Chocolate Work Day

Yeah, despite my virus issues I am eating peeps (ok, just one) and chocolate eggs on Easter morning because that is what I have done for 23 years (or this is 24, maybe). So tasty! 

But wait, there was an actual purpose to this post! Oh, I know. I was going to discuss some anime because for some reason I was being really nerdy and watching some shows from THIS SEASON (cutting edge!) yesterday. I would have taken screens, but I don't know how on my Mac...and I'm supposed to be working now. This is a quick post!

Eden of the East

Actually, this is how I got started on this quest. They promised exhibitionist boys. Oops? Did that really lure me in? I guess so. Well, I mean. I saw the screens they had, so it wasn't really necessary, but then I was looking up the show because I liked the character designs (no, not THOSE designs; jeez, they wouldn't actually show it) and the story sounded cliché as usual, but interesting enough, given the cute characters. I also like the look of the secret agent cell phone. 

Anyways the first episode was pretty much what we were told to expect! Nudity! It's amusing that it starts off in the United States and even more amusing that the girl gets in trouble for throwing things at the White House haha (She wants to make a wish in the fountain, but it's so far away!!) I will definitely watch more of this show, partly because I am a sucker for cute boys with amnesia, and...ok, maybe that's the entire reason. Go superficiality!

K-On!

While I was browsing the streaming site I was on, I noticed they had K-On!, too. I remember hearing this was about a group of cute girls who makes a band, or something like that, and that sounded appealing given the cross-like tendancies it could have between something like Beck and, say, I dunno...Azumanga or Lucky Star? I was hoping sort of. And it IS high school freshman being sort of cute. And the main girl is a total weirdo space-case with no life. It could work, we'll see. 

Ristorante Paradiso

I haven't actually checked this out yet, but just read the description:

"21 year-old Nicoletta leaves her grandparents' home in the countryside to work in Rome at a restaurant owned by her estranged mother's lover. But something sets the popular and elegant Casetta Dell'orso apart from its rivals: the entire restaurant is staffed by older gentlemen wearing glasses (as per her mother's preference). Thrown into this adult world, Nicoletta must try to find personal and professional stability - things that become increasingly difficult to achieve as she falls under the spell of Casetta Dell'orso."

RIDICULOUS! And I love it!

Oh, and I learned how to take screens now, but it's too late! You'll all just have to suffer through another boring textwall! 

Back to that work, now. Enjoy your bunnies or Jesus or whatnot :D

In sickness

Today I am at home working all day because there are so many things to get done. 

Also, I am sick. Yesterday pretty much all I did was go to the doctor (the thing on my head is a lymph node, reacting to [some virus?], go to jury service, and go to bed.

I continue to be motivated an astonishing amount towards a great many things (PMI certification, C++!), none of which help me immediately RIGHT NOW. 

But let's see, I gave my trumpet a bath. It still looks like hell, which is fitting, because right now it sound a bit like hell, too. Not like it's a terribly good trumpet, but hey, I refuse to be limited. I will rock this thing (eventually). For right now I am lucky if I can hit an E at the top. I remember those days, though, and how if you just work at it, you'll be at the point where hitting a G above the staff is nothing and hitting a C off in the stratosphere is just what you do. I mean, the pros do it, right? So it must be possible ;D I've nailed the D above that C, back when I was a trumpet player who actually played trumpet, so I know it is possible for me, too. Practice, etc.

So far none of the neighbors have come knocking down the walls. I'm not sure if they realize this could be a daily event. Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Four days a week I will be unable to continue what should be a daily ritual. The plan is to bring my mouthpiece to work, I guess, and buzz around outside for a bit before having lunch. That doesn't help your fingers much, but it does wonders for your chops, really. I guess it's also really boring, since you don't sound like a trumpet, but more like a kazoo or something. I'll have to find some interesting exercises to work on.

But yeah, high, don't play trumpet when you have a swollen lymph node in your head. It sort of hurts. Go eat an orange instead, and get to the post office before it closes, and finish clearing your inbox so you can attend to all the rest of your PRESSING MATTERS.

Some good goals

Again, it's really hard to be getting excited about LIFE AND STUFF when there are things to take care of, but I've been thinking of some good goals as we move forward with, uh, LIFE AND STUFF: 

1. Obviously I'm committed to living in the Mission. If I'm going to train up to biking around 24 miles a day to work, and buy a 200 dollar train pass, then that much is clear. Why don't we take that a step further by paying more attention to local news and taking up Spanish (and not jut for a lark like in high school)? 

1a. I guess the understated goal here is my commitment to biking. I NEED to bike everyday, at least a little, and more likely, a lot. Otherwise I will never get up to doing the commute and I NEED to get up to that as fast as possible. This weekend will be a big push, for sure. 

2. The programming thing, I'm actually pretty excited about this idea. I think it will really help me gain some cred at work if I can show that I'm not just some customer service chick, and I bet it would also be really fun. Plus, what if I could get involved in some indie projects? Maybe there is some awesome designer out there who just needs a programmer zombie to put their ideas into code. I will be that guy! And I will be a more well-rounded producer eventually, because of it.

3. Let's please not forget Japanese. There are good books lying all over my room, just need some time, which I will have. 

4. Lately I've been doing a good job of this, but ALWAYS READ. Always! There is no excuse for not having a book with me at all times. I don't have to go fast, just pay attention. Novels and non-fic and magazines. Just keep reading. It's not like I run out of stuff!

5. Play tennis on a least one of my days off, if not two. Swimming, maybe, but it's probably not really in the budget at this point.

Anyways, maybe you can tell I'm feeling inspired. Unfortunately, being inspired doesn't help me get any work done. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS. I did get my oranges, though. And strawberries! They were really cheap because they are going to go bad, like, tomorrow ;D

I'm in a good mood.

Further afield

but not by much. Today was similar to yesterday in that upon my return from jury duty I decided I had better, once again, take the bike out. I really do have to force myself, because it is, as I have stated previously, terrifying. Besides that, jury duty tends to leave me a little sleepy, not because it's boring, but I guess just because I'm walking several blocks, listening intently, and then walking several more blocks, lounging in the BART, and slumping home, so I really have to drink some water, get psyched, get alert, and then, well, get in the street. 

*eats the carrots out of her stir fry* I am liking carrots less and less all the time, it seems -- at least the frozen ones that come in my stir fry veggie packs. Maybe I should just start buying fresh veggies so I can pick what I want in my dinner ;D I'm sure fresh carrots would be fine...

Anyways, the plan was to take Capp all the way to where it runs into Mission, go left down Mission until it runs into Valencia, and then return on Valencia, but when I reached the end of Capp, it was right turn only, so I ended up actually riding down Mission to the next intersection where I had a tiny bit of difficulty turning left because one guy thought he would just go. I guess maybe I should've yielded to him : / 

Actually I had some trouble with a bus before getting on Mission, too, but I think that was actually him being lame. I had stopped and then he stopped so I figured it was my turn to go, but he start going straight away again. Not much else I could do at that point besides wait, unless I wanted to broadside a bus with my new bike ;D

So I think then after turning left off of Mission I turned...onto...Valencia, going left, because I figured it would be good to take advantage of the bike path, which it was. That, of course, runs into Mission, so I did that for a while, and then turned and came back down San Jose, which was pretty easy. Took that all the way to 22nd, turned right, had a pretty easy time taking the left onto Capp and then walked my bike across the street to my house. 

*nom nom nom* This stir fry is so much better once the carrots are gone. It's amazing. I'm almost tempted to start throwing them out before I cook it, but that would be such a waste...of yucky carrots. 

Overall, I'd say today was...the same as yesterday. I didn't sense cars being more or less annoyed by me than yesterday, and I didn't feel like I had any more or less trouble communicating what I was trying to do, either. The only time I changed my plan was because the road wasn't going to let me go the right way, not because the cars intimidated me, so I guess in that sense I did better, but I also didn't really have much of a plan, either. But that's not true, because I did plan to take San Jose to 22nd and then turn, etc., so I guess I was successful. You wouldn't really expect less than that, though. It's not complicated (like riding from downtown San Jose to Los Gatos...)

Rather than going to the doctor in the morning to see what there is to see about the mysterious hurting bump on my head (which is not a bruise), I think I will go inquire about lights for my bike, and a rack. I definitely need front and back lights, but I'm still sort of on the fence about a rack, just because I think it will make me feel like I can take a whole bunch of stuff with me, when really I want to be traveling as lightly as possible. 

Ideally I would pack some a book or magazine, my DS/PSP, Japanese books, my laptop, food, and water. That's a lot of stuff. If I were just taking trains I would actually carry all of that with me everyday, but on a bike that is way too much, even if you're lugging it in panniers. I will have to think every morning what I really want to bring. I will have at least three hours everyday (train rides and lunch) where I can just do whatever, so it'd be good to have some Japanese to study or some kind of diversion. That said, I've proven time and time again that sometimes all I want to do in a train is chill out, stare out the window, or at the seat in front of me, and think about nothing (although that still seems like a waste of time)...

Even if I pack light, though, I don't think I will want to carry it on my back. I will be disgusting enough after all that riding without a backpack making my back even sweatier. So, I will need something suuuuuper sturdy that will not fall off the back of my bike during bumps in the road, where I can keep at the very least some books and videogames, if not my laptop. Hopefully the shop can help me out with all of these things and make it relatively inexpensive. (I know it's possible to spend 400 on a front beam alone -- not happening!)

As for everything else besides the bike, there is just a lot to do. I'm nearly done playing catch up, but there is still one titanic obstacle left. There are no more hoops to jump there, though, so I just have to set about the conquering. Originally the idea was that everything would be square by tomorrow night, but having my computer in the shop really borked that, so I have to just accept that it will take longer. Difficult, but not impossible! I think the hard part is understanding that yes, it will take longer, but no, that doesn't mean you don't have to start work on it right now and bust your ass till you are barely awake anymore. 

I am gonna go buy some oranges first, though ;p The bf has me sort of hooked and I think it will be a perfect wake up tactic when I start to get sleepy later. 

Probably this weekend I will try to take a more sizable ride. Hopefully actually TO somewhere, if my lock shows up in the mail. In fact, there will be a slow trickle of packages arriving at my house, since my trumpet should get here tomorrow, and I also ordered a book (which will be written off taxes next year) for work that was recommended to me at GDC. 

Oh, and I'm gonna try to learn some programming. Ahem. Yes. If anyone has any advice here, that would be great, since I'm starting from scratch! Unless someone highly derecommends it, I'm going to learn Python first... Edit: C++ it is!

Anyways, now I'm really frustrated that I can't just get excited about this. I don't have time right now. Otherwise I'd be reading this textbook I just found, etc. Grr. Ohhhhh well. 

For a spin

Today after jury duty I decided I had better take the bike out. I already know it's going to be impossible to get up to 24 miles a day by the 27th, but it I won't be able to ride at all if I never start. I need to find a loop I can do in the mornings once I get some of these loose end work assignments out of the way, something where I know how many miles it is so I can just keep looping until my ass is sufficiently kicked. As for today, well, it went ok.

It took me a second to get used to how the gears work. It was set pretty low and at first I could only figure out how to get it to go lower, which obviously didn't help me at all. Then I realized that there were two buttons, that it didn't just loop, and that helped. Of course, it just means I was able to tire myself out embarrassingly fast, for someone who is planning on biking 24 miles a day in the not tooooo distant future.

I just took it easy around the back of the Mission today, pretty much between 21st and 23rd, I think. I'm still terrified of riding with cars. There was one intersection, I don't remember which one, where I was going to turn left, but got freaked out and went right instead. That was obviously pretty lame, though, so I made myself go around the block and do it again turning left. You just have to be assertive.

Anyways, it's hard to tell if I was annoying any cars -- one guy definitely zoomed past at an intersection -- but I don't think I was doing anything wrong. Needless to say, I'm still really nervous. Yawn, mrrf, mlah.

Only other news is that the local tech dudes changed their prices, so that while some services are cheaper, the specific one I require (and I'm sure one of their most popular requests, hence the raise) went up 20 bucks. "Gotta pay rent..." Yeah, me too : / I am so poor, but hey, my PC is back. Let's hope it works. Gotta crank on some things.

What day is it? Oh, Tuesday.

Is it more hardcore to move or commute?

I think finally being down in Campbell/Los Gatos has taught me that the one true path is going to have to be commuting. Moving down there would not be hardcore, it would be masochistic. I'm not saying that it's not possible to be happy down there, I'm just saying that it's not possible for me, especially given everything up here I'd be unceremoniously scrapping for no good reason. Oh wait, my job is a good reason.

And it really should be, I think. But you know, being so miserable this morning (and talking to my dad) made me remember that this is just a 3 month contract. I'm sure they would love to see me being so gung ho as to move down there, but isn't it also ridiculously gung ho to bike 24 miles a day? I thought so. I still think so. Let's get me on the freaking bike already. Maybe when they are ready to commit a little more to me, I would be willing to sacrifice more. But hell, sacrificing the entirety of your waking hours four days a week is a pretty big sacrifice already.

The other thing is that my concern is reliability. I don't really EXPECT my bike to break. What I expect is to be hit by a car. If I get hit by a car, whether during a 3.5 mile commute or a 12 mile commute, the result will still be me probably not being able to quite make it to work that day. And they should understand that. So, I don't know what my problem is. I'll just pack dry clothes in a waterproof bag and go with the rain jacket. Yee hoo.

I will either be the healthiest I have ever been or the least healthiest I have ever been. I think that will just depend on what I eat and the quality of the sleep I get. No sore shoulders!

Party = canceled (and other assorted end of the day ramblings)

My new job is so cool that I cannot have a Eurovision party this year. WOWOW -_-

...

Meh, it's ok. I can still watch the videos and everything will be on youtube later, anyhow.

I guess.

Booo.

In other news, I'm really tired? That isn't news these days. Spending time with the 9er (Is that nickname number three now? It won't last much longer, but it should still count. For some reason this kid is really good at sprouting spontaneous nicknames...) is reminding me how weird it is the way being a kid works. I mean, we all used to be goofy little kids. What the heck? There was a period of time in high school where I was really upset about the ways I had changed. Now I guess I'm over it. Maybe I've had a paradigm shift, or maybe I don't care, or maybe I really was a little too silly sometimes as a kid.

Who am I kidding? I'm still a little too silly sometimes.

I'm guessing I will have to go be on a jury tomorrow. That sort of throws a wrench or five in a lot of things.

I really really really need a vacation more than anything right now. Just some time for nothing. For lolling about drinking tea and reading books and playing videogames and watching cartoons and learning to ride my new bike@ around the best city in the world*.

@ Yeah, I might be getting a bike tomorrow. Then it's time to train train train until I am pro-commuter girl.

*Heartfelt hyperbole. Despite loving Paris and Tokyo and New York, though, San Francisco really does have something pretty freaking rad. Maybe it's the hills. I keep coming back to that.

007 and other such fun

I learned this game from a fourth grader yesterday. It's like janken only with deeper strategy. Or at least I feel like the strategy is deeper.

Pat your legs as you chant "double" and then "O" ending with two beats of hand gesture "se-ven" in one of three positions:

reloading your gun
arms crossed over your chest (defense)
shooting

You can only shoot if you have loaded, but if you are loading when someone is shooting, you die. So for instance let me see if I can remember what happened last night.

Double O: We both loaded.

Double O: I let him shoot and blocked, myself.

Double O: I think we both reloaded.

Double O: I let him shoot and blocked, myself.

Double O: I shot and won.

If you want to be no fun you could just block the whole time, but that would get old.

Maybe I will teach him how to play jan-ken with "atchi muite hoi," although I would have to practice myself first.

Oh that reminds me of standing in line for the Ghibli Museum last time I was in Japan. There were these kids playing and instead of saying, "Aiko desho?" the boy said, "Atchi muite hoi" and his sister started making SO MUCH fun of him, even to the point of calling her mom and dad, "Hahaha, he said atchi muite hoi instead of aiko desho!!!! XD XD XD"

There was also a really good jump rope chant (apparently he can double dutch) but I can't remember it. It's not one we used when I was a kid, but I never really know the jump rope chants. This one was something about yadda yadda "Who's your girlfriend? I forgot! Is she A? Is she B? Is she C?" etc. Something like that. Very cute.

My friend (formerly known as Nila) Reon is in Japan and her blog is fantastic

Please to read and enjoy

Eurovision TOP TEN TO WATCH Coming Soon

And yes, I will embed the freaking videos this year. Sheesh.

Can't wait to have time to peruse this stuff, man. You better all come to my party.

Oh, it's spring

How nice.

Now if only I could spend a little more time outside? Soon, soon.

Distracted by the future

I'm REALLY preoccupied, which is bad because I have so many things to do RIGHT NOW. It's another one of those hinge moments, though, where everything is going to change DRAMATICALLY so you just want to know what's going on, don't want to/can't make too many plans, need to just hold tight a little longer.

I just want to know what my life is going to be like. No matter what I have to make some changes:

On the one hand we have the super commuter girl, gradually working up to CalTraining with her bike (new hobby) and riding 24 miles a day, employed full-time at an awesome company, presumably making an actual living.

On the other we have isolationist contractor girl, holed up in her house doing work online, walking everywhere to save money on BART, ultra poor, getting creative with meal planning (new hobby).

Granted the latter is just about what I am now, except I think I would really have to take a harder look at my budget, since things aren't really working.

Can't wait until things pan out!

What I had for lunch on Sunday

No joke:

Spicy Black Bean Soup
Antipasto Salad with Green Olive Tapenade (which I made)
Bruschetta with Broccoli Rabe Pesto and Pecorino

Crispy Chicken Parmesan with Homemade Marinara
Chiang Mai Curry Noodles
Gemelli with Peas, Lemon, and Black Pepper
Individual Meatloaves with Carmelized Onions
Spinach, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese (switched to Gruyère) Frittata
Quick Cioppino (which I also made)
Szechuan Pork with Basmati Rice

Strawberry Cupcakes
Milk and Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème
Vanilla Scented Beignets
Tart Lime Wafers

Yeah, we were pretty full at the end. My dad got me a cooking workshop at Tante Marie's, in town, for X-mas, which I attended this past Sunday. There were 13 students, including me, so they paired us off and set us to make two recipes each. I think I was the youngest person there, but I got paired with the probably the oldest person. He was sort of a kooky guy, but very friendly. Sang a lot. He ended up cutting his fingers and bleeding all over our work space, which was a little (ok, a lot) stressful, but we got everything made and it was delicious :D

Actually it was pretty cool that we got paired together. He was in awe of my planning prowess (Basically, I just said we should make the salad while the soup simmers, lol), so he always just asked what he should do, and I was perfectly comfortable with delegating responsibilities, although I felt bad that I made him mince so much garlic, especially since the first thing he did, as I said, was chop his fingers.

Cooking is a lot better with a partner! That is for sure. I hope to replicate some of this tastiness at home, but I need a pal, for sure. OLEYA, I MISS YOU! We could've made so many tasty vegetarian variants!

Another blog, wtf?

Yes, it's true, but this one is different:

http:://www.duckduckgame.com

Right now it is still just a hosted blogger blog, but we shall see what the future holds *squints nobly towards the horizon*

Please to read about videogame adventures (and other such geekery).

So much to do, so...much to do

Even when I have a little time, I end up trying to go in so many directions at once, I get stuck. Example, I finished work before bedtime (NO WAI!) so I have a couple hours here to do something really great. Any number of things:

*read some fiction
*watch a TV show
*watch some anime
*read manga
*read some other comics
*read The New Yorker
*read Google News
*read about videogames
*translate some Famitsu
*translate some Japanese Google News
*play videogames
*practice kanji
*do some [Japanese] grammar drills
*work more

This is such epic fail. How can I be so good at thinking about all the things I want to be doing and be so bad at doing them? My brain hurts so much with all the stress of "free time" that I kind of just want to go to bed. Lame!

I was just trying to do some kanji and I couldn't even concentrate because of this game I found out about that I feel like I have to cover IMMEDIATELY, but I can't do that because I should be writing about Onechanbara RIGHT NOW, but I wanted to take a break from work first! Round and round...

And now it gets really meta, cuz what am I doing now? I'm blogging about it. Ugh. And I already updated my FaceBook status about it. The only reason Twitter doesn't know is because they are down for updates. I.e. they are accomplishing things while I think myself into total paralysis.

The other thing that is bugging me is how I'm supposed to eat out twice this weekend on a budget of approximately 3 dollars.

And as long as I'm emptying my brain here I've been having some issues trying to figure out who to pitch stuff to. Obviously I need to get paid, but obviously I also need to just BE WRITING. It's very important that I just produce SOMETHING. I should be writing everyday. Should I make my own game blog? I have a blogger address all set aside, but who will read it? Should I work for free? Once again I'm at a loss because all this thinking is meaning that I'm not actually PRODUCING. Maybe I'll register a domain and do something.

Trend pic

I took one last year, so I might as well this year. It's me! Single! On Valentine's Day. Mom sent me some cash dollars for a treat, which probably means ice cream. I got some work done this morning, so maybe I deserve it.

Valentine's Day on a three-day weekend

Non-single people must feel so lucky!

Notice my new Twitter sidebar

I joined a lonnnnng time ago, but just realized that it's handy for updating my FaceBook status remotely. We'll see how that works out. I've read other user's complaints about the FaceBook app, mainly that they don't want EVERY tweet going up. I feel like if there is something I'd rather say privately to someone, though, I can just text their phone? That makes sense to me.

In other news, uh, work :D lol What did you expect? I might play tennis tomorrow if it's nice. I will eat half a burrito for lunch and return the iPod I borrowed from my friend. I will review write my Crayon Physics Deluxe review, finally, and be ready for the new deluge of stuff from Otaku USA (as much as they will give me). I will play Flower and Henry Hatsworth. Hopefully there will be other exciting things to get up to...

Encouraging discovery for those rainy no tennis sadface days

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but over X-mas was I realized I am much better at running in place than at running running. It was snowy and icy and freezing outside, so I jogged for a while in the basement and felt really good.

Granted running in place is way easier, but maybe if I start there I can work my way up to running forward. I did some sprints on the tennis court the other day and it nearly killed me ;D This way I was actually succumbing to muscle fatigue before breathing problems or weird heart palpitations could crop up, which, you know, IS AWESOME. It's awesome to not feel your heart trying to flutter up your throat when you're trying to just work out and have fun.

The i.e. of all of that is that the tennis courts were soggy today, so I jogged in the apt. Feels more purposeful than dancing around ;D although Perfume is some good dancing around music...

Back to the dating, chillins

Singleness. I guess it's silly to note having a boyfriend and then not note being broken up. Things weren't working out at all, really.

Keeping myself busy, though. Lots of work to do, even if it isn't always writing about videogames. Actually, it seems like it rarely is these days, what with all the slashed freelance budgets.

I know I need to update my study blog, more, but you know, I also need to study more ;D

It's been suggested that I learn Spanish, and at this point, I don't think I'm against that (not that I ever was, obviously...but I've just been trying to find a way to get to Japan). I'm sure I could get a good job if I were bilingual Spanish, and it would be a hell of a lot easier to do that around here. I mean, I could just hang out with the people at the gelato shop downstairs, even. We'll see. I really want to just get fluent in Japanese -_- It seems like focusing would be best, but I dunno. I was learning three languages successfully in college, so...I dunno, I dunno.

Tennis is still going well, I think. Trying to figure out my serve. It's been rough. I have a new partner, although I think our first meet-up will be rained out. It's decided to be winter proper again, for a bit.

Tonight had dinner with some colleagues. Pretty exciting to see people, actually. I really like feeling like I have co-workers, or at least, you know...colleagues. People. I don't like being alone in the living room all day...

Tomorrow I'm going to Berkeley. I haven't been in ages, and really the only time I was downtown in the happening area was for an event at the comic shop. Gotta make sure I get a bunch of work done before that, though. Like maybe some user support and at least one article. I can take Henry Hatsworth with me on the BART. Working on that review has been the highlight of my week, probably.