Huge oversight (the return of sucknot)

Wow, so check out the TOP LINK in my blogroll now. Yes, it's mine. Maybe that is tacky, but I don't care. It's BACK and it's ROCKIN', so check it out.

EDIT: 9 months ago to the day I started the first post on that blog like so,

This is the first step to not sucking at Japanese. Admit it, you suck! I suck! We try and try, but we are un-near to fluency. We are far. Knowing you don't know is much better than assuming you do. You can say まだまだ行きます and keep on plugging away.

KEEP ON PLUGGING AWAY! :D

Also, Happy Obama Day. Damn, I gotta go to bed so I can wake up in the morning, lol.

So, you know what is going well?

Tennis! Oh, hell yes. Started last week. Played Monday, Wednesday; skipped Friday in favor of Saturday--a mistake which will not be repeated--and got pushed back to today. It's been lovely. No sore hand, no sore foot. Just the minor, oh-hey-it's-working muscle aches. So far been playing just an hour, but I'm kinda hoping to up it a bit soon. 90 minutes seems fair. Haven't been playing sets yet, so it's mostly just whacking back and forth.

Today was sort of frustrating. I think I just need to keep hitting. I seem to be able to adjust my swings pretty well when I screw up, but there is still a wide range of errors: the over-lobbed, the over-spun, the just plain wrong angles that your racket should never be held at. Most of the time I just feel like I'm not hitting that sweet magical spot. I sort of wish I could spend some quality time with a ball machine and drill drill drill drill drill drill drill. I'm big on placement. Straight down the line, crossing to the line--I just want to be able to whip the balls wherever. I know my swings just need work. I mean, especially when I'm backed up practically to the wall. It's hard to know how far back you can get without running into something. I've been slicing a lot of backhands to compensate which is not what I need to be doing right now. Every once in a while I really rip a cross court backhand, and that's the kind of thing I need to be looking to do.

Other than that, what, I need to eat healthier and all the fish lately is a good start. Still trying to come down off the holidays both in terms of food and just work ethic. I've been super lazy , but the gearing up for Japanese grad school has given me some pretty ambitious goals to work with. I should really try to figure out exactly how much money I need, so I can figure out how much money I should try to somehow make. Luckily, it sounds like I can keep my (new, upgraded) user support/spam warrior job even while I'm in Japan, as long as I can keep it up everyday (which, why couldn't I?)

I guess for the first time ever I'm going to watch the inauguration. That should be interesting.

I need to keep up with my blog better, even if it's just two sentences, because otherwise I'll be really upset when I look back in a year or two and find that I hadn't been keeping a record ;p

LOLtastic

So last night driving home from seeing Milk (Awesome movie on an important topic! Please go!) with my boyfriend (which, yeah, what? When did that happen? XD XD XD I guess I should post more often...) I very nearly said "lol" with my laugh response. It wasn't going to be instead of laughing, but rather that the "lol" would set up the laughter. Or who knows, maybe I wouldn't have ended up laughing. It's hard to say, because the sudden "lol" impulse REALLY cracked me up. Is this true geekhood?

Today Three is visiting from Japan, which rocks. I'm excited to do pretty much whatever he wants to do, although it sounds like our interests for this lazy Saturday coincide pretty well: movies and videogames. We'll have dinner with Mikael (=boy) at El Metate. I wish I could bring Oleya, too.

For now I really need to do some work.

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.