But what about weaknesses? That's more interesting, I think.

Your Top Character Strength

Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

Your Second Character Strength

Love of learning
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.

Your Third Character Strength

Curiosity and interest in the world
You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.

Your Fourth Character Strength

Fairness, equity, and justice
Treating all people fairly is one of your abiding principles. You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people. You give everyone a chance.

Your Fifth Character Strength

Zest, enthusiasm, and energy
Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

Via Survey

Pannnnnnndemoniummmmmm!!!

So today is the day--buy the book! Make Daryl Gregory's mom proud (I'm sure she already is ;D) and all that jazz. I got my copy at Borderlands, down the street. They weren't open when I dropped by the first time so I actually ended up checking like 5 or 6 different places in the meantime haha, but I figured they were the most likely to have a copy. Sure enough, they had three! I would've bought them all, if I could've. Happy Pandemonium Day :D

Life is so good sometimes

GTD FTW

i lose at GTD...

?

oh

yeah

we've been over this ;D

uhhhh

i was gonna say

yeah me too, but not really

i'm gonna GTD

no, you have too many T to GD

;_;

but i will G some TD

if not all T

GTD is one of my favorite T ;D

and one i'm D with T then I'll be G something else ;D

feeling motivated

also, i think i just ROCKED at talking about GTD

so we'll see if i can walk it

i think you just blew a fuse in my brain o.O

FUCK YEAH BABY!

pwnt

Life on Mars Ep 4

So good! Go watch it! That's all. And yes, that's right. I took a break from work. It was wonderful.

Double Oh -freaking- Seven

If you are having trouble getting ahold of me, it's because I'm TOO BUSY being a secret agent.

Ok catz, are you ready for this? I'm telling you what book to buy and when ;p

This is what you do: you...

BUY PANDEMONIUM DEC 15!!!

And tell your friends.

Taken by a fit of whimsy, I launch myself whole-heartedly into the promotion of a book I have not read, by an author I don't know, because of a blog post I happened across at work.

But ok, if you haven't clicked through, I'm gonna repost the salient quote yet:

Why should Pandemonium be the next book that everyone reads?

DJG: Do it for my mother. When I started my writing career, she said, You know what you ought to do, DJ? (My family calls me DJ.) You should write a best-seller.

This seemed like excellent advice. But how to execute it?

Your question, Ken, points the way. If everyone—and I mean everyone, each man, woman, and child on this planet, plus any Russians and billionaires currently in orbit—makes Pandemonium the next book they read, then my mother’s dream can become a reality. You don’t even have to read the book, you just have to buy it. Let’s pick a day in December. December 15th. On that day, go out or get online and buy a copy for yourself and one for any relative that is bed-ridden and/or computer illiterate.

Come on, people, we can do this. If we can just put aside our petty excuses—for example, that you don’t like science fiction, or that you don’t read English, or that your refugee camp doesn’t have a decent internet connection—if we can just stop all that whining for a minute and buy my book, then, finally, my mother, Thelma Gregory, will know I’m a success. For more information on Do It For Thelma Day, see my website.

So yeah, we've been blogging. And I made a couple groups, which you should join, especially the Facebook one, which I have linked again twice now. All you have to do is buy a book in like a month, and rally as many catz as you can to follow suite. It doesn't seem that hard. Someone needs to design a t-shirt, though. That I can't do.

10 Minutes of Cereal Bliss

1. The hall light was flickering when I walked out so that even though it was more light than dark, it felt like a survival horror game. It had stopped when I came back.

2. There was a guy riding a unicycle while carrying a box. It looked really difficult, but I'm glad I didn't see him wipe as I looked over my shoulder. (He could have since then, I suppose.)

3. I now have milk to pour over this DELICIOUS freaking cereal.

Loving Daniel Craig is a little like loving David Tennant...

but that don't make me love him any less ;D

Watching my first Bond movie. It wasn't meant to be like this lol. I was supposed to start at the beginning with Dr. No. Anyhow, given that I'm doing a guide for the Quantum of Solace game, I figured I should see [Casino Royale]. New movie next week! Yeeeeee-hoo.

Anyways this is trippy enough in and of itself given how much I love the other Casino Royale.

OH WOW SO GOOD

Obama-rama on Valencia

I was at a s.f. bookstore event, but right as it ended the news came through. Phew, right? And everyone was screaming and honking their horns. A party in Modern Times spilled onto the sidewalk; they offered me champagne in a plastic cup. Fireworks in the street. Every intersection! Honking cars! It was a good feeling. I had felt good on the way to the bookstore, too, because it was so quintessentially autumn--crispy, that smell the air takes on. And then on the way back I get to smile and eat the rest of my macaroon and think about how awesome THE FUTURE will be. Science fiction, indeed :D

Perfume was meant to be played on a Mac

and danced to.

42Blips Book Club Starts Today

I started a book club over at my new(ish) part-time job, 42Blips.com. We're reading Ender's Game, a chapter on Monday--that means today (!!) chapter 1 (!!)--and a chapter on Friday.

Unfortunately, I waited until exactly the lost possible instant to find a copy and ended up wandering around in the rain to all the used bookstores I could think of. That didn't work. They had OTHER Orson Scott Card books, but not that one. I guess because it's good, so people keep it when they buy it. End result: I'm now the proud owner of a shiny, new, expensive reissue. Better be worth it ;D It does say it's the "Author's Definitive Edition" though, so that is something.

The Halloween Post

So this year Halloween was a Friday. All day it was totally, gloomy, drizzly, not conducive to trick-or-treaters at all. That said, it was pretty warm, and then in the evening it cleared up. Amazing weather. I don't even know how it happened.

Of course, I figured I would be working anyhow, so it didn't really matter to me. Been very busy with some reviews and a guide for Wii Music, so I didn't really expect to do anything, although I had been craigslisting for someone to watch a Vincent Price movie with (since that is what I almost always do on Halloween).

Had mostly given up but then I got a promising e-mail, which turned into a groovy date, so that was good. I like surprise awesome. We ate sushi (at We Be, where I almost always order nigiri: hamachi, sake, nasu--they always bring miso, too), talked about videogames, and watched Vincent Price at my awesome house.

Yes, my house is awesome, still. I love living here.

Yesterday had lunch with a guy from Brookfield (WI, for those keeping track) which was trippy. He actually lived on Prospect for a while, just a few blocks down from me, although he left soon after I moved in.

If anyone has a copy of Ender's Game I can borrow, that would be great.

As for the rest of the weekend, I am finally getting my new-old laptop today, and then it will be work work work unless I can find a distraction later. I know Josh and I will watch some BSG, as well...

MOAR WAR

Started a WAR blog.

The latest craze(s)

Still on the BSG kick, and oh, what a kick it is. Started my new job at 42Blips so any and all sci-fi is go, as I mentioned. I'll be starting at MassiveBlips on Monday.

That said, I'm making a concentrated effort to study, read, etc. as well, but this means a very tight schedule.

Finally go to the doctor on Tuesday. Took all day, but the outcome is a rocker boot and a recommendation for acupuncture (which quite frankly, terrifies me, but if I can afford it she said it would actually help me get better...and, you know, I'd be able to say I had acupuncture...)

Mom has been in town for a couple days here and I feel sort of bad because mostly she and her bf just took me out for food and bought me a mattress and assorted textiles haha, but it was so nice to see them. I had actually never met him before, and last time I saw Mom was X-mas.

Actually let's discuss the bed for a minute, because I'm really happy about it. Not only do I have an Ikea foam mattress to lie on, instead of the floor, but I have one of those (fakey) down comforters I've been wanting since I was 15. When I went to France for the first time I did a homestay for a week near Nantes and the bed my host family provided me with had this AMAZING comforter. I had never used one before. So light and fluffy, so cool to the touch at first, but traps heat like crazy. I could just live in one of these things. I'm so happy I have one now. Maybe I will come around to naps now that I have somewhere so comfy to rest. (Ok, honestly, I hope not lol I'd rather just hop into bed all terribly exhausted at 1 am and drift away...mmm...so toasty...)

But yeah, Wednesday night we had fish tacos and veggie nachos at El Metate and then took a spin down to the wharf where we got sundaes at Ghiradelli's (which always manages to upset my stomach, but maybe it's worth it, I dunno). Road the cable cars--my second time (first was with Scotty and co. after an awesome afternoon on the wharf) and got dropped off at home.

Yesterday I met up with mom and took her down Valencia and 18th. Stopped at Bi-Rite (I had honey lavender and she had mint chip). Showed her Dolores and the view from the top of the hill. Later on we took BART out to Dublin to meet up with her bf and the car so we could head out to Ikea. After that we ended up at this really tasty Thai place on Folsom. My first time having mango with sticky rice, which is surprising, given my unyielding passion for mango.

Today was Tartine for lunch (No ham Croque Monsieurs left = fail, but the tomato and fromage blanc was tasty anyhow, and they gave me leftovers of their sandwiches--spicy chicken and pastrami. How do you end up with three halves of sandwiches? Cuz seriously, if those are thirds then they should think about chopping the price and the amount of sandwich in half.) They did some sight-seeing while I saw...anime for work 6_6 and then picked me up for a burrito. I guess maybe we should've gone to Cancun or somewhere. I didn't really feel like La Taqueria was at their best. Have they been slipping? Felt sort of skimpy on their ingredients (which taste the best!! Dammit!) and still have that soup syndrome. Anyways, it was nonetheless delicious and they weren't put out by the soupiness.

I guess tomorrow they are doing their own thing and then just getting ready to leave, so I may not even see them. I gotta work, so I guess that's ok. Blah.

Anyways, you can tell I've been busy. Been a little overwhelming, but I think I can handle it. I had a phone interview with GameSpot, so let's cross our fingers I get some sort of follow-up next week. Being invited in for an interview would be a start...

OMG BSG

Yeah, yeah, I know, so skip the slowpoke emote. Anyways Josh and I popped in the first disk and watched for two hours before realizing they had slapped the entire miniseries on it without breaks, haha. I jokingly suggested this, but didn't expect it to be true. We're gonna finish it tomorrow. Good stuff. I mean, at this point, I realize there's not much to say. Everybody knows how awesome Battlestar Galactica is, but I finally get to watch it now, so wewt.

Massive Sci-Fi Geekery Underway

Star Trek? Check. Battlestar Galactica? Check. Lost? Check. Heroes? Working on it. Babylon 5? Check. Doctor Who? You BET! How could I not? Anyways, so I got this job community managing at 42blips, a Sci-Fi social news site, and not only am I fresh off finishing up Firefly with Josh, but we sort of meant to steer towards Battlestar Galactica, anyhow. I can't wait! Now it's like I have a professional excuse to be a total junkie. Just gotta make sure there is time for videogames as well...

My foot is still hurt, so not playing tennis should making finding time for all of this pretty easy, but then the trick will be finding time for tennis again.

Officially sick of the web boyfriend

Bored clicking on him hoping to get some interesting event and then being disappointing when he just says, "fufufu" or something. I think my favorite part of the site was the buddy icon type interest indicators. For example, the avocado one. I <3 avocado.

Last night I met my net friend Terje irl and we cooked pumpkin coconut soup and lemon green beans. Turned out pretty good. I didn't take pictures, though.

Oh yes...the web boyfriend.

To which I say, "hell yes"

This makes sense

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Discipline

Discipline is the act of enduring that which you don't dig ("the shit"), even though you could be doing something else more fun, because the shit is better for you in the long run. And you? You are remarkable. You can endure a lot of the shit, sometimes self-imposed. All 7 virtues are a part of you, but your discipline runs deepest.

Discipline is the key to success. In the picture above, the climber is finally having fun and unwinding, after a life of preparation.

Disciplined famous people: Ghandi, Jesus, Hitler

Your raw relative scores follow. 0% is low, and 100% is perfect, nearly impossible. Note that I pitted the virtues against each other, so in some way these are relative scores. It's impossible to score high on all of them, and a low score on one is just relatively low compared to the other virtues.

YOUR VIRTUES

0% Compassion

56% Intelligence

38% Humility

56% Honesty

63% Discipline

29% Courage

33% Passion

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

My brother made it look so easy

Staying off a foot is hard to do. It's not really feasible to use full crutches around the house, but I don't think I'm adept enough to use one as Josh has suggested and hopping isn't really any good. Short of crawling around I'm not sure what to do, but resting a possible injury doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that can be half-assed...

Crutches--GET

Yes, they were free off CL and now I can "walk" to wherever the closest free clinic is that can take an x-ray of my foot. Whoooo hoo. I'm excited about the rest of this week. Good games to play, gonna grab lunch with Randy tomorrow (I got a check today! Groceries!), cooking with Josh at some point, starting a hopefully on-going (paid!) English conversation partner deal, having fun despite the hurt.

And then even next Tuesday I will still be having fun, since I am getting Xav back for the awesomeness that was Monday by taking him out to a concert (Outdoorsmen!)

We might play Warhammer together, too. Josh wants in as well, so that pretty much convinces me. We'll have such a blast. I love playing MMOs with friends.

An Unprecedented Monday

Most of yesterday sucked. Then Xav invited me out for dinner and drinks with him and his friend V. They wanted sausage and I had made up my mind to go with whatever the flow would be, because I was having a horrible day and just wanted to completely relax. The special at Rosamunde was lamb with sundried tomato and potato, so I had that with onions. Pretty tasty. V felt it was intensely lamby. Xav's brat was unconventional (I warned him!) but still delicious with sauerkraut and mustard. We split a ginormous pickle and I had a sip of his oranges and cream soda.

Then we headed to The Bar, in the Castro, where an 80s night with super cheap Cosmos was gearing up. Danced until 1 am, which, I mean, when have I ever gone dancing? I did ONCE in Milwaukee, also, oddly enough, at a gay bar. Go figure. Anyhow, it was actually really fun, and on a Monday! Who does that? Apparently everyone there. We had arrived early, but it got pretty crowded after a while as V predicted.

I'm really happy I went out. Xav has always been good at cheering me up :D

Now check out the ninja I made:

Thursday?? Really?

The weeks fly by...

I did a pretty good job not getting a cold, I think! So I played tennis for two hours today and then proceeded to eat everything in sight all afternoon while getting lost in Infinite Undiscovery/crashing out of Warhammer.

I'm sort of realizing that tomorrow is going to be an insanely busy day, but at least it will start once again with tennis. I think tennis will keep me pretty happy. Today I played more doubles with Russ, which is really fun. He's friendly and helpful--recommended a coach in case I want lessons (which I totally do, as soon as I'm not so damned poor). Then Anatoly showed up and we played a singles set in which he eventually schooled me. It's sort of like being back in high school JV though because of how many of the points still depend on whether we can serve/return/hit our groundstrokes for realz.

Wherein our hero refuses to get a cold

WHAT THE FREAK

Updating video drivers

and other drivers. And will defrag, hopefully. I wish I knew more about computers, but of course, the same can be said for a lot of things.

I'm just trying to get my work done, by which I mean, play lots of Warhammer.

M&Ms Premiums

I meant to blog about how awesome tennis with Anatoly was this week, since we played some actual games, and even doubles with this really friendly older couple.

BUT instead I'm going to point out this FABULOUS quiz (hurr) that you can take at the website of M&Ms Premiums (which come in flavors like mocha, triple chocolate, and mint). I'm not quite as outdoorsy as they think I am, but I like that they called me "clearheaded." It's pretty much completely offensive, as the whole thing is marketed towards girls--not just girls, but the girliest girl girl girls in the universe. Josh stumbled upon the official site by clicking a banner ad (Premium M&Ms? Are they made with Swiss chocolate or something?) at a recipe site... Anyways, if you take the quiz, you'll know what I mean. They don't even pretend a guy could possibly be taking it, even though I bet they wouldn't mind if a guy decided that Raspberry Almond M&Ms sounded pretty good. Poor Josh is still sucked into the website making an avatar (I told him I didn't even want to know, heh) but hopefully he'll escape soon.

"The Latest Rig"

For whatever reason, this became the in-joke among Andrew's friends from high school after one of them asked me if I had it. I was at Andrew and Heather's wedding reception today at the Lafayette Park Hotel. Pretty nice place. Had a classical quartet playing in the courtyard, sparkling apple cider, tasty beef and plenty of veggies for lunch with a chocolate fountain and assorted dippers for dessert rather than cake because the cakes they tried "didn't taste like anything." Plus chocolate fountains are just more fun.

It was nice to see them, as I hadn't in a while. I didn't know anyone else there, but was welcomed into the high school pals crowd and even given a ride back to the BART. (I cabbed it on the way.) There were some little kids running around, too, dancing a bit, which was funny because Andrew and Heather were very insistent there not be dancing at the party, but the kids were allowed because they were tiny.

Andrew's sister seems really interesting. She wrote a book but I can't remember the title. Has to do with Japanese night clubs, or something. I should read it...after I ask him to remind me what it's called.

The 18th Street Block Party

I went, but I did not take any pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps I should have, but sadly, you will not get your visual fill of this event from me.

Actually, I didn't last very long. My main objective was to buy a meal ticket for some "Fulton Valley chicken grilled under a brick with a Tuscan bread salad." What is bread salad, you may ask? It turns out to be this delicious greens, tomatos, onions affaire with, instead of croutons, soggy bread. I may sound like I'm being snarky, or something, but that soggy bread was actually quite delicious. You might instead call it "marinated" or "soaked" or something, but soggy just fits the texture so well.

Lots of people milling around. A pig being rotisseried before our very eyes. Dancing children. Free yerba mate soda and apple samples. Two police officers taking away a guy in a khaki vest that said, "CIA SWAT" on it.

The Psychotherapists were on stage, and turned out to actually be a bunch of young kids, like middle school? Oh, silly me, here is their myspace. They sang about giant robots, cannibalistic monkeys, and a nerd named Hector. It was a good backdrop for carving up my chicken with a compostible fork and knife. They wrapped up right as I wrapped up and then my options were either dessert or...

Well, see, that's the thing. I realized I could go home and play more Mother 3 while enjoying a rootbeer float (without spending more dollars) and the hot hot hot sunny sunny hot hot sunny outing came to an abrupt end :D Worth going, though. It's on until 4 if you're in the hood.

Melty Tennis Heat

Today at Dolores there was a really shouty fellow. I thought at first he was freaking out at the other guy, but it turns out he was just freaking out at himself. I guess that's a little better, but come on. I mean, everyone has their frustration moves, but they don't have to be quite so mean and violent. He would roar and swear. It was awkward.

My tennis pal didn't care, much. Lucky! I was constantly terrified of incurring this fellow's wrath. Actually, though, his outrage contrasted heavily with his decent manners. He's just wayyyy serious about tennis. He kinda looked us up and down when we came onto the courts. I'm serious about tennis, too, but what that means is that we're gonna start working on serves next week. Hahaha. This guy was way better than that.

After playing for nearly two hours (in the HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOTNESS of this bizarre San Francisco heat wave), we did what anyone at Dolores Park should've done: eaten ice cream at Bi-Rite.

I always meant to blog about how much I love Bi-Rite, and why I liked them better than Mitchell's (where I went for the first time last weekend), but I'm not gonna do it now. Suffice it to say, a kid's scoop of toasted coconut (or ANY FLAVOR) is the perfect way to end...anything.

Tomorrow's fakey pizza plans, today

This pizza needs...something. It has: plain crust with olive oil, very small amount of leftover mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, olives, parmesan, pepper, red pepper (the spice.) Tasty, but not quite mealish.
What I am thinking is that next time either do this with pesto or garlic. Tempted to bake garlic into the crust. Also, more mozzarella. There was not enough cheese happening on this pizza. Luckily, we do have more tomatoes, so I can make another one.

I also came up with this wacky cinnamon-raisin pizza bread thing, where you put cinnamon in the crust and press raisins into the top. Brush with button and sprinkle sugar. That sounds stupid tasty. I might do it one of these days.

Tomorrow's fakey pizza plans

I'm gonna make a pizza with all the cheese in the fridge (ok, not all of it) plus a ton of heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil. We'll see what happens.

Also, let me just say that this week officially fails at being awesome. I can only hope my luck turns around by Friday at 2:30, when I have my interview at IGN.

Pictures for Sad Children

makes fun of the book I am reading and my entire life, back to back.

Oh yeah-- pix from Puttanesca night!

Josh bought capers--the jar was so hard to open!!--and this cheese and bread! It was clearly time to make Puttanesca, finally.


We had fresh basil in the fridge (but no oregano, even dried : /) and Josh grated some fresh Parmesan to sprinkle.


In addition to black and green olives, we had some of these mixed ones chopped up and thrown in there. So it was almost just like when I went to Canada with dad.


For some reason it turned out a bit too salty--maybe too many anchovies? But it was still pretty delicious.


See?

A really great time at tennis today

despite the post work-out burrito being less than awesome. (I'm tempted to write my first yelp post so that others aren't tempted by the location of this taqueria. How can you go wrong with 18th and Valencia? Who knows? I wonder if that's how they stay in business. Not that it was BAD, but there are far better places.) Sorta wish I had sucked it up and walked another couple of blocks with the last of my useful silver change.

Anyways, we played at Dolores for a change and what a beautiful day. Labor Day, so everyone was out and about. The line at Bi-Rite was typically long and the park was packed full of picnickers. The wait for a court went surprisingly quick, though. We sat behind a couple of adorable little girls playing. I would guess maybe...7 year olds? 8? I dunno. I don't see enough kids.

When we got on the court the really cute one (shoulder length black hair in tight waves, fuchsia cargo shorts and a t-shirt) asked if it was our first time playing there. She was so precocious and adorable. When I said, "No, have you played here before?" She answered. "Yes. Are you a boy or a girl?"

Hahaha, I love kids. They can never tell! "I'm a girl."

"Oh, cuz you have short hair and look like a boy." To be fair, I wear my boy shorts to tennis because the deep pockets carry lots of balls (no...pun...intended...*snicker*)

"That's ok," I said.

I sort of hope I run into her again. I'd like to make friends with such a cute and outgoing kid.

It was very sunny and quite windy, but we played about an hour and a half. Or maybe just an hour. Not sure how long we were waiting. Got some good shots. I think we really are a pretty good match. I hope I'm not just saying that, but I guess he wouldn't want to keep playing with me if he didn't feel like he gets anything out of it.

I love San Francisco. Xav always says it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself, because I remark on the sentiment so often, but man, being out on days like today is just the greatest.

Skype

I finally installed Skype, although I don't have a mic or a headset or anything, hahaha. Not sure really why I need it at the moment. Get in touch if you want my info.

I might be getting a haircut

I haven't seen this in ages, but she's still the first girl I think of when I think "pixie cut."

A Tasty Pizza I Made

I cobbled together recipes from here and here.

Fig, Prosciutto, and Chevre Pizza

Crust:

1 cup luke warm water
1/4 oz envelope of active dry yeast
3 cups flour
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp salt

Topping:

a little more olive oil
fresh mozzarella (I used several medallions spaced pretty generously)
prosciutto (I used a whole package...probably like six big slices or something all ripped up?)
red onion (I used 3/4 of a med-large one, probably could've just done the whole thing)
fresh figs (sliced up all tasty)
chevre (I bought a four oz pack, but didn't use it all.)

Preheat the oven to 450. Dissolve the yeast in the water. Mix in the rest of the crust stuff and let it rise for 45 min. Then poke it a bunch and do your best to stretch it out to 1/4 in thickness. I didn't do that great a job, but it still came out terrific, so don't worry toooooo much. Brush it with a tiny bit olive oil and prebake it a couple minutes (without forgetting about it) while you...

Saute the onion and prosciutto in a tiny bit of olive oil for a while. Like, get it brown and caramelize-y. (Don't forget the pizza crust prebaking.) Then once that is pretty done you can turn it off and get your medallions read on your crust. Next add the prosciuttonion mix, then the figs, and crumble chevre on top.

Bake the whole thing for 15-20 minutes (till the edges are brown and it looks like food).

It is soooo tasty. We ate half of it (half in the fridge--w00t!) with a green salad plus heirloom tomatoes. I made the dressing Randy taught me:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
a blob of brown mustard
salt and pepper
a minced shallot (or tonight I just used some red onion)

Just whip all of it together and drip it on whatever. So tasty.

Phone Interview

With IGN, either Wednesday or Thursday. I wonder if I can finagle my way into an in-house spot. That would be pretty fancy, I think.

On Spontaneity

So I've realized that I'm the type of person who is up for bonus spontaneity. I was worried I was one of those people who actually enjoys living and dying by a schedule, but while I make my fair share of To Do lists, I'm happy to report that this is not the case.

I like having things to look foward to and I like knowing when my work needs to be done. In fact, it's quite frustrating to not have any plans. Full-on spontaneity 24/7 is, therefore, quite frustrating, but interpolating something spontaneous into vaguely (or un)defined time is hot.

That last bit is the key that saves me--I don't plan everything. Actually I used to try, and that was just an exercise in failure, haha. It's better to just set some milestones and phone the rest in as you go.

More Sackboy Thoughts

I've decided he will be the wallpaper of my new laptop, when I get it. I'm sure someone has made awesome Sackboy wallpaper...

Finally!

Japan pix are up in Facebook :D

Tennis woes and otherwise all cured by Sackboy

This little bugger always makes my day.

Even when I revert to my "comfier" tennis grip and hurt my hand. Grah! What to do, what to do. I hit way better forehands with this grip, but it hurts after a while. I think I get really into it and loosen up or something, resulting in MASSIVE JOINT SMASH of doom.

Came, kayaked, conquered

What? Man, I never blog anymore and the fact of the matter is that I don't have TIME at the end of my JAM PACKED days to kick back and reflect. Sometimes I reflect during the day, but I can't call for a break and post it right then, so the moment passes and yet again we are left with a huge gap and a pointless whiny "I'm not posting in my blog" post.

Hurr.

See now I can't even remember what I was going to post. Oh, maybe it was something about my new pseudo-not-really-studying tactic of compiling videogame related vocabulary at the game-no-vocab blog. In fact, I think I will change the title to make it that stupid Japanglish, because ゲームの単語 looks sort of intimidating.

I bet it wasn't, though. It seems like I should have a lot more to say about all the crazy gourmet food we ate and the cocktail hours and the dogs and the lake and the Canadians, but I don't really. I mean, I could, but then my flight back got delayed for four hours and I didn't get home until 3 am. I'm just glad to be back.

I REALLY missed San Francisco. More than the Internet, if you can believe that. It was fun to see my Dad and hang out in the woods, but man, having a sunny day in San Francisco today really made me smile...and bounce off the walls. I'm such a dork when I'm happy XD

Whut? I post in a blog?

Hurr, I'm on vacation until the 12th so this is just the post that tells you not to expect any posts. I know that's hard news to take after no updates for almost a month, but man...MAN!

I had tasty paella tonight for dinner in Flemington, which is where my dad's gf lives. We're leaving at 5:30 am tomorrow, stopping on the way for an egg sandwich, and driving to Canada--whoo!!

Did I just lose my usb cable AGAIN?

Give me a break! Did I even get to use it? Come the freak ON...

You can tell packing for E3 is going well. My laptop is offline for some indiscernible reason, and the usb cord for my camera is gone...again...somehow. I give up. At least I'm not moving anymore. I really need to just find everything and keep it in my backpack. Forever.

I'm packing one bag full of clothes plus the Wii, and one bag full of laptop and chargers, travel diversions, etc. Hoping to fit my actual bag bag inside one of those, but it may not happen.

I'm so tired. Maybe I'll have a nap for an hour before I go. Or 45 min, at least *sigh*

Tme for some firsts

My first 7 inch, from the band my friend/colleague is in, The Outdoorsmen. I went to the Knockout to see them (another first--they have an awesome Godzilla portrait that...is it glow in the dark? Rock!) I had Electrick Limeade--what an awesome drink, despite the somewhat overblown name.

---

First time playing tennis at Dolores Park. I know, I know! So intimidating! We were waiting for a court and before the guys who finished were even completely of it yet we were shooed on by the people behind us in line. Neither of us were pros, but we had fun. Seemed like a pretty decent match, maybe. Just hit the ball for a little over an hour (it was hot!) and then got ice cream at Bi-Rite. Well, he had iced coffee next door...but I can't have coffee, so ;p

---

Sunday is E3! My first! So I have a TON of stuff to do before my first trip to LA. I should get down to it, probably.

Who is the NARUTIMATE NINJA?

OH yez, me. Because I am now completely caught up with the Naruto manga. I guess that's the entire point of this blog post...

so...



Now I can just wait for updates like everyone else. I realize it's not such a big deal to have read all of Naruto for a true nerd, but uh, I'm kind of a wanna-be so I'm excited :D

July 4th in The Mission and Beyond

Oh, a Friday holiday! Somehow despite the fact that my schedule doesn't really change, I was already mistaking it for Saturday on Thursday, which I guess I was mistaking for Friday. In reality, it wasn't Saturday until TODAY. Battle Hooch tonight. Wewt!

I think many things can currently best be described by one of my favorite if less-oftenly used words: copacetic. I have found that magical space and time.

Yesterday I worked, went to my roomie's friends' BBQ, came home, and worked, socialized via the Internet. Met a slew of new people at that BBQ, not sure if any of them will stick or not (in terms of me--I'm sure I'll see at least some of them again, as they are friends of the roommate!) It's not too early to tell, it's just copacetic and nothing more.

His friends have a particularly large and awesome...condo? in the Haight, to which we walked from our place in The Mission. You know, it's a great walk. San Francisco, in general, is a great walk. I have full confidence that I would thoroughly enjoy walking to the wharf, to Ocean Beach, to the embarcadero--to pretty much anywhere at all worth going--if given a day of copacetic weather.

And I think in San Francisco, copacetic is often the best you can hope for (!!) It's not often sheer brilliance, but it does seem to more than do you good. Yesterday it turned pretty cold after a while, though, so I peeled out of the party a bit before Josh did.

Today will entail more games. Two of these assignments will wrap up quickly (Monday and Tueday, I imagine) and then I can get to my belated review of Tactics A2. To continue dancing around my main plot point (as of yet unresolved, but rather perfectly fitting the description, copacetic), The Bourne Identity is...either copacetic or slightly better. I haven't decided. Probably just a solid copacetic. It may well depend on how this awkward and frustrating tank fight turns out--unprecedented pain and death, so far!

Last night there were fireworks out the window, which I barely witnessed. The Mission was full of hoodlums shooting off their own (illegal?) varieties, so the cops were out. There weren't nearly as many as I thought there would be, though. I mean, I remember in the Bronx it was just crazy firecrackers, but then maybe the laws are different there. I stayed up till like 3, though, and there were still bangs going off then, on occasion.

Of to work with me, now! Work and a shower. This is the contents of my day, pre-concert. I am happy about it, but at the same time a bit miffed because I know that many more tank deaths await...

Yum, in fact

I meant to put pepper on this sandwich, but then I forgot. It's sort of like taking pictures of your food, adding pepper. If you are hungry and enthusiastic about eating, you will forget.

At least if you are me.

It is also like adding Parmesan cheese to pizza, but that's not really something to do all the time, anyhow.

So, I think all the pipes in the building run past my room. No matter who is taking a shower, I seem to wake up. This time, though, it was the neighbors directly through the wall. I lie awake and take a minute to decide from whence disturbances appear to be arising, and this morning it was definitely there. Our bathroom is also just through my wall, but it is the other wall.

I listened to a LOT of music yesterday and somehow I still have someone else's stuck in my head! But then, this is a good thing. Much better than the 90 thousand-th repitition of Buddy Holly (which...isn't mine either. Blame that one on Rock Band.) Of course, now that I say that I'm the danger has become imminent.

Oops, I meant to take the trash out yesterday.

I suppose now that I am awake I can use my consciousness to my advantage. The start of the day was me finally feeling that maybe I've slept long enough on the floor. For instance, my neck is killing me. Perhaps the key to floor sleep is an extra pillow, but I don't actually have one of those. It would be awkward to use the small, but bulky throw pillows that came with my (momentarily) superfluous couch, but clearly my sleeping self needs something, because I keep waking up with my ugly monster either behind my head or very near it.

The continuation of the day will be work, work, work, and this I am grateful for. Sometimes I don't feel thoroughly prepared, but when I wake up early I have more time.

PS - The poster in the background of this picture is brilliant. Like, prime Euro-bishi. Wowow. Also, I still really like that blog. It never gets less interesting.

Is it wrong for this to be an ego stroke?

Your result for The Knowledge vs. Intellect Test...

9/9 Genius

Amazing! You have an incredible brain (intellect) and a powerhouse of information (knowledge)! Keep up the impressive work-- we all bow to you.

Take The Knowledge vs. Intellect Test at HelloQuizzy

Thanks, high school! Or something. At least we know that if nothing else, I'm a good guesser. Man, though, that was way longer than I was meaning to spend doing stupid memey internet things.

This is a San Francisco International Airport/Millbrae train...

So the other night in the BART, this girl was calling out stops with the most subtle vocal expression imaginable. You could not coax this sort of thing out of an actor, I don't think, and if you did it would probably be award material. It was like she was trying to sound enthusiastic, but had clearly run out of oomph for the day. There are a variety of ways to mix announcer voice and sleepy, but I have never in my entire life heard it proportioned in quite this fashion. It was sort of awe-inspiring, in a "Zomg we live life in real time" kind of way. This wasn't something that could've been pre-recorded if you had tried.

I want a t-shirt

with いつでもＳＭＩＬＥ ＦＯＲ ＹＯＵ on it. And maybe a smile. Like, I want this really bad. Ideally designed by someone with a flair for amazing t-shirt design, but without incorporating any source material. I.e. I'd like the quote taken out of its original context and simply placed nicely with a super happy font on a t-shirt that fits me perfectly. That would be so rad.

Failing that, I guess I'd like to go to bed at some point and wake up at some point and finish reviewing Arkanoid DS. By which I mean go to floor, wake up entirely too early, and...well, I'm definitely going to finish Arkanoid tomorrow. I should really do something (more) about my room. The posters are up, but that doesn't solve the floor space issue. I tried putting together the shelves the other day, but I am a weakling who cannot force the power drill with quite enough umph to get it done.

Vroom.

Incidentally, my post titling yesterday was foreshadowing. Today I did actually get to play tennis, with Martin. Same guy I played with originally, the day after he came to visit Koji, and Oleya was a bit late. Anyhow, so we played, but I must be holding my racket weird because it was putting undue pressure on the...for lack of the correct term...ball of my index finger? Like the balls of your feet only the balls of your hand. Anyhow, it was hurting pretty badly, and as Martin says you should really just quit at that point, so I did, but it was majorly disappointing. I mean, aside from swimming and biking which are less than feasible, tennis is one active thing I really like to do (aside from you know...hiking around town, but that requires a separate purpose whereas tennis I can just do like a happy puppy to chase the ball around. W00t! Ace motivation!) So I really hope I can resolve this somehow. I was looking around some websites for grip descriptions. Maybe I can find one and practice. Or maybe somehow I grew since high school and my hands are unsuitable for tennis rackets.

I doubt it.

After tennis we hung out with Josh at the apt for a while, playing Rock Band, and a simple but fun fantasy card game. Eventually we went out for some pretty good Indian. Josh knows all the restaurants in the area, so he's always good for a food recommendation. And we live in one of the best areas for food. So! Rock. I had spinach with chicken. I can't get enough Indian spinach and naan. Seriously. It had been too long.

In other news, I am rapidly becoming caught up on Naruto, which is exciting. I'm on chapter 341, wheras they have just recently scanlated 405, or something? If I keep going at the pace I'm at I should be caught up in the next 2-3 days. And then I can read the ACTUAL BOOKS I'M TRYING TO READ--hurr hurr hurrrrrrr.

Summer ended last night, which is a pity. All my friends are so happy, though, so I guess it's a matter of the greater good. I can't help but hope that wasn't really all the heatwave we'll get, but it's back to normal San Francisco weather for now. Gotta bust the jackets back out *Sigh sigh*

Tennis issues

I really want to build up to playing everyday, but shit man, I can't even get every other. Canceled on the other day, canceled on for tomorrow. What a bummer.

The bright side is that breakfast date was some kind of fancy success. Not quite "wild" I don't think, but some kind of fancy.

Maybe if nothing else I will work on my serve tomorrow. And then eat leftover Little Star.

There are lots of tourists in the city now. I was having a discussion about this the other day... One of the reasons it's cool to live in a place where other people go on vacation (in addition to it just being straight-up radtastic) is that it's like saving up tourism credit. You put up with them stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for pictures or whatever, and then you don't have to feel bad when later sometime you have to stop in the middle of someone else's sidewalk. Well, you still do, but at least you are mindful. I think it probably makes you a better tourist. I hate being a tourist haha but who doesn't, I guess.

Well, some people might not. I am familiar with such a small small segment of humanity. I'm sure there must be thousands of people who really go in for tourism.

I guess maybe I am rambling because it's 2:30 in the morning, but really I think it's more so I can put off setting up/down my futon a little longer. The room is not quite finished yet. Although it is further than it was. Tomorrow, yes, some solo tennis and work and room arranging is probably in order. Maybe laundry. Mundane anxieties, that sort of thing. Ah, Sunday.

yawn yawn

Well, there is more J-blog to come (AND more study blog, I haven't forgotten...)

First, I am just wondering how bad it is for me to sleep on my couch. Honestly, if I didn't have to get a new futon life would be so grand. Wouldn't have to worry about all the space it would take up, either. I'd like to get a decent tri-fold one, but they are expensive. How much cooler would it be to just sack out on my couch? (Answer: Not cool.) I guess I should just spring for a foam mattress or something. At some point. For right now, though, I'm just enjoying being able to see the floor of my room for once, so...couch it is.

Second, tomorrow is going to rock. I'm getting some fun assignments from GamePro, meeting a new tennis partner, and then going out for Little Star (deep dishshshshshshshsh) pizza with Oleya. I got sunscreen so I won't get burned.

Third of all, the day after that is Saturday, and I get a breakfast date. Isn't that what I always wanted? (Answer: Yes, yes it is.)

Now I just need my computer online and my HD tv not busted. Yes! Soon, soon all of these things...or at least something ;D

I bought some pretty decent cinnamon cereal yesterday--turns milk into psuedo-Horchata. Pretty rock!

Annnnd yeah, bedtime it is. How did I even manage to stay up this long? I'm sorta hungry, but...*yawn yawn*

いつでもＳＭＩＬＥ ＦＯＲ ＹＯＵ

Katamari Damacy OST is possibly one of the best ways to wake up. I would say that the Cardcaptor Sakura vocals collection (or maybe Slayers, or maybe Love Hina) also work pretty well, but man, the Katamari songs are just fantastic for morning energy and overall perkiness. How can a day started this way go wrong?

That...is a question I shouldn't be asking lol Should not ask that question on the morning of a transpacific flight haha I keep making myself sound paranoid for the flight, but I know it will be totally uneventful ;D I've never been one to creep out about flying. I actually really like it, but as I've probably noted before, my nose is pretty sick of airplanes. If you sleep you wake up all stuffy, all the moisture sucked out. Death rattle...*INHALE-LE-LE-LE*

I wish I had this on CD so I could bring it on the plane. I won't have time to listen to it all before I leave!! If I didn't have to go to the bank, I could, but I really do have to go to the bank...immediately.

Thursday for the ages

Today was pretty epic:

First of all, I had a wicked groovy date with an extremely handsome fellow whom I like very much so far. Tried a different Mexican joint and lounged around the park. Beautiful weather. Lots of doggies and tennis players and fellow loungers.

Second of all, I went to the GamePro company shindig where I met the interns, hung out with my editors, ran into some other familiar faces, ate BBQ, drank half a beer, and listened to a cover band wearing crazy wigs.

Third of all! I grabbed a cab ride with a colleague to the 1C party where I nibbled some Russian hors d'oeuvre, played some Russian video games, and left pretty early.

Instead of doing laundry, I went shopping for gifts. I think I'm pretty set. I may need to pick up one more thing, but I might actually make it ok with what I have. So that's good. Tomorrow can be laundry day instead.

Still can't believe I'm going to Japan on Saturday. It probably won't sink in until I'm somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, possibly asleep... Man, craziness @_@

An Increasingly Lengthy List of Frustrations

No, I'm not going to actually write the list out. Suffice it to say that between the absolute mess of all my stuff (including some things that have gotten totally trashed in the move, like pretty much all my posters, a book Louis lent me, etc) in my room that needs hardcore rearranging, the Internet trials and tribulations, the fact that my HD TV is still mute, and that I'd really like to have everything be perfect by the time I leave on...Saturday? Really? I just...gah!

So many hassles. I just want things to go smoothly.

Today I bought my JR pass. That was ridiculously smooth. I figured there would be some kind of process, but not really. You just tell them your name and give them all your money ($275 at the going rate for yen) and you're in business. I even scored a pass to the Ghibli Museum ($15).

Now if only I could get around to feeling like a competent person doing things successfully.

Or maybe if I could actually DO some things. Successfully.

I guess I successfully reanimated my dead laptop. It seems to be working as far as I can tell. I mean, I've been online for a while now. At least there's that.

Fresh and new summer

June always feels like summer to me already. I guess because school alway ended right away, even though it's never really summer until, what, the 21st?

My grandpa is 83 today. I called him before I even got out of bed; he said, "I made it!" Admittedly, I only thought of it because my mom had woken me up a couple hours earlier by calling me and telling me. 83! There is a nice lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake at home. Sounds really nice. Wish I could've gone.

This was my last ever night in this place in Glen Park. My stuff is all packed in groery bags and duffles and swag backpacks. You can't walk across the floor. I don't really have any food left here, so I walked to a cafe near the grocery store for a bagel with cream cheese and peanut butter. I thought of buying a smoothie, but it turns out that place makes them with...syrup. Eww. I can't even imagine a smoothie made with fruit syrup. It sounds absolutely disgusting. I grabbed some orange juice instead.

On the way back I picked up this month's fast pass, which has terrific colors: strawberry kiwi!! Best colors yet, I think, except for maybe the purple and "gold" (Go Cooney!) The lady tried to sell me one for $10, which I guess is how much the "youth" pass costs. I still feel sort of "youth," myself, and I probably could've gotten away with it, except you know, sometimes they check IDs and things on Muni and that probably wouldn't have gone over well.

I watched 1Up's RSVP special when I got back. I completely approve--what a good idea. As a bonus, I just heart Jonathan Mak. I've heard him talk a couple times and I love the way everything he says is so genuine and thought-out. Plus he's adorable. As sooooon as I get a PS3, it's Everyday Shooter for me.

So those are the mundanities. The real news is that I'm moving today, which has probably been gathered by comments made in this post and in previous posts, but yeah, the van should be here in less than an hour. Excited about my new digs in the Mission. I've been spending an awful lot of time there, anyhow, between Oleya and Louis and Aislinn, so having a home base there will be convenient. Plus I'm psyched to spend more time with my new roomie, get to know him better. We were just barely friends, more like acquaintences, so I hope neither of us have unexpected annoying habits haha

The even bigger news is that I'm heading to Japan for work in about a week. GamePro is having me cover a press event in Shibuya for just one day, but my dad said he will help me tag on some vacation. I might try to finagle my way up to Hokkaido to run around with my friend Three, too. Depends. All the plans have to come together really quick.

I guess for a return to the mundane...

it's June. I skimmed last year's posts for June and can't really believe it's been a year. My Japanese hasn't gone anywhere despite all of my ramblings about how much I'm going to study (obviously because I haven't been studying.) I'm hoping that feeling at home (eventually, I hope...really crossing my fingers) and having a desk (yes, I'm finally unpacking it) will help me pick up a serious habit. I think it'll be better for work, too. But yeah, last year I was still at Scotty's house, I guess out of Nijiya already (but for some reason I thought I was there until July...guess not), doing the WCities thing. Hadn't met Oleya yet. Hadn't...well...so much hadn't happened yet, the whole past year, hurr ;p Time has been slipping away in a great streaking blur, especially the past couple of weeks with some all nighters and so much Age of Conan.

Hum.

Oh, I started playing tennis with the craigslist crew. My first meet-up was yesterday with a photographer named Tim. We played a bit, but he pulled a hamstring, so we had to call it early. I feel sort of bad because we probably should've stretched more. I think I may have rushed the process inadvertently.

*ramble ramble* June! June, June, June...

She stopped walking

and I knew right away that for some reason the little wrinkly old lady was glaring at me, even though she seemed a bit absent. I continued down the sidewalk feigning obliviousness, but not very well. As I passed her she addressed me, "What size shoes are you wearing?"

Not what I was expecting! "Uh, maybe a seven?"

"Well then stay outta mine! They're only a six!" She scowled.

---------------

Let's all listen to the soundtrack to Sword of the New World (Granado Espada) while we wait for e-mails to arrive!

---------------

I had a dream last night of something sort of like a PvP zone, only the main weapon appeared to be...lassos with tripped-flames so that when you noosed someone and jerked the rope their heads burst into flames. Yeah, I spent most of time running away from some idiot who was in no adept with a lasso. It was vaguely terrifying. There was a good part, but I can't remember it anymore.

---------------

As long as we're here, I might as well confess buying the current issue of GQ expressly to oogle Robert Downey Jr. on the cover. I actually really liked the article, though, and will read it again. And probably again. I need to learn to write pieces like that so that when my Japanese is amazing I can spend quality time with Japanese devs and describe their lives so intimately with such seeming effortlessness.

Too much introspection, not enough action

So it's back to work!

Just for the record, though, the Eurovision party was great. There were just enough people that the room was full, but not so many that we had to sit on each other's laps. Unfortunately I forgot about the required plug-in so we didn't watch it streaming on TV via the PS3, but just on Oleya's laptop. It still worked. The stream only cut out once and that was only briefly, so we saw the majority of the show. How Russia won, I will never know. We thought for a minute Turkey might pull through, and I was a little surprised that Finland didn't seem to have a chance. *Shrug shrugh shrug*

Oleya's (cheesy spinachy pine nutty white saucy) lasagna was brilliant and she also had this super classic salad that I ate probably a third of.

Before the Eurovision event there were some work related shenanigans far into the night resulting in not much sleep. Lots of Rock Band, which does, in fact, beat out Boom Blox at a party. I was thinking about blogging about that, but there's not really much else to say about it besides that. Brevity is always so prized, so maybe I'll just leave it at that: when you have Boom Blox and Rock Band at a party, Rock Band wins. There's not much to explain there!

Age of Conan is coming along nicely, I guess. Crowley on Derketo. No more Noob Island. W00t!

Well fuck

Belgium has somehow managed to not make it to the finals. I sorta want to cry about that. If anyone's computer will, you know, play videos or something, then by all means please go check and see if they somehow botched their performance.

Of the ten I originally said we should look at, seven made it:

Serbia (pretty ballad)
Latvia (pirates)
Spain (creepy dancer)
UK (funky soul)
France (Jesus)
Bosnia & Herzegovina (creepy lovey zombies)
Finland (metal)

Note that of those, four (Serbia--being last year's winner, France, the UK, and Spain) are automatically finalists.

So anyhow, I guess I need to try to figure out what the hell is wrong with my computer. But, I'm still looking forward to Saturday even though Belgium is gone.

The potluck is well underway although I still don't know what to bring. Maybe drinks or fruit or something. Oleya is making lasagna and she has baklava. I mean, that is already a ton of food. So yeah, probably grapes and tea or something. How should I know? I'm bad at potluck.

EDIT:



What is wrong with this? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Europe fails.

Ayn Rand on My Life

"It is the subtler manifestations of the anti-conceptual mentality that are more tragic and harder to deal with. ...the products of modern education who do not like the nature of what they feel, but have never learned to think."

-from "The Missing Link" in Philosophy: Who Needs It

Italics mine. Isn't this what I've been saying all along? This book is validating. Maybe some would argue that's a bad thing. So far, though, I'm sort of admiring the way she is ripping everyone else to tiny stringy tatters of bullshit. I know lots of what she says isn't really very well...accepted. Err in any case, I'm going to go on and find out more about that. Point being, all the stuff she has said so far makes an incredible amount of sense, more than I knew she made. I haven't really read her since my freshman year of high school and if I don't know how to think now I certainly hadn't the faintest idea back then. POINT being, I'm curious to see if there gets to be a time when I can feel myself starting to disagree with what she's saying. Certainly she puts things very strongly, but that's one thing I've never been able to do, so maybe it's time to take cues. It's tricky business.

Anyways, let's have some haters. Convince me we're both wrong.

Finally some tennis

After having my mom lug out my rackets etc from Wisconsin last AUGUST, I finally finally FINALLY played some tennis yesterday. The balls were a little flat, but Koji's friend Martin, Oleya, and I had fun anyhow. I wish I could afford lessons, but hopefully just by playing more I'll improve.

Other than that it's been mostly work and some high anticipation of moving to my new place. I can't wait to live in the Mission, within walking distance of all sorts of awesome places. I liked Glen Park a lot more than I thought I would, but having Dolores Park, a tennis court two blocks away, my favorite taqueria, the pie shop...so exciting! Plus I'll be near my friends.........and I won't have to deal with living in someone else's house anymore. Or at least, even though I'm living in someone else's house it'll be more as an equal and less as a mouse in a the back of the apt.

Gearing up for Eurovision on Saturday. Should be tons 'o fun. At least, I'm hoping. We'll have to see who makes it out of the two (!!) semi-finals. I wonder if Ireland will...

ZOMG I have a house!

OFFICIALLY I am moving in with Josh of EA and Cupid fame this June. Also, I should be asleep right now, but...

I AM MOVING!!! W00t.

And not to a place that I can put up with, but a place I will actually like. So excited.

I really gotta sleep, though. I hope everything is really going as my way as I think it is.

ZOMG my computer is online

This feels great!! Brought to you by Louis and Aislinn.

I can't really post now, though. And I know my study blog is all old and sadfaced. It's because work is getting verrrry busy and exciting! So I haven't got the time right now : / Lots of things to do. But uhmmmm I'm really looking forward to spending some more time with my new study aids etc.

And thinking about Japanese things.

Oleya and I have been watching Jubei-chan. I guess I will finally be compelled to buy the last disk (not that it wasn't compelling, I think I was just broke). We'll have to see it! Two weeks!

Wheeeeeee!!

I had the saddest excuse for a brat tonight...

Yeah, I'll just wait until I go back home sometime. Pleh! I think maybe following the herd to Burger King would've been BETTER, if you can imagine. We saw Speed Racer! It was me and some IGN catz. A pretty fun time, overall. I guess in the case of a voucher the theater picks up the differece? My coupon was for $7.50, and admission was $10.50, but I didn't pay a dime, even though I offered the girl at the register three dollars. Sweet!

Now I'm freezing my ass off back here at home. Was pretty wired after the movie, so I decided to run with it and have some soda and pb crackers. Gonna watch some anime... Just dabbled in an episode of Lucky Star today and I may have to continue. It's some goooooood shit, and also really good listening practice, if the first episode is any indication. They speak about normal things, so I can understand a lot.

BRRR!!! I'm looking at a studio in the Mission this weekend. I really hope that if it is good I can move in. Available as of the 15th. That is perfect! Other news include some new jobbage writing manuals for EA (*_*) annnnnd applying to the best of my ability to the 1Up previews intern spot (which yes...is what I applied for in the first place...)

The first first place.

Been sort of nostalgic lately.

All the more reason to drown myself in anime until I get either too sleepy or too damned cold ;D

Epic scramble defeated

I had a chill evening with myself. First I watched Adam's Rib--an odd choice, I know, all Battle of the Sexes. I'm going to refrain from thinking about it too much because it was supposed to be me relaxing and not thinking. I just grabbed it since I was in the mood for something old. I have some other movies I got from the library, too. Free = yes.

Then I played some GTAIV.

Finally, I studied some Japanese.

I guess then I got really cold and sleepy, so now I'm on the computer.

I really...REALLY need to move. Sounds like I am totally assigned Age of Conan, which means I NEED Internet--like a banshee. And not just Internet on the landlord's slow and soon to be split THREE ways computer, but on my awesome languishing PC in the other room. Or I just need to leave immediately. I e-mailed some people with an in-law studio in the neighborhood, sounds really great, but I haven't heard back. Crossing my fingers...

Oh blah

Well, my interview was teh fail.

It took place yesterday and I didn't even get a follow-up interview. WHICH is fine. I just need to make more money doing what I'm doing, I guess.

Visiting with Koji's dad was cool, I guess. Sometimes they got in fights at 6:30 am and woke me up, but sometimes he took us out for food, so I guess the trade off was worth it.

Although, I've been eating out too much lately.

So today is going to be my last hurrah for a while (like two days, probably, hurr) in terms of eating out. Ian and his gf are coming up from Santa Cruz for an afternoon of gaming entertainment. We were going to have tasty pizza for lunch, but I guess it will have to be for dinner..........

mlah.

I got half of my Japanese study stuff in the mail, which is cool. The books. They will be discussed in the study blog.

Other than that...Speed Racer comes out next weekend, and since I have a voucher for $7.50, I'm totally going. Probably by myself, which sounds nice. I really like going ot movies alone and I haven't done it in... ... ... ...QUITE a while.

Breakfast and other news

Koji's dad arrived today. We ended up putting off breakfast until he got here because Koji was having a spat with a wasp in his bedroom. Like really freaking out about it, so it took extra time to get out the door.

We ate at possibly one of the slowest diners in the world. I guess because it's really the only one out here, but holy cow. So busy and I swear there must've been like one guy in the back making all the food. I had buckwheat pancakes with an egg and bacon. At least the food was delicious when it finally showed up.

The "other news" is that I just submitted my application to teach for Amity...again. This is the same place I applied last year, but if I get an interview this time I will really do it and hopefully be accepted. I guess the part of the first part is right, as usual, and I'm starting to feel better about the idea. And, you know, all that have adventures while you're young bs. I guess there's no better time for it.

No better time than right now! In the meantime, I'm havnig adventures in the new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game...for work ;D Luckily I'm in a streak of good games, so despite all the crazy stress that looking for a house caused, I'm doing ok. What's nice is that I don't have to worry about anything, jobs or whatever, until I find out about Japan. Of course, now that I've commited myself to the idea of going to Japan, watch as someone finally offers me a job or I just don't get accepted or something stupid like that, heh. YOU KNOW IT WILL HAPPEN.

Another day

So, Koji's dad is coming over today. Koji told me yes when I asked "Monday" (I had the day wrong--today is the 27th) I am a little less than prepared. I'm glad I cleaned my room yesterday! Right now we are supposed to go out for breakfast, but if he is not here in like five minutes I'm going to just eat pb and j or something. I'm too hungry in the morning to screw around waiting (and he already flaked on me for dinner two nights in a row.)

Ah, here he is. FOOD.

Too emo to blog

Yeah, nothing I write today is going to be anything besides utter bullshit. You'll all just have to wait till my life gets sorted out.

My door broke

So much for The Great Hinge. Now it's more like dangingly by a pube.

Was that vulgar? I dunno, string seems too substantial to describe my situation.

The party of the first part thinks I should go to Japan, which is really a fine idea, I suppose. It's a little awkward reapplying after turning down an interview last year, but maybe it'll work out.

I keep on writing a thousand emolicious things and then deleting them! Awesome! This blog entry is like waves on a beach. It flows down the page and then retreats.

I went out to a rough 'n tumble neighborhood today to see an apt. It was a brand new studio. Very small, but just perfect for my purposes. I need a stronghold and it seems to be that. One room with kitcheny equipment in a corner, a tiny bathroom off one side. It's like a mini-fortress of work efficiency just waiting for me to stack papers and videogame disks all over it. Probably can't afford it, though.

It's probably true that Japan holds more opportunity than even trying to live in that studio would, though.

...

Oh, am I still writing this blog? I should be working or doing something constructive. Or at least posting this. Instead I seem to be...updating my bookshelf on facebook...

*face plant*

I'm sensing a little bit of burnout, but it's OKAY. Do not be alarmed. Just go to bed.

Launch of the study blog

OH LOOK, my old template.

I missed it. That, and I wanted to use the other one for my new study blog that I am in fact, going to start...

How not to suck at Japanese

I considered very seriously trying to find the site I once started (for like two posts) a blog in Japanese that had cute pancake eating mascots on it, but decided to keep things accessible, which means piling at least most of my blogs in one place, i.e. here at Blogger.

If this turns out to be a bad idea I will just scrap it.

Hopefully it won't be. I still haven't decided where I will post Japan-related things that are not necessarily about studying. I may just throw all Japan related goodness over there and leave this for my other pursuits, but it's getting a little silly.

Why split at all? Ostensibly, it will organize content for my imagined readers. Maybe it will organize it for myself. Hopefully it will also motivate me to study more. If I blog here everyday it doens't have to have anything to do with Japanese and I can just ramble about how I had bacon, cheddar, green onion pancakes for breakfast with Oleya and her boyfriend Glen, BUT if I blog there it has to be J-something at least, so to be a GOOD BLOGGER I would need to be REGULARLY J-somethinging.

Errrr and now it's time to go watch Ghostbuster movies with Andrew and Heather! Although I will probably pop into my other blog first to make sure there is at least one post...there...now...

How inapplicable my title is

I know, I know, I should just start a new study blog.

I've been toying with the idea.

God knows I need another blog to not update. Except I would update! I really would. In fact I'd update everyday after studying. It's probably a terrific way to cap the experience...

the experience of studying.

To further enhance my study experience I have made two purchases, which I fully expect to be far more successful than past similar purchases.

1. The uber version of Kakitori-kun.

2. Japanese Graded Readers Level 1 - Volume 1 (w/CD), which, admit it, you totally knew I would buy.

This comes as a direct result of receiving recently in the mail $270 dollars I had not counted on seeing ever again. Obviously these things did not cost me $270 dollars, so I still make money on the deal.

Thankfully, I also make Japanese study materials that I feel will benefit me GREATLY, in fact, to a ridiculous degree.

Expect full impressions soon after they arrive, which won't be for at least a couple weeks.

Next time I get money I wasn't expecting, I'm buying this.

Until then, someone please invite me to live in an empty room in their San Francisco flat? I'm such a good roomie.

Also, now all we need is one of these:

only with American lit, British lit, Russian lit, translated Japanese lit, and...as many lits as we can fit. Someone get on that.

Ready, Set, Tax Day

I think this is the worst day of my life that didn't have to do with love and boys. That's still probably not true, but GOOD GOD tax day is hellish. I suppose it's my own fault for not being quite as prepared as I could've been, but can you ever be truly prepared for your very fist tax day?

Yes, I know you can. Leave me alone.

I was going to try to start the defrazzlement by getting a much needed haircut, but the neighborhood place wanted to charge me 45 dollars. That is ricockulous, and thus, I stay shaggy. I looked at the internet for a little while, but something tells me I will end up back with my newly borrowed copy of Cat's Cradle on the couch in the other room for a bit before I start working again. Or rather, start working at all, for today.

Not to say that I haven't accomplished smallish sporadic necessities, but the big job of the day has been deferred due to, yes, unmitigated tax hell. Actually, it appears I like to lie today, because it was mitigated greatly. My dad did most of my taxes. All I had to do was get the pre-pay for the first quarter of this year in and speed off my W-2 from the one employment I had this year. Those two tasks, however, managed to take up the majority of my day, requiring TWO trips downtown instead of one, but again that is my fault.

I think rather than blaming tax day, we had rather blame my ineptitude in dealing with it. And with that, I hope the rest of the week proves far more successful than the past two days. Good evening!

Chet Baker (and the shit)

He's dreamy. If there were an old Looney Toon with him as the crooning rooster, all the hens would be on the floor so fast. For some reason I knew before I even read about him that his life would be a mess with drugs etc. Wikipedia does have some very nice things to say, though, description wise. I think they hit the nail on the head with words like, "melancholy" and "intimiate." Whether he's singing, or playing, he's one of my favorites.

Annnnd in other news, the week was very busy and workful, which only means the weekend will be moreso. Embargo'd events are great, but then you realize you haven't REALLY even done the work yet, even though you'd been busy. The work is only just stating.

I'm going to see Thao with The Get Down Stay Down tonight, as planned. It'll be my last hurrah. Funny, I feel as though I've said this before. But this time I mean it because there is literally no other way. I have to move out of this apt asap and to do that I will have to actually pay rent. Which means...I have to just work my ass off and see if it's possible. If it's not, then I guess I might have to take a huge step back and get a job. How stupidly depressing. I don't need my career to crumble and fall to its knees. That's one thing that I felt was going well, but I guess it's not REALLY going well unless you can afford what you need, and a few things you want. I'm not really affording anything right now. I was asked the other day how I can have so many people wanting me to write for them and still be so incredibly broke. The answer to that is probably student loans, but I dunno anymore. Hopefully adding all this new work will make things better, but I still have to physically have time to do enough work.

Also, this is secretly depressing because I know if I were amazing at features I could be getting paid more. If I were selling witty orginal articles instead of reviews...

Windy

Is it really that much windier here or is it just all the trees that make so much noise? And the chimney? I think this is shaping up to be a long week. Let's investigate:

Yesterday, a decent day. I actually was even sort of productive. I also ate take-out Chinese food from that stupidly convenient place across from the BART station. In fact, I had the leftovers for lunch today and it's still tasty. Cheesy crab puffs stood in for rangoons, and even though they are so horrible (and these in particular were nothing special at all--like everything that seems to be served at this place) they are sort of nostalgic. They remind me of eating at that buffet in O-town... Plus, cream cheese and crab just tastes good. Stayed up too late punking online after I got home from being out and about, then Koji woke me up with all his bumping around this morning, but whatever.

Today started out slow and has kept on being slow. I'm working on my next review, which I really should just keep doing, as opposed to blogging...

Tomorrow I have some work in the afternoon that will get me out of the house. I'll also have dinner with Andrew, which will be nice since I haven't seen him in a while. I like working with people sometimes, and it'll be fun to tag-team with him.

Thursday will be...a big long day of...something. Work, I imagine. Bunches. Yeah, this whole week will be work. I think that's ok. Maybe something fun'll happen. If I get paid I still want to go see Thao with The Get Down Stay Down on Saturday.

Annnnnd I have to share the computer now. This was terribly unenlightening. To make up for it, a vocabulary word:

ほぼ (hobo) almost, roughly, approximately

More on the rickroll

Ahh, you know the cure for ANY song that is stuck in your head? A good rickroll or two! It's great to know that I will never be upset when this happens to me. I'm sure there are other 'rolls that would annoy my socks into outer space, but this one I can handle (as long as there is still relevant information SOMEWHERE...could you imagine if all actual topical content was replaced with rickroll links?) Anyways, after hanging out with Louis this weekend and singing the song every five minutes, I remembered he had quoted an interview with Rick Astley. I had been meaning to look for one, but it had totally slipped my mind.

Too cool! The only thing better than his comments about the meme and everything are the comments on the article, some of which suggest he perform a live rickroll at one of the Scientology protests. HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE?????? Could you imagine? Honestly, I sort of hope that happens. I don't expect it to, but holy cow XD

Secondly, read this article. I laughed my brains out at the end. Like really. It was almost hard to decide which one I liked better, but the LA Times blog wins out...obviously. Still!!! HURR!!! ZOMG!!!

Wherein I steal a widget

There is no news!

I am reviewing some stupidly easy kanji and and gonna play some more crummy game, maybe, at some point. Later on I will hang out with the Smash Bro (whose name is Louis, but is in my phone as Smash Bro since there is already a Louis in my phone and we play the game.)

I steal widgets from people.

You'll notice I also added some links, though not half as many as I had before. That was sort of the plan, to slim it down. I'm having trouble deciding what I should have, how to organize it, etc. I'm going to add one right after this post, actually, but it won't make the list make any more sense. That's ok.

*EDIT* I added two. Also, Blogger should steal Netflix's way of queuing. It's really a pain in the neck to change the order of the list in here once you start amassing some links.

The "new" blog

This is not a new blog, obviously, since you're still here at the same url. I upgraded from "template" to "layout" finally, though, and scrapped all my sidebar links. I miss my old skin, but, you know, upheaval. I'm sort of somewhat considering commissioning a custom header or entire everything once I am not poor. I dunno from who. If you have any suggestions, feel free. Mother II has been suggested. I could see an anime collage. I could also see something remarkably like the way it looks now, only with a different header. I like the colors blue and orange together. (Way to go, Blogger!) If you know anyone who designs Blogger templates in their free time...or...

Yeah whatever. So it looks different (crappy?) for now. The sidebar links will come back, and they will be links to places I actually go often enough to remember the address, so word to that. I'm still not tagging.

For the moment, I just need to WORK.

Eurovision Errata

A reader (!!) has pointed out that Belgium actually won second place in 2003 (with their other made-up language song) and Turkey took first. This is not hard to do since even the link I left contains the correct information. I'm not vain enough to believe they've edited the copy since last week, so I must've read it wrong. Thus, here is the clarification post!

TURKEY - Sertab Erener - Everyway That I Can



BELGIUM - Urban Trad - Sanomi



2003 is the year before I started watching, so it's a good history lesson. For the record, the song from Turkey wouldn't have made it anywhere near my list (unless the rest of that year was just...worse somehow, but I don't have time to dig through it all right now) but Belgium may have.

For comparison, we already know what Belgium is doing this year (<3), but how about...

TURKEY - Mor Ve Otesi - Deli



I actually approve of this, too. I mean, regardless of whether the lyrics are any good, the melody is one of the best this year. It probably should've been in my top ten, but you know, fucking Dustin the Turkey or whoever. You're seeing it now!

In conclusion, 2003 was not as awesome as 2008, and Turkey did somehow win, not Belgium.