week and I should have at least a couple things in. I'll be doing primarily game section stuff, (reviews, etc) but most exciting is that I'm in cahoots with the section editor planning cool stuff. We'll see how it goes.

Cake

This morning I got up and made the cake I didn't have time to make yesterday. German Chocolate for the boy's birthday. Pretty no sweat. I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of sweet, just because we had more than two bags of chips in the cupboard. Also ran out of regular white sugar and had to switch to brown for the last half a cup, which was also required for the frosting, although we had dark rather than light. Despite these couple of compromises, it turned out deliciously. And huge. Anyone in the neighborhood can maybe stop by for some cake if you let me know first.

Work was pretty standard today, although I did start talking with a fellow I've seen around a couple times before, but never chatted with before. Apparently he's been cashiering for a couple different Nijiya branches on and off for four years. Recently joined up at the J-town spot. Seems nice. Also, one of the managers is quitting to move to LA. Sort of a bummer, because he was always very glad when the store closed up for the night. Obviously not so keen on the job, kind of like me. Oh well.

Oh! I have this thing I keep thinking about blogging and never do. I think I will now:

Sometimes there are barcodes that can't be immediately read by the scanner because they lie under a fold in the packaging. Like the tabby overlapping part of a plastic wrapper that you pull while holding the other side to open it. Anyways, rather than punch in the number, which you may or may not be able to read anyways, it's faster to bend the flap back so the full code is exposed. Except it feels sort of...dirty. I mean, you do it, but it feels wrong to be taking action with a package that isn't your own and making motions that would normally lead to it opening and the food coming out, going into your mouth etc. Every time I spread that plastic I feel a little twinge of guilt...

Anyhow, after work came back and had some cereal with banana in it. We've been watching Monty Python stuff and tried some of that awesome cake. I even put candles in! 11, for 2 and 9. Made a smiley face.

Boy, though, it's been a long week. So bushed!

MATCHA!

Went out to the Asian Art Museum last night to catch the first of the year's MATCHA! parties. Was hoping I could drag the entire live-action club with me, but instead most of them stuck to the regular schedule and watched Game Center CX and Kurosagi. Actually, I've been meaning to blog about that for quite a while, and just haven't yet. This week was our...fourth week? Third? Something like that, and I still haven't mentioned it. Shame!

Thankfully, our organizer burned me a copy of the night's episodes, so I won't fall behind. Hopefully bringing my promised snack foods next week will make everyone feel better.

Anyhow, the museum! I bummed around by myself for a while, listening to DJ Tonk, which was good stuff. Poked my head into the Manga lounge they have set up. Lots of, well, manga, but also toys and other books in there. Fun place. Also caught bits of the how-to manga workshops while wandering in between the halls.

The Tezuka exhibit itself I saved until Jenn showed up and we meandered through enjoying the prints and pre-printing sheets. Since were a bit late for the tour by Fred Schodt, author of a new book on Astro Boy, we ended up sort of following in the wake of that huge group, occasionally eaves-dropping on whatever he was saying. It was probably more relaxing to go at our own pace, anyhow.

Until we rushed at the end so we could make it to the "100 manga magazines in 20 Minutes" presentation by Jason Thompson (manga editor of Otaku USA). From what I could hear of it, he did a decent job, but unfortunately the mic and acoustics were pretty fuzzy. Lots of cool covers on PowerPoint display, though, and he brought a big stack of crazy thick volumes for the audiences perusal post-talk.

After the festivities, Jenn and I got lost on our way to Ryoko's, despite it being in our neighborhood (I don't walk down Taylor so often.) Great sushi. I ordered a roll of hamachi and Jenn decided I had to experience the Volcano, tempura jalapeño and shrimp, cucumber (if I remember correctly)...uhm...were there tobiko? But MOST IMPORTANTLY peanut butter. It's a crazy crazy roll, but one that is delicious as long as you don't get a bite with tooooo much spice. We also got a tiger roll with tempura shrimp, cucumber, and mayo, which yeah, was a lot of tempura shrimp, but it was ok because I had sorta been jonesin' for some anyhow. Topped everything off with a spot of Nigori and a cup of the best green tea I've ever had.

All in all a rockin' evening. Would've been better with the boy, but we will have plenty of opportunity to do birthday celebrating and other fun things this glorious weekend, at least before Sunday when Ian comes. Although maybe I can get him to hang with me and Ian for dinner or something *shrug shrug*

Oww

I totally just pulled a muscle in my back carrying groceries back to the apt. Milk is a full run in itself. I should just learn that. Don't try to carry both gallons plus all the other stuff. This is a good tip.

Links update

Yeah, I took out a lot of stuff. I also added some. We'll pretend I actually pay very close attention to all of them.

Ha!

Coming soon

- my new job
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- a kanken DS game (via my 1up blog)

Until any of these things actually show up, though, I'm way too busy to actually write them. Lots to do! I kinda wanted to do it tonight, but I'm realizing that even the simplest one I want to do more with, so they will be projects.

Wheeeeeeee!

What we already knew

Well I just got back from meeting with Shin. So much stress! I feel bad, because he's really cool, but I get so nervous I barely say anything. It's HARD to speak Japanese.

Mostly I have problems with the ends of sentences, which coincidentally, IS THE ENTIRE SENTENCE. If you fade off at the end of a Japanese sentence, you are losing quite a bit of the point. I need to figure out a way to drill the ends of my sentences into familiarity. Whether something is supposed to happen, did happen, will happen, I heard to have happened, I think may have happened, somebody told me happened etc. And then don't even start talking to me about particles. Shin said I should work on that. That "da" on it's own pretty much never sounds natural. I can totally understand that. It's not so much that I think it sounds natural as that I have problems with ending sentences.

Oh well, at least I can admit it. Something to focus on, I guess.

～てき adjectives

I've always been meaning to start a list of these.

効果的　effective, successful
具体的 concrete, tangible, definite
一般的 popular, typical, general
基本的 fundamental, standard, basic

All な, by the way.

These pop up all over. The "teki" is...I guess sort of like "ish" in that it's an ending that makes things an adjective. I guess this is all I can come up with off the top of my head, but maybe we'll make this an ongoing series. They seriously spring up all over.

A NEW AND WONDERFUL JAPANESE WORD

三つぞろい

It means THREE PIECE SUIT. How cool is that? そろい is the general term for "suit" or "uniform." I wonder which wearing verb you use for it.

Anyhow, obviously trying to make this crazy study thing fun. Been reviewing the genki books and working on the intermediate stuff like I planned. Not entirely sure what I'm doing, but hopefully it'll work out ok. Gonna go through the kanji book and go through the vocab and stuff in the textbook and see if keeping it separate like that will work. Although it's always easier to learn kanji for words you actually know rather than try to learn MORE new words with new kanji. It's a problem I've probably mentioned before. I'm not sure how to avoid it because if you tried to learn the kanji for every new word you learned you would be sunk almost instantly. Far too many to move at such a pace, and if you didn't move at such a pace, your vocab would barely grow at all...

Not that we don't forget everything anyways.

And of course just as I really get going it's going to be time to leave. I didn't have time to read. I didn't have time to play Dungeon Runners or anything else or watch a cartoon. I guess I washed the dishes, took out the trash, and did a load of laundry, but that all seems so pointless. It happens ALL THE TIME so it's hardly an accomplishment. I hate hate HATE taking time away from stuff that is either important to me and/or fun to do things I dislike for money. It's also become very frustrating again to apply for jobs I don't want because I feel like maybe soon MAYBE just MAYYYYYYYBE a job will open up that I DO want and then I will be screwed into screwing someone else over. I hate thinking about this stuff and I was trying not to and just have a relaxing morning before wasting my afternoon, but dammit I can't help but be in a crappy mood about SOMEthing, it seems like.

ほらほら

Yay, thanks to the boy suggesting we look in the bag that I had decided was full of wires for the disc, it was found. Now I have Japanese on my new computer. Now I just have to study...

Or screw off and blog more.

Guess what I got?

My copy of the first issue of Otaku USA! It's read and reported on, but if you're too lazy to click through for the full story, it's a good buy.

Funny, I went to Kinokuniya on the way to work the other day to reserve my copy, since it was supposed to be out June 5. When I asked, though, the man at the check-out told me they didn't carry it. Was wandering back towards Nijiya when all of the sudden I hear he's flagging me down with a copy of the magazine, "We do have it!" So I asked if I could have it set aside, which seemed to confuse him. He sold it to me right then and there!!

Anyways, awesome stuff. Looking forward to seeing the cool kaiju movies they mentioned, and DEFINITELY double-psyched for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya at anime club this week, having read their spot and gaining more of an idea of what it's about.

I was even inspired to watch the original Highlander after reading their bit on the new anime version (no shit.) The boy said it's not as good as it was 20 years ago (so I'm a little sad to have tainted his good memories) but it was still pretty good. I can see how any possible sequels would be pretty lame, because I mean..."there can be only one." Seems to apply to the plot as well as the position. Ultimate power, yee-haw.

I like that there's a reason for the sword-fighting in jeans besides just looking cool, but I was pretty mad that that bastard evil guy couldn't wait until "The Gathering" to kill Ramirez. I guess if you think about this movie just enough it makes sense. I liked it. Showing it's age isn't such a bad thing, either.

Anyways, enough disorganized rambling about THAT. The point was the magazine rocks. Read it and tell your friends! Seriously wish I could bust into their games section. I would also be way up for writing up the limited edition of The Taste of Tea when it arrives, but I bet if they were going to cover that they would've done it this issue (August.) Now just gotta wait for the website to launch! If what they say is true it sounds like it will almost be something like a 1Up for J-freaks :D

My Lack of Progress (j/k...but seriously)

June
July
August

12 weeks.

Areas:

Reading - textbook stuff, webpages, raw and instructional (outloud) videogames
Writing - exercises, get a Japanese penpal, maybe...
Listening - watching anime/live-action stuff, podcasts, instructional CDs
Speaking - with Shin, possibly others

Start every study session with a chapter of genki for review, just perusal

Just need more time management. Not so much aimless wandering. Know what you want to read/study/do and do it.

Textbook for grammar and some vocab.
Online stuff/conversation for ther vocab.
Kanji via vocab/jlpt lists...videogame

order of how you learn kanji does not matter anymore...just use the book you have and go straight through it, 10 a week...

uhm

*cry*

---

That's about how far I got today in planning. I looked at a chapter of genki and was appalled to realize that I still don't have the most basic counters down solidly. Japanese numbers do suck, but you'd think after all these years...

I am very easily discouraged.

Still very unsure of how to approach everything, but I think I've decided that there is just no way to learn Kanji at the rate of vocabulary so it just doesn't matter how you learn them, just that you do. So I'm going to just use the book. I think I mentioned that above.

And the game that I still haven't learned how to use.

I guess other kanji I will just look up. Or something.

There is no one true method. This saddens me. I am a big fan of true methods. But then there aren't any. Just wishful thinking.

Laziness.

I have to get out of here because if I don't go to the post office today I will seriously hate myself.

EDIT: OH yeah, and I have this huge problem called, "I DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING XP DISCS CUZ IT CAME PRELOADED ON MY MACHINE." Someone PLEASE help me get East Asian Language support. I can't even surf right, much less IME. I don't even have Office, though, so that's probably impossible. I feel absolutely fucked.