Me, I mean. In the state of being not dead. >.>; Anyway, I've been really, really bad about updating here (or anywhere really), so I wanted to say "hi!" to anybody who's still around. **waves** Also, thanks marilla82, for giving me the kick in the ass I needed. Love you! <3

I'll be back again with words and communication and everything shortly, but right now I have to get ready for work. >.< In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! ^_^ Mata ne!

I really wasn't trying to adhere to any kind of robot theme or anything, but sometimes Japan makes it too easy:

I'm sensing road-trip in August...

My favorite part? "Mist can shoot forth from 14 locations on the body." Well, that answers that! We've obviously come a long way since the bear-in-the-woods question... XD

So, remember that 10-foot robot I mentioned in my last post? Just to prove I wasn't kidding:




He kinda looked like the Terminator, sans epidermis. Too bad I didn't get a picture from the front, though. But like I said, a little drunk. >.>; I guess I shouldn't fret too much about it -- I've seen that guy in several clubs in Nagoya, all decked out in his neon glowing Silverstone Cowboy fabulousness, so maybe he'll make another appearance soon...

OMG this cat is obviously the pet of the Weeping Angels:



Seriously, I was laughing so hard I was crying by the end. **dies**

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this? This sucks in such epic proportions that I cannot adequately express it; my mind cannot find the words to describe this level of suck.

Duuude, there was once, like, this tiger-striped cat and stuff.

**goes off to cry in a corner**

Woke up this afternoon morning and the thermometer in the kitchen was hovering at about 8° C. To those of you not familiar with the metric system, that's a whopping 46° F. INSIDE THE APARTMENT. >.< For all you scientists in the house, that's about 281 K. Incidentally, I think I'm going to start measuring in Kelvins now; three-digit temperatures seem positively balmy. But anyway, THAT'S why I never wanted to have a thermometer in the house... **is an idiot for getting one**

What's really bad, though, is that it's still waaaay warmer than it was at my cousin's house. Which is where I spent six days over the New Year's holiday. I was seriously sleeping with my clothes in the futon with me (they would get too cold sitting in my suitcase) and changing under the blankets. You could see your breath in the hallway. >.< Wherefore, Japan? I understand the concept of 我慢する (gaman suru, or bear with/endure it), and I know that people are trying to be more eco-friendly, so I'm not even proposing central heating, but howzabout just some friggin' insulation??? That'd actually keep things warmer AND reduce energy usage -- MADE OF WIN, I tell you. Maybe that'll be my niche (after the whole bringing-wizard-rock-to-Japan thing): insulation made from recycled materials. I am seriously going to do some research, though, because this? Is ridiculous, and not in a good way.

Anyway, enough whinging. I'm off to a trivia contest at a pub in Nagoya, because 1) CENTRAL HEATING (!!!), and 2) the alcohol at least makes you feel warmer. Also, trivia contest! ^_^

This...is a joke, right? I really hope it's a joke. Please tell me it's a joke. Otherwise, I might throw up. :X

WARNING: Real or not, this is pretty disgusting. You have been warned.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, it's Natural Harvest!

Looking at the name of the website, I'm going to say it's a joke. **nods weakly** But seriously, who thinks this shit up? **mutters** Turn my back for, like, two seconds, and this is what you westerners come up with. ;) I'm lucky that I don't like flan to begin with; otherwise, I'd be forced to swear off it for good...

So, I received a few Facebook friend-request-thingies in my inbox last week from some previously estranged members of my family. I'm not against the idea of making contact with these people again, since I don't have anything against them personally and they are family, but it does bring up the issue that if I want to reply, I should probably set up an account. **shrugs** I don't harbor any real animosity toward the site or anything, it's more just because so many people have accounts on Facebook or MySpace or whatever, that it makes me not want to have one. But that could be me just being contrary. So, a poll!

Poll #1303069 The "Japan is destroying my ability to make independent decisions!" poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 3

Should frouella bite the bullet and just set up a Facebook account already?

In totally unrelated news, a few points about Japan that I've noticed but have neglected to write down anywhere:

-- The school chimes here all follow the typical sound pattern (ding dong ding doooong, dong ding ding dooong), but they use a different harmonic. So it's familiar and alien at the same time. Sums up Japan pretty well, I think.

-- Because my mother is Japanese, I say that I'm half-Japanese. After living here, though, I think it's really more of a 65% American, 35% Japanese split. :P

-- What is up with all the point cards, Japan? You really expect me to get stamps for, like, 40 purchases, and then only offer 50¥ off? Uh, yeah. >.>

-- It's more socially acceptable here to wear a micro-micro-mini skirt and flash your panties at people than it is to wear a top that shows cleavage. Personally, I think this is because Japanese women generally don't have any cleavage, and they're just bitter about it.

-- More countries should follow Japan's example and take the time to appreciate seasonal things (e.g. flowers, autumn leaves, etc.). If there's one thing the Japanese can appreciate, it's transience.

-- Things I now know I can survive without: A car, a dryer, central heating, a real oven, linguistic comprehension, insulation, 24-hour ATMs.

Right. So, now I'm off to find a new winter coat at the recycle shop. Mata ne!

And, erm, I'm not talking about the doctor... Though that could be interesting too, I suppose. >.>;

I bought a head of lettuce today on my way home from work. It was almost 200¥ (about $2.00, give or take the exchange rate). This is important, since I was trying to spend less than 1000¥ on a week's worth of food; and while perishable, a head of lettuce can usually last me about that long. So anyway, I got home and opened it up, and it turns out that a small colony of teeny black bugs had taken up residence inside. I'm not that easily squicked, so I started to peel away the affected leaves to see if any of it was still salvageable (because hey, 200¥!). Finally, after many minutes of peeling, I wound up with about 20% of my original head of lettuce. Which I then washed and made into a salad.

I bring this up because, as I was removing layer after layer and coming across still more tiny insect intruders, I realized that I was annoyed because things were living in my side dish. But then this caused me to wonder how the bugs felt when I started dismantling their home so I could have a serving of vegetables. Then I started marveling about how an entire community of, like, 50 bugs was able to be housed for $2.00; my food budget this week could house well-nigh 250 bugs! Well, it could if they had commerce or currency or a housing market or anything resembling a brain stem. >.>

And this, dear friends, is what happens when frouella eats a little chocolate marshmallow pie (think Moon Pie, only good) on an empty stomach before making dinner...

EDIT: Wow, in retrospect, this post is pretty gross. :P

So I've had this song for a little while, but recent posts regarding Sparkly!Abe made me remember to put this up here for your listening pleasure.

Abe Lincoln by Bishop Allen

Okay. You may now proceed with your regularly scheduled, uh, schedule.


P.S. Yay for Obama, yay for Florida's electoral votes actually going toward a Democrat, but BOOOOOOO!!!1!!!!!1! for so many idiots voting for Amendment 2. Why must there be so many idiots in the state where I keep my stuff? Yes, I'm being a bit blase about it, but if I write something for real, I'll get angry and start crying again. >.>

OMG OMG OMG!!!!11!! I just finished watching the first episode of Kurozuka and I am flailing like a really flaily thing. It's beautiful and dark and engrossing and gorgeous and oh yeah, MIYANO MAMORU IS IN IT!!! Though truthfully, he's kind of icing at this point. And, and, there's references to Noh theatre and Japanese history and Matrix-esque fx (or maybe CT/HD) and sword fighting and magic zombie soldiers and a love story too! **does happy Wallace hands**

One word of caution to squeamish viewers, though -- there's a lot of fighting with sharp, stabbity things, and so there's quite a bit of blood. But the choreography and artwork are both, dare I say, executed (sorry) well enough that even carnage looks beautiful. Heh-heh, yeah, I sound like a morbid psychopath... >.>;

I don't usually get this excited about first episodes, but I'll make an exception in this case. You need to see this! No, seriously -- I'm too excited to write a coherent synopsis right now. ^_^ Here's a link to AnimeSuki and everything, to help facilitate your viewing. I recommend the So Many Idiots fansub, myself since I was a dork and downloaded the Shinsen version too, for comparison. >.>; What?

And, erm, I know I haven't posted any updates concerning real life in a looong time, but I promise I will soon! I'm just too excited by the way the Fall 2008 anime season is shaping up to be pretty stellar. But I'll talk about that next time...

So first, momebie talks about Sartre's existential cliffs in her post, and then this happens:

Markets plunge after U.S. bailout failure (a.k.a. Waiting for Mr. FUBAR)

Please to be letting me know if there are any posts about earthquakes or tsunamis in the works. I need a minute to crawl under my desk. >.>;

Seriously? I don't know if I'll be able to come back next year. Starting from scratch in these conditions does not sound like my idea of fun. Plus the election is coming up too, and things are still waaay too even between the candidates; how is it possible that people are even CONSIDERING another Republican? **facepalm** I'm not saying that I've completely made up my mind or anything, but come on, America.

Note to self:
-discover whereabouts of absentee ballot
-find every single person who thought sub-prime mortgages were a good idea and thump them on the head. HARD.
-stock up on bourbon bottled water

Argh. I have been trying to think of a good Halloween costume for the past two weeks now, and still nothing. If all else fails, there's always an anime character or three I'd be willing to dress up as, but it just doesn't seem very inspired here in Japan. Nor very Halloween-y. :P

Some of the ideas I've had:
1. Host -- A real one, that is (I wish they were really like the ones from Ouran). Complete with rooster hair; skinny, ripped, acid-washed jeans; hideous Engrish shirt; pointy shoes; and tragic accessories. And a huge logo wallet. This sounded like a good idea until I heard that one of the other AETs dressed up like a host about three years ago. Though he was a guy. >.>; Alternatively, I was thinking about going as one of the J-E boys, but it's not very effective unless you have enough people to make a whole group.
2. Sparkly vampire -- I think the only people who would get this are the people on my flist. And I've never even read "Twilight."
3. Medusa -- Relatively easy costume, with a chance to make a cool headdress. I don't have much of an attachment to gorgons, though.
4. Fee Verte -- **shrugs** For this one, I could dress up like a green fairy and carry a bottle around and it would be slightly Toulouse-Lautrec. And then maybe I could forget how I don't really like absinthe.
5. Empress Theodora -- Straight off the mosaic in San Vitale, with the crown and the pearls and everything! Then, I had the idea that underneath her cloak, she could wear the outfit from when she used to perform her version of Leda and the Swan, from back before she was Empress! **excited hands** And then I realized what a huuuge dork I am, and that no one here would know who the hell Theodora was. >.< No love for Byzantium, yo; what's up with that?

So, yeah. If you have any ideas, please send them my way. There's only a little over a month before the party, and I need help! Onegai shimasu!

Oh, Antique, you are seriously trying to kill me with glee. XD Not only do I get to hear Mamo try to sound like a tough guy (which he could maybe pull off, if I didn't, y'know, know how he normally acts), but there's also Tachibana! And Tachibana's face! And Chikage! And Chikage's head vs. doorframe! And Frolicking Ono and fussy harpsichords! **happy sigh** Too bad that the cgi is so distracting, even though it's not used all that much... Anyway, just caught up with episodes 3 and 4, and it's made me realize that I've forgotten a lot of what happens in the story. >.< I think it's because I read it so fast the first time that the details didn't have time to sink in. But actually, that's okay; it makes this seem like a new anime!

Off to bed now -- I've got a fireworks festival to prepare for tomorrow, and it's gonna be a loooong day. A good day, too, but long. More news later! :)

P.S. Hope everyone has been doing well. It's been forever since I posted... >.>;

Well, that was a reverse Stanislavski moment. ^_^ That is to say, there's an old acting trick that my theatre professors used to tout: If you are going to exit crying, then enter laughing. Luckily, this one ended with the laughing. But, let me explain...

So I was looking over my flist and saw on ouran_today that the voice cast was selected for the Ouran dub, and they picked.....Vic Mignona...for Tamaki. (?!?!?!) Yep, if you listen very carefully, that thudding sound you hear is me beating my head on my desk. It's totally audible ALL THE WAY FROM JAPAN!!! Gah, seriously, WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??? I'm not saying that The Vic is a bad voice actor, but as Tamaki? I...can't see that working at all; Ouran spazzing is totally different from FMA spazzing. Plus, it doesn't matter what kind of a vise you put his balls in, there is no way that 40-something Vic sounds like a 17-year-old. **scowls and sulks**

Meh. So as I was still moderately fuming over that bit of news, I realized I hadn't caught up on the manga in a while and really needed some distraction. Which turned out to be a good thing, because I'm feeling way better now. Spoilers for manga chapter 62 ahead, just so's you know...

( So Tono joy pees... )

So maybe, given both things, the universe has almost balanced out again. **considers** Hmm, well, no, the Vic thing still sucks pretty hard, but at least we'll always have the (Mamo!)sub.

Right. That's all for now. Maybe next time there'll be some real life news. Stranger things have happened...

Heh-heh. I'm not even really into bandom at all, so why is it that when I saw this:




I immediately thought of PATD? XD

So first, I have to confess: I'm horribly shallow. I had no idea who Tokumaru Shugo was, but all it took was one look at this picture, and I decided to go see him play live in Nagoya on Monday. But really, can you blame me? Cute musical boy in a lab coat, with test tubes and beakers? He's pushing all of my geek buttons; I'm so there. :P And it turns out he's got an insane amount of quirky talent, too.



This is "Parachute." His vids are all pretty trippy...




And "Button."



And this is him being a spaz on stage (just, uh, not at the show I was at):
I can't talk, but I want to talk
There's a rough translation of what he's saying in the comments. XD

Yeah, I totally wanted to fold him up and put him in my purse. He's probably small enough, too. Hmmm... **mulls over plot to kidnap borrow the wee Japanese man**

Actually, there were three other acts playing, too: Xiu Xiu, Tenniscoats, and Deerhoof. Deerhoof was pretty good, in a quirky, rockin' out kind of way. Tenniscoats were okay in an experimental, quirky kind of way (one member was playing a modified electric fan on stage -- that was new for me). Xiu Xiu were quirky in a noisy, overly-dramatic kind of way. Did I mention these bands were quirky? Full of quirks, these bands. I mean, my boy Tokumaru was also quirky, but he didn't seem as caught up in it as the other bands. Overall, though, it was still a good show.

Right. Off to bed now, because my thoughts are no longer making sense to myself, even.

P.S. Just have to mention -- one of my friends here gave me a belated birthday present the other day. It's a keychain of Kuchiki Byakuya, and when you push the button, it says "Chire" and "Bankai" in Byakuya's voice. (!!!)

I'm probably a dork for extracting deep meaning from an anime, but I still really like this bit from Code Geass:

I once had this conversation with Nunnally and Suzaku. That, "If 'happiness' had a form, what would it look like?" Yeah...like Suzaku phrased it, it might be something like glass... Because one doesn't notice it normally. However, it is actually there. As proof, if you change the angle you look at it, the glass will reflect light. It will state its presence and existence more eloquently than any other thing in this world.

Ii desu, ne? I also like that they left the other part of the metaphor unstated. It's so nice when both the words and the spaces are done well; I think sometimes people forget that both are equally important.

That's all I wanted to say. Off to bed now.

Today, despite the day-long drizzling rain, the universe smiled upon me. And it was good COMPLETELY FUCKING AWESOME!!!1!111!

Oh man. I really wish I could adequately express how batshit-crazy excited I was/am, but the exhaustion just won't let me. Seriously, typing is a miraculous feat at the moment; I can barely lift my arms, and my head is listing slightly to port. But, let me explain...

( In which frouella attempts to tell everyone about her awesome Aji-kan concert experience before face-planting into the keyboard (Warning -- long post is long) )

Wow. I are rambly when I'm tired. Probably 'cause editingzzzzz... **thud**

///The next day, several hours later...///

Okay -- somewhat rested now, but my arms and shoulders are sore as hell... Jeeezus, this post is huge -- I haven't even gotten to the actual concert yet. >.< So feel free to skip around (or completely); I unnastan'.

( In which frouella tries to relate the story of one of her more awesome Japanese experiences in 9000 pages or less. )

Hee-hee. I can cross one thing off of my "Things I Must Do in Japan" list. Now I can work on "'accidentally' run into (and kidnap) Miyano Mamoru" and "go to monkey onsen." And again, sorry for rambling so long about this, but HOLY EXCITEMENT, y'know?

As a reward for making it all the way to the bottom of this fucking endless post, here's a vid of "Senseless." I couldn't find a version with "Enter Sandman," but you can use your imagination. ;) The actual song doesn't start until about 2:15 in, btw. And some of the subtitles are wrong (e.g. "brand" bag, not "bland"), but meh -- who am I to complain? It's still better than what I could do at the moment...



And just because it's cool, the "After Dark" video:


Sorry. Shutting up now. Next time, I will bring musics to make up for it, yeah?

I love my students. I am so going to give them big hugs on Monday! Okay, not really; Japan isn't really a huggy kind of place, but I'll bring them cookies or something. This band! I am sooo infatuated with RW right now (that's what I'm calling them so I don't have to use that...other name), so of course that means I'm subjecting everyone to the shiny. First, a compilation of sorts:



As an aside, I totally understand why the singer was wearing a hat in most of the other videos. 0_o; That is a serious Nihon-fro, yo. Like whoa. But other than the hair, I love how their songs cover so much territory -- a little rock, a little rap, a little pop, a little rocksteady, a little indie. This boy can siiiiing when he wants to, too. **happy sigh**

And then there's this:



I understood the lyrics a little bit when I listened to it without the subtitles, but now that I know everything that he's saying, this song makes me cry. In a good way. Also, the little kid in the blue is adorable! And makes a mean sammich, apparently. Mmmm, makes me hungry (it'll be dinnertime soon here). Yes, I have spent an insane amount of time looking up songs on the computer today; so much for being productive.

Okay. Will stop spamming your flist now. :P