Yowza, it's been a while since I've posted. Laziness and doing my work all day instead of screwing around online are to blame.

On a completely unrelated note - man, my hands are cold today. I wonder if there's computer gloves I can use while typing/designing? Maybe I can try Gina's fingerless gloves she uses for percussion and see if they do the job. Then I can get some of my own.

Turns out my mouse is fine. I think the problem is my rechargeable batteries. Do those ever wear out? Alternatively I may have ruined my charger by buying the wrong kind of batteries for it. I really tried, too. I checked to make sure they were nimh. I didn't realize there were different kinds of nimh. I'm basically really confused about what I am or was supposed to buy that works with the charger. Grump. I've been too lazy to test this hypothesis and examine all of my batteries and research this, so I guess the answer shall have to wait for now. But this gives me hope that my wireless headphones are not dead, either, and that it was just the rechargeable batteries completely failing. I'll test it out at some point.

So not much going on here. The cats have mostly settled in, with the occasional ambush and harassment still going on. Arlene had a really awesome potential adopter lined up, and then somebody thoughtfully gave them a kitten so now they can't get yet another cat. Grrrr. But I did get to take her to the vet for her rabies shot, where she got loose, climbed the walls, and hid in the teensy weensy space behind their washer/dryer. Somehow this is always a pattern for me and my foster cats and rabies shots. The dogs are fine. Roommates are great. I started in on Read Or Die from Netflix - we watched the movie the other night, and it was pretty damn fun, despite all of the rampaging plot holes and bond-villain-like monologues. The characters were just so fun that it didn't matter that it wasn't tightly constructed. So now I'm looking forward to watching the series. I also have the last disk of Kyo Kara Maoh, which I haven't had time to watch yet. Due to playing video games.

So G and I finished Baldur's gate. That game was really good because she could play it for more than a half hour and could actually get into it an enjoy it. So when we beat the final boss, I forced Oblivion on her. She made a cool character, but had major troubles actually playing the game. I'm sure it had something to do with how the camera angle moves around. It made her really really sick, which is too bad. Maybe her brain isn't ready to play it yet, or maybe she just needs to get used to moving the camera angle around better and it will help. I suspect that it will be too hard for her to play, though, and we'll have to try something else. Wah ;_;

I traded in a few books to Page One Too, so I got enough store credit to buy a used manga. I saw MARS there, which is an older shojo manga that I have seen people talk about. Apparently people get addicted to it and then try to find their missing volumes and have a rough time since it's an older series. So I checked it out. Not bad - nice and gooey, has potential. I don't know if I like it enough to hunt down the rest or even keep it, but maybe I'll see if I can find it online and read it there to decide if I want to buy more. If not I'll sell it. One funny thing - and I've encountered this in other manga - apparently Americans kiss casually. All the time. Friends, family - it means nothing to us. It's how we say hello, apparently. Between men and women. On the lips, mind you. HA! Where did this stereotype get started? Since it is COMPLETELY based on a fiction? I mean, usually stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason and have some basis in fact. The only thing I can think of is that celebrities sometimes kiss each other on the cheek a la Europeans. That doesn't explain how full mouth kisses are how we greet each other. Every time I come across that I laugh my ass off.

Tomorrow or Friday I'll be going back to the dealership to look at cars. Again. More details in person for those who want them.

I've been getting a lot of work done. More to do! Too bad I'm not getting around to finishing fixing stuff in the house. Damn, having limited energy is frustrating. I really want to winterize the garage and the windows before it gets really cold. I also need to get my fridge fixed. Hmm, maybe I can call about that today. Oh, and I need to clean the yard and finish putting up my toys. And buy superglue to fix one of them. At least most of my Christmas shopping is done...

I think that's it! Pretty boring, but I guess boring is better than 'disaster' or 'drama.'

WANT.


On a side note, I had a dream last night that I was playing some away gig and Gonzo (yes, of the Muppets) was my roommate. He got the separate room with the kingsize bed while I got... no bed. He was a surprisingly clean and respectful roommate.

This is definitely from a combination of watching the Gonzo Bohemian Rhapsody video and some bizzarro Pink Flamingos flashback. Except it was a symphony gig. I'm pretty sure Catherine was there. Oh, and the cheap motel we were staying in was inside a mall.

Gotta love it.

Check out this hilarious ebay listing - "I hate this stupid ewok."

cgi.ebay.com/i-hate-this-stupid-ewok_W0QQitemZ250536207184QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0

It was pretty fabulous. I didn't even attempt to be productive and took 2 whole days off without worrying about it. Except for housesitting. Which I guess tires me out and would explain why I was blobby all weekend.



So that was my weekend. I really did spend all day Sunday playing video games. It got to the point where I was disoriented and didn't know what time it was or if I had just eaten dinner or if that was lunch. At the end of the night G and I watched Boondock Saints. It was entertaining and I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was the coolest thing in the world like a lot of people do.

Today is a work day. Lots to do! So what am I doing? Procrastinating.... Ha!

After hearing this. Click here to experience a j-pop boy band with fabulous costumes, a catchy beat, and really BAD HAIR. But at least one of them rips his shirt off...

www.youtube.com/watch

And yet, I'm still listening to it. I feel ashamed. So... damn... catchy... And how can you beat a band name like Club Prince? And I can't help but love the outfits.

Ahhhh, housesitting really is the best time to catch up on goofing off. If that makes any sense.



Other than that - I'm finally getting my will done. Damn if it isn't costing me $600. Ouch. But it's one of those things that needs to be done, and that's why I have savings, after all. Still hurts though. I might have backed out of it if the lawyer hadn't already done the work. Probably should have asked how much it would cost ahead of time, but I had just assumed through some arbitrary decision in my own head that it would just be a few hundred $. That's what I get for being dumb.

I should be deciding what to do with the car mess today. More details on that once I feel like it's ok to write online about any of it.

It is somewhat overwhelming to see all of the cats milling around at feeding time now that 2 more have come back in one week. O.o But it's nice to have them back. They are both friendlier than when they left. Arlene has been hanging out with me when I'm on the couch and lets me pet her. And for once looks like she likes it instead of looking like she's being tortured and killed. But with all of the recent changes in the cat social dynamic it's been... interesting around here. As Gina said, it's been like a steam factory - Hiiiiissss! Wait. Hiiiiiiiis! Wait. Hiiiiiiissss! No fights or anything, but they have to sort out their social status again. And of course Tammy has been bitchy as hell the last few days. If she's sitting on your lap and you move a millimeter - "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Ha! Bitchy Tammy. I'm sure things will settle in a few days.

OK, back to work!

This is creativity at it's best - I have to admire these people not only for making an amazingly fabulous-looking Half Life 2 mod, but then publicizing it with a WWII newsreel. And oh yeah - the Nazis have DINOSAURS. Awesome!

I finally caught Arlene last night! The lost kitty returns! She is super scraggly from her weeks outside, but that might partly be from the salmon juice left in the tin in the trap, which I'm sure is all over her now. Predictably, she was really terrified in the trap - so scared that she wouldn't even come out when I opened the door for her. She meowed the whole time. She's now locked in my bedroom until she calms down a little bit and gets something to eat. I also would like to check her over for wounds before I let her loose with everyone else. I may get her tested for feline leukemia and FIV, too, before I let her loose in the house with everyone else. Probably a good idea, but she may not have been out long enough to test positive if she actually did catch anything - I'll need to ask people more expert than I in that area.

So now that Tammy didn't leave with Paul (thank goodness) and Rosie came back (sadness, but she's doing really well now that she's back - MUCH happier here) and Arlene has been recovered, I'm now back to 6 cats in the house. Gah. Things never go as planned, do they? At least Arlene is an invisible cat and she and Rosie don't cause any trouble. UNLIKE THE REST OF THEM. At least the foster cats are well behaved. Most of them, anyway. Rosie and Arlene are not likely to find new homes, but at least there's hope that Tammy will get adopted.

In other news - I can at least drive my car again for the moment, since the dealership gave me temporary tags to tide me over. I should be reaching a final decision on what to do fairly soon. And of COURSE things start moving faster right after I dye my hair pink... sigh.

Yowza, check out the TaunTaun costume!

In non-cat related news, I bleached my hair yesterday. I realized that it will take a month or so to get a title history, so I'm going to go pink again for a bit. Who knows when I'll get around to stage 2 and actually dye my hair pink, but it's an interesting lemony yellow right now. Sigh. And I even got the ultra strong bleach. My hair is just really resistant so I can't get it really white. Oh, well, I always have fun when it's this color. I also hung out with dulziandee a bit yesterday. Her stuff for the con is AMAZING. I hope she sells a lot! If not - leftovers for us for Christmas presents, ha! So she treated me to Chinese, we discussed her work, and I did another section on Sanji's shirt. That made me feel great - I can finally start working on this sort of thing again! I'll try to do another section today. It's annoying that I have to wait 4 hours for the paint to dry between sections, and it's taking me forever to paint stripes on this shirt. But I'm going to totally love it when it's done!

Then when I came home I was feeling all productive, so I dove into the boxes of my collectibles. I dusted and displayed about 2/3 of my toys, and I'm thrilled to see them back up. Sadly, the Witch King's and a Ringwraith's sword got lost somewhere, but I did dig into some boxes I've had in my bedroom since I moved in 5 years ago. Now my supremely cool Elrond and Eowen figures are displayed with all their armor and weapons, and I am SO PLEASED. I thought I had a Legolas, too - I'll have to search for him. Maybe I'll have enough energy to put up the rest of my stuff tonight. The vintage Star Wars figures (complete and loose) will go in the china cabinet so they don't loose their weapons. I learned that the hard way - I used to display them just on shelves, and now Luke is missing his lightsaber, and several others are missing their accessories. ;_; Tragedy.



So that's it, I think, as far as my extra-curricular activities. As my stepbrother once zinged me, I've just been locked up in my house with my cats and my cartoons. Ha!

John Barrowman continues to live the gay man's dream.

So last night we hooked Gina up with a little Sly Cooper. It seems like her brain can handle about 1/2 hr of video games before she starts getting motion sickness and nausea. She says this is definitely due to her brain injury. So very interesting! It sounds counter-intuitive, but this is definitely good for her, so we're going to keep at it and try to build up her tolerance. The game is a kid's game, so it's not too terribly frustrating for someone with brain issues. It's also super fun and really cute, even for adults, and I haven't played it in years, so it's really fun to watch her play it. Gina's enjoying it, too.

After the short gaming session, we snuck in 2 episodes of the Hana Yori Dango anime. Eeee, it was so great! The anime is SO melodramatic, and has this ridiculous sweeping classical score, and milks everything for all it's worth. The animation is really cheap and awful in places. It's hilarious and great at the same time. Sooooo much angst and moping! And oh, the drama! For those of you who know the series, we got to see the "lost in the snowstorm" episode, which is definitely one of my favorites. I also am very fond of the "working as his maid"  and "kidnapped and stranded on the island" arcs. Oh yes, and the "stuck in the elevator" story and the "Makino was kidnapped and used as bait" arc. And the "Domyoji has amnesia" arc. Ha ha, I just love this series. It's so great. It's such a soap opera, and the characters are just so awesome.

So, the bonus dungeon in Dark Cloud 2 is totally kicking my ass. Ye gods. I think it will be fun to run around and kill monsters when I'm really tired and brain dead, but I'm basically done with the game. I still haven't decided what to play next, but I may read an actual book with no pictures in it instead. Or catch up on my manga and anime. I'm several eps behind on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood now. That is SUCH a good series... And of course I'm behind on a million other series, as well. Damn you, Hana Yori Dango addiction! Why are you such a long and well-developed series with a million different incarnations? G and I are planning on watching the Korean drama sometime in the near future, too. Probably after we actually finish the anime. We have some 20 episodes left.

I am reading the Nora manga right now, and I am enjoying it immensely. B has all that's out so far, and there's only a few left that need to be released. I am probably insane starting a series that isn't done yet, but I can deal, I suppose. I am also totally dying for the next Skip Beat chapter. Somehow they posted the same chapter as last time instead of the new chapter, and it's killing me. I need to see what happens, eeeee!

I set the trap to try to catch my escaped foster cat. We caught a VERY ANGRY big brown cat last night. Gina let him out of the trap this morning. He was too big and too dark to be Arlene, and had a different meow. And apparently he was really noisy and upset at being in that trap! We'll see if we catch him again - sometimes they go in again and again and again... ha! Other times once is all it takes and then you can never trap them ever again. We'll see if the lure of anchovies is too much and we get the same one tonight. Even though I haven't seen Arlene, the cat-trapping experts seem to think that she is probably still around, so I have hope.

I am so damn proud of myself. Between my $5 in Borders bucks and a 30% off coupon, I just bought a brand new  D. Gray-Man vol. 13 for - wait for it - $0.63. SIXTY-THREE CENTS. I. Am. AWESOME.

Of course, I didn't have enough cash on me and I had to put it on my debit card  >.<

( anime, manga, and gaming plans )

Well, it took forever, but the inside of the house is finally well and truly CLEAN. As in spring cleaning clean - everything's dusted, including the walls, and 2 of the bedrooms are painted. Woo! Of course, I hardly did any of the work on the painting, but I'm grateful it looks so nice. All that's left on the inside is to dust all of my toys and put them back up on the shelves. All that's back up right now are the large boxed items - my giant Han Solo on the taun-taun, my vintage import Macross Valkyrie (the pride of my collection!!), and my super-gay Aqua-man and Aqua-lad action figures. Heh. Those still totally crack me up. The Ambiguously Gay Duo, indeed.

So it's going to take forever to dust everything and get it set up, but the end is in sight, which makes me happy. It also doesn't involve extensive manual labor, which also makes me happy. Of course, I still need to weed the other half of the front yard, and the neighbors gave me their bark chips from the firewood they cut up and I need to go put that in the flower beds today, and the garage is a hot, hot mess, but we're getting there. Gina will help me with the garage, and with 2 people it shouldn't be too bad (half of it is her mess, the other half is mine). Maybe I'll finally organize and clean my tool bench, which has been neglected lo these 5 years. The weeding in the front yard is a bigger job, but my mom is coming over today to help me with the bark, so maybe we can get the weeding done, too. It's pretty fast with 2 people.

The back yard - well, that's somewhat hopeless. It won't look nice until the dogs die in another 10 years. Of course when that happens I am such a bleeding heart that I will probably get more dogs. Sigh. Maybe I'll just have to make dog-proof landscaping some day. Of course the quick fix is to clean the yard and spruce up the garden area, which actually is dog-proof.

Last night to celebrate B moving in we had a nice party. About half the people I invited came, which is about what I expected. I have several friends that I hardly ever see due to various reasons like having small children or living elsewhere or the fact that it was a Sunday night and they had to work in the morning. But we had a good turnout and several very good friends were there, and we had a good time. 2 of my Japanese friends came, so that was great! I don't know how much of the conversation they were able to follow, or how weird or boring they thought we were, but I think they had fun. We played Wii (Mario Kart, mostly), and we showed them B's ginormous manga collection and her Living Dead dolls. They were impressed and awed, ha ha! Of course, being that half of us are musicians of some form of other, at some point the instruments came out. All of them. Tuning some of them up was interesting, since some of them hadn't been played in FOREVER and they were hideously out of tune. I don't even know how to tune the baritone ukele, but luckily Suz knew, so we eventually got everything all tuned up. We showed the Japanese boys a little bit, so one had a violin and one had a viola, but of course I got distracted by the shiny guitar and played that instead of really teaching them any songs. Bad me. So I showed off my new electric a little, but really we wound up playing fiddle tunes all night, since they are super easy to learn and play. I actually played acoustic guitar and was able to keep up pretty well. It helps that fiddle tunes have a whopping 2 chords, ha!

So that's it - we ate well, played music, played video games, and had fun. With actual clean people living in the house, the whole party area was clean again in about 10 minutes after everyone left. Hallelujia. I'm happy that B is moved in, that G is my other roommate, and that we have all the consoles set up. OH. I totally forgot to mention that the X-BOX ISN'T WORKING. Another fine Microsoft product. We're getting audio but no video. I don't know if it's the cords or the input, but Vesper just got an X-Box so I can take mine over there to troubleshoot. If I can at least figure out what the source of the problem is I can talk to customer support a lot easier. I really don't have the money to get it fixed, so depending on the estimate it may sit for a while. Sigh. But at some point it will need to work so we can play Resident Evil 5 when I can get it used for $20. Maybe I'll ask my parents to get it fixed for me for X-mas. Ha! Again, depends on how much the repairs are...

Sigh. And here I thought I could get my Carcassonne on. And there's Operation Darkness just waiting for me... But it's not like we don't have a million other things to play now that we have all of our games and consoles consolidated. Heh, it's pretty much video game heaven over here, except that we don't have a PS3. But we really don't need one right now, either. I'm still happy with the PS2, and there's only one PS3 game I want that I can't play on X-Box, and that's not even out yet. Maybe some day when I'm rich I can own all the consoles, ha!

So... Gina and I finally finished Hana Yori Dango live action last night. IT WAS SO GREAT.

( anime-related activities. Read about how awesome Hana Yori Dango is! )

( work and hardly working )

( stress )

I think that's it - I feel much better today since I slept all day yesterday. I have yet to walk the dogs, so that will be the real test - we'll see how wiped out I am afterwards. I usually do ok if I rest for a few hours when I get back, so we'll see if I need another slob day or if I can get some work and cleaning done. WE SHALL SEE.

OK, remember how that client sent me a Border's gift card as a thank you? Well, it had FIFTY DOLLARS on it. Wooooooeeeee! I also had a 30% off coupon, and the buy 4 get one free sale is going on, so with all planets aligning I got 6 manga for NOTHING. And I have $3.50 left on my gift card, too. BOO YEAH!

I got mostly shojo - Otomen 2 & 3 (now I'm caught up to the US release), the last vol. of Boys Over Flowers and the little manga that was just released that had a few short stories, D. Gray Man 11, and I decided to try Nora 1. I'd read the first chapter in Shonen Jump and thought it looked pretty fun, so I got the first volume. I originally went out looking for Zombie Loan 7, which was supposedly released today, but neither Borders had it. Which is worrisome, since when that sort of thing happens it usually means it went out of print and the manga company forgot to notify the world.  Fret, fret. I really love that series.

Wheee! Manga glut! Now I just need to finish reading Eyeshield 21, and I'm sure Gina and I will watch more Hana Yori Dango live action when she gets home, and I'm good. Of course as soon as I finish Eyeshield I'm gong to start Slam Dunk, since 2 of my Japanese friends say that's their favorite manga. I have also heard that it is really, really good from other sources, so I must say I'm intrigued.

Now I have to figure out what to eat for dinner. Hmmmmm....

OK, this is the best thing EVER. Gina and I can't stop clapping and squealing like total fangirls while watching this. Considering that my only other live-action anime adaption experience is the horrible (and thus fabulous) Initital D live action Chinese movie, my expectations were low. What a pleasant and wonderful surprise that Hana Yori Dango is actually REALLY GOOD!

Seriously, the screenplay, the adaptation, the filming, and most especially the acting are really, really well done. In fact, the kid who plays larger-than-life Domyoji even won some awards for it (the lead actress did, too). He really did a fabulous job bringing violent yet dumb stalker-and-devoted-admirer Domyoji to life, and he added a hilariously goofy element to him, too, which is just adorable and cracks us up every time. When I first saw him, I thought, "uh-oh, that guy looks like some pretty idol - this is going to suck. Hopefully it will suck on the 'so bad it's good' level." But he blew us away because he's actually talented! And sure enough, I looked him up - he is indeed an idol of all trades, and is in a boy band and everything. I guess some people have actual talent and work hard and don't just rely on their looks, which in this case is quite, quite awesome, yay! We're on episode 7, and loving every minute of it. We squeeze in episodes or even half episodes whenever we're both home and have a little time. Obsession - it's a good thing. I can't wait for more, eeee!

I also read ahead in Eyeshield 21 - yowza, the Dinosaurs game was SO AMAZING. The Christmas Bowl, which was the whole climax of the series, was anticlimactic by comparison. Still a good game, but rather cliched and predictable. Whereas the Dinosaus were fucking scary and you were biting your nails the entire time, wondering if Hiruma would be broken into tiny pieces by Gao. I won't spoil what happens, but man - I'm still blown away by how awesome it was. Eeee! So there's still some 30 chapters left, but I'm at a good stopping place, so I don't know when I'll read more. Next time I have a big chunk of free time and Gina isn't home to watch Hana Yori Dango with me, heh heh.

I am LOVING my TB drive. I have so many plans for it! I'm going to back up all of my anime on it, and if I can recover my Doctor Who recreations, I'll back that up there, too. Sooo much digital storage.... oggglllll....

That's it except for the car - I'll post about that separately, since I just pretty much don't want to talk about it at this point. Bleh.

I swear, I think I'm just cursed. The clutch in my car died today, and there's not even 7K m on the car. UH-mazing. Anyway, apparently clutches aren't covered under the warranty for unknown reasons, but the mechanic seemed hopeful that it just needed an adjustment and not a replacement. I'm also still under the sale's limited warranty, which is 60 day or 2K m. So even if it's not covered under the bumper to bumper warranty (and why the hell isn't it, anyway???), the mechanic seemed to think the 60 day warranty would cover it. I hope so, since fixing the clutch would cost about 1K, which would totally suck, since I just bought the car a little over a month ago. Actually, here's hoping it just needs a little adjustment and we're good.

Yeesh, and I just got it back on Monday, and here I am borrowing my mom's car again...

 HG icon, since he's the closest thing I have to a J-Rock icon. Is that sad?

Anyway, this video is really nothing special, but I think I want the guitarist's hair. It's pretty fabulous.