Arekuru's Journal

Debt free, baby!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:30:32 GMT

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:33:08 GMT

If anyone is interested in helping me play-test a couple D&D plot ideas, feel free to IM or call me in the next couple days and you too can try and solve simple puzzles! Or, if you are Nicole, inform me just which monsters are totally lame and how I should totally change them.

Note: does not actually involve playing D&D, just thinking about it a little. Jenny, of course, is excluded.

Unrelated news: aww, someone made a fanmix for Usopp/Kaya and it looks pretty cute. Not something I would have thought I'd ever bother with 400 episodes ago, but now? Awww.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:40:52 GMT

As mentioned late last night/early this morning, it snowed here! A lot! Which is why I'm not at work and posting pictures instead.

The view from my balcony. (I'm starting to feel like Van Goh with all my pictures of this scene in different weather.) This doesn't seem too impressive, but my balcony is kind of on the lee side of where the wind was blowing and doesn't usually rack up too much snow, and the snow definitely doesn't usually make it as far as the sliding door.

So, since I had the day off and there was snow everywhere, I decided to try snowboarding! ...Unfortunately, the snow was way too deep, and it was pretty cold besides. The snowboard's only sunk in a few inches in this picture, since it is long and flat, but my leg is sunk in up to my knee. And I'm not that short.

Some drifts with snowboard for scale.

The entryway to my apartment. I briefly considered trying to snowboard down it, and might have tried, but a neighbor appeared with a shovel to try and dig out his car and I abandoned the idea.

Not my car.

My car.

It costs extra to have the garage, but there are some things in life worth paying money for.

Seemed like a good day for it. ^-^

Note to self: close the flue before a bird gets in this year.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:37:51 GMT

Woot! Iowa weather is officially bad enough that I get ~~tomorrow~~ today off! First time that's happened since I've started working there! (We've been let go early a few days, but never the whole day, and certainly never with this much advance warning.)

I wonder if I'll be able to get in some snowboarding practice tomorrow?

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:11:17 GMT

Ooh! Rather than going to sleep, I have discovered a new shojou series that seems quite promising. It is called Akagami no Shirayukihime, and the heroine is impressively self-sufficient and the hero properly worried about her (since she keeps getting kidnapped and stuff, but there's a good reason) without smothering her or always having to save her. My hopes are high that it will continue to be as delightful as the first few chapters.

ETA: D'awww, there's even a character who pretty obviously has Asperger's and is doing his best to figure out how to deal with people even if he messes up sometimes. This manga, it is too cute. And did I mention the awesome heroine? Because she's awesome.

Better look fast before Youtube takes half of these down

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:26:43 GMT

Yoshiko posted this grammatically dubious meme on her LJ, and even though she cheated like a dirty rotten cheater, I thought it seemed like fun. That was before I realized how much WORK was involved in getting Youtube to spit out the results you actually want from it. Google, stop trying to guess what I want or show me playlist results. It's not helpful. ::sigh::

The meme, cleaned up to reflect proper grammar and the fact that I didn't waste several hours to just post five measly openings when you know at least one's going to be One Piece anyway:

What are your favorite anime openings/endings and insert songs and why?

Honorable Mention: Jyu-Oh-Sei, "Deep in Your Heart" (Opening)

While it didn't crack the top 10, Jyu-Oh-Sei gets an honorable mention for managing to fit its entire cast and plot into its opening without a single spoiler. Seriously. If you go back and watch it after you've seen the show you're like O_O

#10: Fruits Basket, "For Fruits Basket" (Opening)

I love this song so much I can actually sing it. In Japanese. Without looking at the lyrics. And own a legitimate copy of the soundtrack and everything. The only reason it didn't place higher is because, while fitting for the story, the animation's really not all that exciting, is it?

#9: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, "Love, Just on my Love" (Opening)

Old-school jazz and exciting action are the hallmark of this swinging Orphen opening. Looks like a great show, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the opening promises a bit more than the series ever managed to deliver (though it was still quite enjoyable). Still, it's one of my favorites anyway, if only for Orphen's triple-lutz cannonball twist while fighting a giant bug and the way the opening has nothing better to do than focus on his pants for a good 10 seconds.

#8: xxxHolic, "19sai" (Opening)

This opening was responsible for turning me on to the music of Suga Shikao, a feat which alone would have earned it a spot. However, it is also about as good a translation as I think you're ever going to get of the tricky art style Clamp used for xxxHolic on the small screen, and I love the way it, like the manga, manages to be ominous while doing nothing more than showing unpresuming character shots.

#7: Saber Marionette J, "Successful Mission" (Opening)

Is Saber Marionette a ridiculously silly show? Yes. Is that a Megumi Hashibara opening? Yes. Is it totally fun to sing along to, and does it make even Otaru look like he's capable of being awesome? Yes and yes. It also scores bonus points for its random use of the Fuji Wave.

Fun fact: this was the first anime in which I discovered that Takehito Koyasu can and apparently does make a living playing every ambiguously (and not so ambiguously) gay character his agent can find. May be tangentially related to the fact that he's in just about every anime ever (not even kidding), so cherry-picking roles to support my previous statement is not difficult.

#6: Gokusen, "Feel Your Breeze" (Opening-as-Ending)

The only JDrama on this list, Gokusen earns its spot by not only featuring a hugely catchy song by V6 (making me feel less bad about not including Inu Yasha's Change the World), but by featuring the whole cast running around a field and playing kick the can and having a fantastic time. I am such a sucker for group endings like that.

#5: Kodomo no Omocha, "Seven o'clock News" (Opening)

I have so much nostalgia for this opening like you would not believe. Kodocha was one of my very first non-Kids WB or Cartoon Network anime, and it had this crazy opening number in which the whole cast danced! And Hayama couldn't be bothered to keep the beat, while Babbit played drums! Oh, the memories. I can still sing most of this one, too.

Sad fact: this Youtube clip is higher quality then the Real Media files (I know!) that I originally had of the show.

#4: Dear Boys, "Sound of Bounce" (Opening)

Oh, god. I still remember when I first saw this opening, and immediately rushed to tell Vicki that I had discovered the crackiest thing Japan had done yet. Matrix basketballs, Japanese rap, bad engrish, and terrible hentai-style character designs, all a desperate attempt to be cool. We loved it. Every now and then I still dig out my copy of the soundtrack.

#3: Full Metal Alchemist, "Rewrite" (Opening)

I know, I know. Not Ready Steady Go? Rewrite wasn't as popular as L'arc en Ciel's mega-hit (possibly because it simply didn't have time, since it was the fourth and last ending), but the song's full of just as much energy while the visuals are full of both desperate action and poignant reminders to match the rollercoaster ride that was the last 13 episodes of FMA. And besides, I really love the shot of Ed jumping over the cliff.

#2: Romeo x Juliet, "Inori ~ You Raise Me Up" (Opening)

Romeo x Juliet wasn't even remotely on my radar - it was by Gonzo, a studio I had little interest in, and it was based on one of my least-favorite plays - until a co-worker of mine found the series' promotional website while doing some research and told me to come watch the opening. Just like that, I was hooked. Super-pretty, emotional, and promising all kinds of action and drama, there's no way this one wasn't making the list.

#1: One Piece, "We Are - Mugiwara Version" (Opening)

What a surprise, eh? You know how sometimes people get an Oscar, and it's not so much for that particular performance as their body of work as a whole? Consider this win like that. There hasn't been a single One Piece opening that I didn't love and didn't get me all pumped and excited about that day's adventures on the high seas, and most of the endings were just as good. I've chosen the special version of the original opening they did recently, with the cast singing the infamous We Are, but it could just as easily have been Crazy Rainbow Star or Believe or even that one-time ending where they used Family to close out the Alabasta arc.

Fun fact: for many years, One Piece was the undisputed king of my anime OST folder, and only very recently lost that crown (and by less than three megabytes) to Junjo's ten million drama CDs. It still makes up a full 6% of my anime music collection, and I don't even have all the soundtracks. What gets played the most? Any song in which the cast sings in character. And there are a lot. ^-^

And now, the insert songs. If you missed the warning text on the LJ cut, some of these contain SPOILERS, though not too many big ones (exception: Fushigi Yuugi). If you're worried about it, just scroll past anything that you're planning to watch later.

Honorable Mention: One Piece, "Zombie Night" (Episode 344)

Despite my above declarations of One Piece love, I'm actually not that enamored of this song. However, its placement - right in the middle of an arc with no warning whatsoever and no reference after the fact - and complete WTF factor garner it an honorable mention.

#10: Sailor Moon, "She's Got the Power" (English Episode 68)

I am not ashamed to admit that I religiously taped Sailor Moon every afternoon (clandestinely marathoning the week's episodes on Saturday night, when no one else was awake to see my incredibly girly choice of programming), nor am I ashamed to admit that I bought both of the English soundtracks. For songs like the above. Which I then memorized. "She's got the power" indeed.

#9: Kiki's Delivery Service, "Ryuuju No Dengon"

I love Japanese sock-hop music, yes I do. And paired with Miyazaki's whimsical visuals, how can you go wrong? It only didn't place higher because Kiki's not nearly as good as, say, Howl's Moving Castle.

#8: Fushigi Yuugi, "Winner" (Episode 33)

I remember absolutely bawling when I first saw this. Nuriko was the first of the cast to die, and I wasn't expecting it at all. On top of that, he'd been steadily working his way up from annoying comic relief character to near-favorite (I even cosplayed him), and the whole montage is all about things he's never gonna get to do set to the 80s synth "Winner," which doubled as his theme. Nuriko. ;_;

#7: Gravitation, "Seven Days" (Episode 11)

This was one of my favorite songs out of a number of favorite songs from Gravitation. Happy and fast-paced with Engrish decent enough to sing along to, it would have been a winner anyway, but as the soundtrack to Shuichi and Yuki's one and only date (in the series, anyway) while they have a good time and Yuki shows off his prowess at shooting zombies or whatever? <3

#6: Trigun, "Sound Life" (Episode 7)

This was Rem's theme song in Trigun. Apparently she wandered around singing it all the time? I don't know, but I really liked it, and any scene with her and Vash and that song was always a good one. It also usually presaged or came on the heels of total doom for Vash, but we won't get into that right now.

#5: Wolf's Rain, "Tell Me What the Rain Knows" (Episode 26)

Wolf's Rain insert songs turn out to be incredibly difficult to find on Youtube, even though the whole series is up, and in both English and Japanese no less. So while Tell Me What the Rain Knows isn't my favorite of the many, many pretty songs in Wolf's Rain (that would be Strangers, or maybe Run, Wolf Warrior, or...), it is emblematic of the series' beautiful score and is used in conjunction with episodes 26's happy ending (as opposed to, well, later...), so here it is.

#4: Full Moon wo Sagashite, "Smile" (Episode 37)

Not all of Full Moon's music worked for me, but when it clicked it clicked, and Smile ended up in heavy rotation on Winamp for quite some time. Here, it's playing over a Christmas montage. Do you know how much I love Christmas montages? A lot. And look! Kitty Takuto in a santa outfit! D'awww.

Speaking of Takuto, his rendition of Eternal Snow was a close second choice for Full Moon's spot on this list, but Smile + Christmas had it locked up.

#3: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, "You Are My Love" (Episode 20)

Things I love in Tsubasa (among others): beautiful music, flashbacks to when Sakura and Syaoran were kids, cameos of characters totally dead in their own series, and anything dealing with the bittersweet loss of Sakura's memories and Syaoran's devotion to her. Awwwwww. I was lamenting that towards the end of the series I'd gotten so wrapped up in what was going on with Fai and Kurogane that it took some effort to get back into Sakura and Syaoran. Obviously I should have just dug up this clip sooner.

#2: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, "Funanori Sailor" (An Exceptional Episode)

While singing probably wouldn't really cause a ceasefire in real life (and shouldn't even in the Tylor universe - note Yamamoto's stunned disbelief), I love this scene all to pieces, and played this song over and over. Even my mom could recognize it. It's another group song, where everyone gets to show off their personalities; it was the end of the OVA, which I absolutely loved; it was pretty; and Tylor was my very first subtitled anime. It is any surprise this made number two?

#1: Initial D, "Supersonic Fire" (Episode 1?)

I don't like Initial D. I think the plot is dull, the characters are ugly, and the 3D animation is bad. Hell, I can't even figure out if the above clip is from one of the games or the show itself and am not going to bother trying. That said, at every anime club meeting it was shown I looked forward to the inevitable downhill races, because that's when the crazy Eurobeat soundtrack would kick in and Takumi would be racing down those mountains to the pounding beat of songs that made no sense despite being in my native tongue. ("No One Sleep in Tokyo"? Is that a command? A statement of fact? What?) Whenever I need to really get to work on something, I pull out my trusty Initial D megamixes and suddenly that all-nighter doesn't sound quite as bad.

Congratulations, Initial D. You've found a way to make me focus while you babble on about inertia drift using the street gutter or whatever. A notable accomplishment.

My tree, let me show you it

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:35:48 GMT

Though it has served me well, I decided to replace my small tree from Joann's this year which a larger one, primarily due to greater-than-expected ~~keychain~~ ornament acquisitions at Anime Expo. I started pricing out trees last weekend, and holy cow did they turn out to be more expensive than I was anticipating. Fortunately, after checking Target, Menards, Home Depot, and Hobby Lobby (which only had small, 2" trees and was a complete bust), I eventually recalled that K-mart is still around and even located right down the street from the Hobby Lobby.

Though K-mart mostly had the same display as everyone else, it also had a conveniently sized, not pre-lit (seriously, why are all the trees pre-lit?) 6' Appalachian Pine on sale for $25 that didn't look too obviously cheap. Hello, new tree!

Fresh out of the box, my tree could probably give Charlie Brown's a run for its money. It's the droopy top branch that really completes the picture.

Adding branches.

Ta-dah! The completed product.

Size comparison with my old tree. After this, the old tree will be sent into graceful retirement at my parents' house, where it will live to old age as part of my Mom's ever-growing fake indoor forest.

No, that is not a euphemism for taking it out back and shooting it.

Lining up the decorations.

The newbies from AX.

Decorating.

Due to its proximity to the hearth where all the ornaments were, this side of the tree ended up noticeably more decorated than the others. Probably not a bad thing, since it's the side I'll see the most anyway, but next year I'll be a bit more careful in spacing. Tree learning curve and all that.

The finished product.

Two great BIG pictures of the main sides of the tree are available here and here if you want to scroll around and see where I staged this year's Christmas Go match or whatever. Selected close-ups follow.

Let's see, I spy with my little eye two alchemists, four ninjas, a ship in search of treasure,
two dragons, a hat that talks, and a puss in boots for good measure. (Also, Canada.)

Ever since discovering poisonivory's journal, I've been getting back into Disney as a fandom, particularly the extended Duck family. (Kingdom Hearts may also be partially culpable.) So this Friday I was shopping at the mall, and thought I'd check out the new ornaments at Hallmark, as I do every year, and then not buy anything, again as I do every year, for while they are pretty they are also very expensive.

However, I really liked this one (it's officially titled "Wise to the Disguise"), since I think it exactly encapsulates Donald and his nephews, not to mention being all Christmasy, and mentioned as much to my mom. Mom then bought it for me as this year's decorating present. :D (She gets me and my siblings a new ornament or set of lights each year.) It really is adorable, though difficult to properly photograph. ^-^ I just can't believe I own a Hallmark keepsake.

I played around with a bunch of camera settings for these photos, and while just leaving the camera on auto flash generally resulted in the clearest images, they lose some of the atmosphere in the lighting. Ah, well. Mentally add a layer of light and sparkles to each image, okay?

Oh noes! An X-egg has gotten loose on the tree! We'd better call for Amulet Heart!

Is simply yelling OBJECTION! at the sight of Phoenix Wright characters played out yet?

I am amused that while Phoenix and Edgeworth are both pointing with great gusto, and Apollo is at least trying, Klavier is obviously just posing for his fans. (He's a rock star lawyer, if you did not know. That is, a lawyer who also does vocals and lead guitar in a popular rock band.)

I think maybe Naruto is trying to show Sasuke a new move? And Sasuke is not impressed?

Gon and Killua have finally escaped the incredibly boring Chimera Ant arc to explore new lands! - like my Christmas tree. Well, as long as they're together I'm sure they'll have fun.

...Germany seems kind of tense, but at least Italy's having a great time. He'd probably love a slice of traditional Cooper Christmas pizza, but as he is a fictional representation of a non-fictional European country, I don't think he'll be able to come.

There are also a number of doves and bluejays nesting the branches that are new, and some new general shiny round ornaments I didn't bother to individually photograph. (You can see them in the big photos linked above if you're really curious.)

Only 26 more days 'til Christmas!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:31:30 GMT

Hey, Yoshiko. Remember just the other day when I said there was no BL in Kobato unless you kind of counted Wish? Yeah, that might not be true anymore. XD Might.

As of today, I'm actually nearly done with my Christmas shopping! Still need to grab some incidentals, but all but one of my main gifts is bought and ready for wrapping, and the one I just need to pick up once it goes on sale. I don't know whether to be happy I don't have to worry about it or sad because now I'll have to resist looking at new sales.

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:37:04 GMT

I was just sorting through my various ornaments and discovered I bought a bunch more keychains at AX than I remembered. My tree is going to be even prettier than I thought, and I can stop dithering over whether to buy the new Hunter x Hunter set - I already did!

This first bit will make sense to precisely Jenny

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:09:43 GMT

Signs you've watched Finian's Rainbow one too many times*:

You get a little weirded out by having your Christmas tree located just behind you, catching it out of the corner of your eye and half-expecting an overgrown leprechaun to suddenly jump out.

No, really. I wonder if I should move it? Or will decorating it help?

* I bet no one's ever used that header before!

So, One Piece has a movie coming out. (You should know this already.) As part of the massive build up, a special prequel comic has been released. This comic takes place 20 years before current One Piece events and - OMG baby Ace! - there's lot of really neat - young Shanks! - looks at what a whole bunch of the characters were doing back then - man who got stuck in a box! wait, no, he was boring - and therefore should totally be read by, say, Yoshiko and Robyn and Vicki immediately. No spoilers, though you may be puzzled by who some of the characters in one-off panels are.

I made bacon-wrapped asparagus as an appetizer for my Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and if you were wondering, it makes an excellent snack when reheated the next day in the toaster oven, possibly accompanied by fresh pineapple and cheese. Mmmm. Too bad bacon's a ridiculous pain to cook regularly, not to mention the need to air out the apartment afterwards or else suffer smelling smoked pig for a week. Better for my health, though, I suppose.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:14:22 GMT

Wow. I can't remember the last time I saw this many Muppets in one place. A Christmas special, maybe?

Plus, sometimes I just really, really love Toothpaste for Dinner. Like today's pie crust recipe, for example.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:59:02 GMT

Oh, hey! It's only episode six, and Kobato's already developed a plot! A rather intriguing plot, with a number of hints dropped and nothing concrete and characters that could be up to God knows what (no, really - seeing as this is in continuity with Wish, I'm sure God has a hand in what's going on). How exciting!

Ooh, and the promised Fai-cat has appeared! He's using his serious voice, though, not the one he uses for Fai and Italy.

This episode is quite delightful!

I hate the TSA

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:47:10 GMT

Hey, Jenny! The TSA has published guidelines for traveling during the holidays. Make sure you don't take any cranberry sauce on the plane, but pies are a-okay! ::rolls eyes:: Suggested solutions: either label the cranberry sauce "saline solution" or else put it inside a pie.

I'm so glad I'm driving.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:11:50 GMT

So, on some website or another, I came across a reference to a new manga called Beelzebub. Curious, I checked it out on Manga Updates and learned a) it's running in Jump Weekly, so it's probably good, b) the character designs look pleasingly rough yet polished and c) it's about a delinquent teen who must raise a baby: the son of Satan.

I'm now all of 10 pages in and already enjoying it thoroughly. We'll see if it continues to entertain in the long run. There's even an amusing side character already who I'm willing to bet will make excellent slash fodder once I learn some important things about him, like his name.

ETA: Bwah ha ha, someone at MangaFox pointed out that Oga (the main character) looks like Luffy and Zoro's love child. It is so totally true. Acts like it, too. (And Beelzebub even looks like a baby Zoro! ...If he was, you know, the son of Satan. Which he's not.)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:17:36 GMT

I have discovered the most wonderfully heartfelt and romantic love song! Seriously, this thing's great. So much so, that when I mentioned it to a couple of co-workers, they both independently mimed mini swoons. (Judy, one of said co-workers, also took advantage of the Youtube foray to point me toward this excellent Wind Waker one-man symphony.)

The internet, I loves it.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:45:41 GMT

Apparently the new meme is scientific explanations of other memes. Time will tell if the site proves as useful as Urban Dictionary.

Of course, there's an XKCD comic about this.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:16:57 GMT

I spend too much time on this thing.

I had a dream last night that involved sort of a crossover between Kobato and xxxHolic. Not surprising, considering what I'd just been watching before bed. But what was surprising is that I was mentally composing my LiveJournal entry during the dream about the plot, down to pulling a slightly OOC Doumeki quote for the header and HTML formatting.

Maybe I should take a break.

On the bright side, this explains why Doumeki would be OOC in the first place. Clamp's writing is evidently much better than my subconscious mind's wanderings. Naturally. I think it even borrowed some elements about aging from White & Black, this odd angel BL I also read yesterday.

...Maybe what I should cut back on isn't LJ.

I do so love parentheticals.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:53:54 GMT

Have just now started Kobato. As mentioned before, I've been avoiding the manga for ages, because I read the first chapter and found the dog to be rather too fearsome for my taste, but then I heard he was voiced by Tetsu Inada (a.k.a. Kurogane) in the anime so here I am. And now, I find I can't take the dog seriously at all! Oh dear. And I hear there's a cat that likes to chase after the dog being voiced by Daisuke Namikawa (a.k.a. Fai) as well...

Well, we'll see. So far (and I am not very far), Kobato reminds me very much of Sakura (CCS, not Tsubasa), which is not a particularly bad thing and may be predicated mostly on the fact that she gets about 15 different outfits during the opening song. I wonder if she's got a best friend with a video camera?

In completely unrelated news, I'm putting together a D&D session for my brothers for Christmas. (Shh, it's a surprise!) Alan (he's the younger one) recently found out about the game and really wants to play, so after a couple weeks of explaining stuff to my mom and forwarding her funny videos and in general going on about all the D&D stuff I've picked up over the years despite never actually playing myself (thanks, geek culture!), I finally bowed to the inevitable and decided to just DM a session. I can't do it regularly, because, well, I live in Iowa, but for Christmas I can certainly put together something.

I've already got the three core books (Player's Handbook 1, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide) and a number of internet bookmarks (we will so be using power cards), but if anyone has any suggestions, by all means. If they're story suggestions, though, don't put them in the comments, because my sister and maybe my dad might be playing too, and they both check this. ^-^ Anyway, I'm pretty excited about it, and can't wait to take pictures of the setup with my extensive gashapon collection serving as miniatures.

ETA: Man, I should have stuck with it. This Fujimoto character seems great. I'd seen a couple fanarts before, but was not expecting such a, shall we say, grumpy personality. Reminds me of when I guessed completely wrong what Fai would be like. ^-^

ETA2: Ehhhh?! Ioryogi knows Kohaku? Is this why Wish is the only series that didn't turn up in Tsubasa? It does explain the adorable dancing bunny in the eyecatch... And how did I not notice before that the logo is a duck in hat? I love ducks and hats!

ETA3: Great, Clamp has now succeeded in making me cry by episode two this time. I'm doomed.

ETA4: And now it's Chobits all over the place! And Kohaku and Shuichro are out on a date! Which I guess gives us a time reference, since that was supposed to be 100 years later. I shall now start eagerly anticipating an Angelic Layer appearance. After all, she's already been to a Piffle store. And Fairy Park wouldn't be hard to work in, either... I'm guessing no Legal Drug, though, because it and Suki are in the xxxHolic continuity.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:35:30 GMT

Holy cow. There's an armed standoff going on at my apartment complex right now. And I can't get either the local TV or news radio streaming options to work! I guess I'll just have to keep checking the radio while I drive home and maybe make a detour to the mall, since the street's closed off for now.

(For reference, building 5517 is the one next to mine, and not my actual building, but holy cow! Hey, I bet my apartment manager finally managed to stay past six for once...)

ETA: I'm back home now. The standoff ended around 5:30, as I found out at work when I and a co-worker finally found a streaming news option (from the newspaper, which had a helicopter in the area). By the time I got home the police blockade was gone and I was only just in time to see the "Mobile Command Center" and the few police officers who were still left leaving. (Helicopter's still up there as of this moment, though.)

Video report, if you're interested.

ETA2: Since it seems to be confusing, I should probably point out this was originally posted while I was at work. No danger to me, thankfully.

St. Louis: It's great until it sucks.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:42:31 GMT

So, as previously mentioned, while I enjoyed visiting St. Louis' zoo and gardens I was really there to see the City Museum. Seriously, check out that website. How does that not look awesome? Indeed, it turned out to be pretty cool - for the most part.

::more ominous rumbling::

Before we get started, I want to point out: these are not even close to all the pictures I took, just the ones that I formatted for LJ.

Anyway, I checked out of my hotel room, drove down a rather depressed-looking street, and made my way downtown to the museum I'd come to see. Parking in the museum lot was an extravagant $5, so I parked in a convenient and mostly empty business lot just up the street and walked in.

The approach. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Once in, I bought my ticket (wristband #3!) and started exploring. It very quickly became obvious that even my small backpack was going to be an encumbrance as I made my way about, let alone the camera bag, so I actually went back to the car, got my old little camera, and then used the bag check at the museum to drop off the new camera and my backpack (even though it cost a whole dollar) and then carried the little camera in my pocket. This later turned out to be a fantastically good idea.

As you may have noticed, I'm not always so good with lighting and things even with good cameras, and this was me back to my old camera which is not so good with the dark. The museum was full of places with interesting lighting setups, such as the above, and any picture with me in it involved asking someone else to take it, so basically this is my rambling way of saying not all of these pictures will be super nice. Please overlook it.

Oh, this is a picture of the old-time midway on the third floor, by the way. Several different staff members suggested that I start on the top floor (which was the third, since the fourth floor didn't count as it was the candy shop, bag check, and used clothing store - no, I don't know why), and then work my way down.

After exploring the midway and a ballroom (complete with bar, two self-playing pianos, and a small train you can ride in if you're under four feet tall - they hold parties there when they don't hold them on the roof), I came across a cozy nook with paper snowflakes displayed on every available surface. I'd discovered the entrance to the craft area, and a very nice woman was sitting there with pre-folded snowflake patterns and fancy scissors. Pictured here is me making a koala one.

She was very chatty, and the museum wasn't terribly busy yet, so I learned many things about the founder of the museum and stuff, and then she changed a couple dollars for me to quarters so I could waste them at the arcade later.

Musical instrument snowflakes. She also had insects, holidays, all kinds of animals, etc. She was also happy to sell you her book of patterns, but I stoically resisted. Aunt Wendy would probably have thought they were neat, though.

Snowflake lady told me if I hung around for a few minutes the "circus" would start in a little amphitheater across from the art section, and I though that sounded good and joined the gathering crowd.

"Circus" in this instance meant a magician, though I believe they have a number of different acts depending on the time and day. He was very much a performer, and he was very funny. He had the crowd eating out of his hand within minutes, and even brought his own soundtrack which he would queue up at various "intense" moments. Then he would threaten the crying baby in the audience. Vicky would have loved him.

After the show, I went up to the roof. This was because while the snowflake lady agreed that not only was it a good idea to see the museum top->bottom, but that the roof often got crowded later in the day as everyone else made their way bottom->top. The roof costs an additional $5 to go see, but I had just saved that much by not parking in the official lot and it looked like fun, so why not?

This is the infamous ferris wheel on top of the museum. I think it's one of my favorite pictures from the whole mini-vacation.

For some reason, there is a giant praying mantis statue on top of the domed area on the roof. An older staff member told me later in the day that the museum owner bought it after divorcing his wife, and wasn't that an odd coincidence?

Looking out at the city.

These two pictures were taken from the ferris wheel. The arch was just behind a building and out of sight, unfortunately.

Hey look, it's my car!

Me going down a slide on the roof. There were a lot of slides at this museum. Do not wear super-nice pants.

Looking down at the airplanes now.

So, I should mention that the way the city museum works is this (as explained, again, by snowflake lady and some others): the owner guy (whose name I could look up, I suppose, but won't) bought this rundown building ten years ago or so and made it into a museum on the bottom floors with apartments on the top floors. He's super-into architecture and stuff, so whenever a building in St. Louis is slated to be demolished he tends to go over there and protest until the building is either not demolished or else he gets, like, an old staircase or doorknobs or statues or what have you. Then he places all this stuff somewhere in the museum, sometimes repurposing it, sometimes just making it something to climb on, and sometimes putting it on actual display in the museum's collections on the third floor. (The collections, incidentally, were by far the least crowded section of the museum while I was there.) He also likes vehicles in addition to buildings.

And that's (roughly) why the city museum has two old planes stuck to the outside of it.

This picture was taken from inside this sort of wire tower you could climb and then looking down on the roof pond and garden. As you do.

Inside the dome area with the giant mantis on top was a really long rope with some knots in it and a loop at the bottom to put your foot. You then ask some nice people nearby to give you a push and - whoosh!

Eating a pushpop from the rooftop concessions stand.

There was a school bus on the roof.

Looks like a nice place to sit.

I make a good sullen bus driver. "Yeah, yeah, get in the back." (Also visible: wristband #4! This one was for the roof, of course.)

Watch out for that first step.

Roof explored, I headed back down to floor three. The staff people at the entrance would later note that I was really all over the place (since you had to go past the entrance to the special elevator to get to the roof).

Incidentally, old-school pinball is hard. The space between the bottom flippers is huge.

A section of the more museum-y part of the museum.

This is the most beat-up piano I've ever seen in my life. A number of keys didn't even play any more. Thus, you can imagine how many kids just loved banging away on it. (Yes, including me, though I didn't catch it while it was free until later in the day.)

The aquarium inside the museum. This wing on the second floor also cost extra to visit, but I like aquariums almost as much as I like zoos and by now I was determined to do everything I could, so in I went. (No wristband, just a handstamp.)

Obligatory octopus picture.

They had a bunch of different areas where you could stick your hand in the water and touch stuff conveniently marked on a little map they gave you on your way in, but the neatest by far were these little fish.

These are those fish you may have heard about that basically eat away at your dead skin. Underwater dermabrasion ahoy! (Yes, it tickles, but only a little.)

A giant squid was attacking some of the exhibits. Perhaps not coincidentally, a TV nearby was playing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I took this picture from some stairs you could climb up and then look over the wall into the exhibit room you were just in. Seriously, the whole museum is like a giant cluttered jungle gym. Of science.

What the hell is a "no puff policy"? I do not know, and there wasn't a handy staffer to ask.

This fish is simultaneously sinister and awesome. I have another picture somewhere of the sign, which I think said it was a devil's eye fish or something else equally worthy. I'll have to find it again later and tell you all.

Most shark tunnels, they are big things you stroll through. This shark tunnel, you crawl through as the shark gets about two inches away from your face.

This sea turtle was hanging out at the edge of the tank.

In the back of the first floor, they have a cave.

This is what this tunnel looks like when the flash is on. I do not have a picture of what it looks like when the flash is off because it would be pure, black darkness. And you get to crawl through it!

...Actually, they do have it staged so that if you are, say, a stodgy adult, you can walk around comfortably while the crazy kids go crawling in and around the stalagmites and banging their heads on the tunnel ceilings. But who'd want to do that?

Looking up. The cave on the first floor connects to a rather grungy set of stairs going all the way to the eleventh floor. I hope you enjoy climbing.

Looking down towards the cave from an unspecified floor. That glowing rock is a big rock formation in the cave that periodically changed colors. Unfortunately, none of my pictures of it came out particularly well.

So you're climbing up a million stairs, and there's this pipe organ in a section off to the side (locked off, presumably so it does not end up like the previously pictured piano). I assume they periodically have someone dress up like the Phantom and play. (I mean, they had a Harry and the Potters concert on the roof last week, so it's not like this isn't a crazy museum for nerds already.)

Naturally, there was a giant slide at the top of the stairs that spirals down something like nine flights. Naturally, I went on it.

Incidentally, while waiting in line for the slide (longest line I stood in for anything the whole day, not that I ended up in many of them), I met some very nice boys, one of whom had his DSi along. He was 12 or so, and had this flipbook program he'd made a bunch of animations with and would show off to anyone who looked remotely interested. The kid was good, and I spent most of my time in line praising his storyboarding and fluid running motions. Hopefully this did not come across as creepy.

I got lunch at the cafe; a chicken-something-or-other toasted sandwich and a salad. Both were quite tasty.

Watch out!

Lunch eaten, I finally made my way outside.

I have no idea what building they got their castle tower from, but you bet you can climb in it.

The inside of one of the gutted-out planes.

Climbing into the sky. I was very aware as I took these pictures that while I probably would not fall through the cable-wires, my camera sure could.

These cable-wire-tunnel things swayed, by the way. Mom would probably have a heart attack.

Me flying a plane. No one was handy for this one, so this was taken with a timer.

Looking out over the giant jungle gym.

Me climbing.

Looking down at the ball pit.

Me driving a... Okay, it's either a fire engine or a tram, probably a fire engine, but I honestly can't remember.

The apartments above the museum.

More climbing in the sky. I can't believe they don't make you sign a wavier or something when you buy your ticket.

Just because you can climb everywhere doesn't mean it's always easy or convenient. Here, for example, I've just made it up to this tower after spending about five minutes trying to convince my back and hips to cooperate with the tall height and cramped space.

And here are several teenagers crawling under one of the walkways. I might have tried it myself, but it didn't go anywhere and you just had to back out again after going the length of the walkway. But you could do it if you wanted!

A more sedate walkway with some trees.

Yet another view of the climbing stuff.

A cool statue. (Back inside now.)

By this point, I'd pretty much seen everything the museum had to offer, and went upstairs to pick up the picture of me the on-hand caricaturist had done in the art section. (They had a place set aside where you could leave any art projects you'd made until you left.) He was a very nice, mostly retired old man who explained to me that he usually worked in watercolors, but needed to come up with something that dried a little quicker for the art section, so we talked art and museum gossip. He's the one who told me the mantis story.

On my way out, I talked a bit more to the staff, and they mentioned that I'd come on a really good day. Both they and I had been expecting it to be really crowded because it was Labor Day, but it so happened that because the weekend had been all rainy, everyone went to the mostly indoor museum Saturday and Sunday and then went to the zoo on Monday because it was sunny again.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself and thinking I'd make a quick trip over to the arch and take a picture in my family reunion shirt for my uncle when I got back to my car.

I didn't quite grasp what had happened at first, just that my wonderful Santa Barbara Zoo travel bag wasn't on the front seat anymore and the contents of my glove compartment (pretty much just letters from Geico) were scattered about. Then I realized the back window was broken.

So, yeah. That seriously sucked.

Some other people were walking back to their cars the same time I was, and I asked them if their cars were alright. They were, but the people (it was a couple families) were really nice and checked around the area to see if maybe the thief had dumped my stuff anywhere nearby after realizing most of it wasn't worth stealing. The answer was no, sadly, but they still stuck around until the cops got there. At least I had the dubiously exciting experience of calling 911 for my first time?

My car, the crime scene. Not sure why they sent two cop cars, but whatever. They were nice but not especially encouraging about the likelihood of getting my stuff back.

Stuff stolen includes: My DS + games, mp3 player, all my chargers, the Japanese candy I'd bought they day before, everything in my suitcase including my jewelery box and some of my favorite shirts and jeans, books, my lunch box, both my jackets, and two - but only two - of my cloth grocery bags.

Not stolen: the lotion and cups from the hotel I tossed in my bag on the way out. The thief actually went to the trouble of tossing those back on the seat. But the Google maps in the pocket to get back home? Yeah, he (or she) kept those.

Good thing I'd taken my bag and cameras in with me, at least, though I'd rather have lost money and electronic equipment then the personal effects, especially what was pretty much my entire earring collection. (Yes, tossing the whole box into my suitcase was dumb, if convenient. No lectures please.) I'm also really sad about the lost saved games, especially all the progress I'd made in Pokemon Pearl. :(

They called in Forensics (which was a girl!) to dust for prints, but she didn't turn up any.

So, the cops left, I called Geico, Geico sucked, I called Dad, Dad offered sympathy, and then I drove home. On the bright side, it wasn't raining, but on the downside, it was cold with the window down and me doing 65. I felt like a terrible environmentalist, running the heat in the front of the car as it all escaped out the back window, but the bastard stole both my jackets. No more fun yellow. :(

Coincidentally, that red car back there turned out to belong to nice snowflake lady. When she saw what happened she offered her condolences and offered to take me to dinner, but at that point I just wanted to go home.

I had smartly taken the next day off as well, since I planned to relax once I got back from my vacation, but it ended up coming in handy to take care of the car instead.

I called up the local dealership to see about fixing the window, and they gave me the number for Wade's Auto Glass. As you can see, Wade makes house calls. (Garage calls?)

The longest part about getting the window fixed was vacuuming out all the glass. On the bright side, I'd needed to vacuum the floor anyway.

What the inside of my car door looks like. Wade was very nice posing a few of the pictures.

The window is fixed! It doesn't have an official Nissan logo sticker on it anymore, but other than that it's just fine, or at least it has been so far. Wade seemed pretty careful and professional during the installation.

I don't want to end this on a total downer note, so here's a couple pictures of my desk during catalog season right after I got back. The books piled up juuuust a bit before I got around to putting them away in our library. My "fort" got to be something of a running joke.

For scale, though they don't look nearly so imposing this way. There's more in the back that you can't see because of the angle, too.

...So that was my trip to St. Louis. Lessons learned: don't leave your suitcase in plain sight on the back seat, take only select accessories and not all of them, register your Nintendo products with Nintendo in case they get stolen (it's free), and pay for the damn parking.

Can't... Stop... Watching...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:34:20 GMT

Tip: Stay away from TVTropes' Stupid Statement Dance Mix page if you value your sanity. I, unfortunately, did not.

Incidentally, I totally misheard "chakra-coated" as "chocolate-coated" the first time and thought Kabuto was making a YuGiOh joke. Which would have made just about as much sense as the rest of the video.

...Say, this reminds me. Does anyone know where they're taking the Hobbits? :P

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:37:58 GMT

Weird Naruto chapter is weird. Did Sakura seriously just try to pull off some kind of Nice Guy(tm) wish-fulfillment manipulation tactic? And did Naruto himself just go up in my estimation yet another 100 points or so when he saw through it? And did Danzou do some kind of odd fighting thing that I couldn't follow but didn't care about anyway because really, Danzou? Weirdness all around.

Oh, and while my estimation of Naruto went up, Sakura continues to illustrate that girls in the Naruto universe are complete ineffective. ::sigh:: Thank goodness for Kekkaishi, I guess. On the other hand, I was about to condemn Naruto for not being romantically consistent (which, if you'll see my entry on Toradora, you'll know bugs the hell out of me), but then Kishimoto Masashi was like "Just kidding, I actually have a great grasp on characterization and growth!" and I was like "Fine, I forgive you for the sexism thing. Again. But this is the last time, hear me! I mean it this time!"

In completely unrelated news, I finally found some scrunchie multipacks at Target after two months of searching. Target wasn't stocking any, Claire's didn't have any, Big Lots didn't have any, the grocery store didn't have any... What, did they go out of style? All the stores had those flimsy thin ones, but I think any of you reading this who have ever let your hair grow out know those tend to snap after a few uses.

Oh, and I made chilled asparagus salad for the potluck at work on Friday, and it turned out fairly well! I used this recipe and substituted Italian 4-blend cheese for the parmesan, 'cause I like it better, and added roasted pumpkin seeds (following this other recipe, plus worcestershire sauce) on top. It ended up being one of only two veggie dishes there, the other being your basic veggie tray from the grocery store, and got good reviews from those who actually tried it. My workplace, it is not always so big on nutrition, no matter how much HR (sometimes) tries.

Things I don't need

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:07:42 GMT

You know, I was an incredibly thrifty person in college. Still am, when it comes to most things. But I have two great weaknesses: cute key chains and One Piece. So I may or may not have pre-ordered both sets of these and all three of these. HLJ has them down for "November release," so I'm hoping they get here in time to go on the Christmas tree. If not, well, there's always next year.

Then, as if that was not enough petty cash to throw around on plastic, I finally caved after months of wavering and decided screw it, I'm collecting the One Piece Strong World Portrait of Pirates figures. I don't need them, they're expensive, they're bigger than anything else I collect besides kitchen appliances, I don't even like two of the characters, I haven't seen the movie they go with yet and Nami could stand to be wearing something else. But then someone posted a picture of the complete line-up and Zoro and Luffy look awesome (seriously, have you seen the Zoro? Niiiice) and with my employee discount the prices are slightly less expensive (plus free shipping, but I have to pay Iowa tax) though I do run the risk of our supplier not being able to fill our pre-orders. But I had to finally make up my damn mind because these sell out way too fast.

...But not as fast as silly vocaloid sets! Otherwise I'd have one more item to add to my list. They sold out the same day they were listed on all the import stores. :( Jeez people, they're just vocaloids... said the fox about the grapes.

In other news, I decided this year that it would be nice to carve a pumpkin, which I do not usually do. I picked one up at the grocery store last weekend along with a carving kit and some candles and tonight I fired up X-Entertainment's annual Halloween Jukebox and got carving.

I think this may be all of the second time in my life I've used a pattern for a jack o'lantern (and this one's not even a real pumpkin pattern), but I think it came out pretty well. I'm even thinking of sending a couple pictures to Funimation. Now I have to look up recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds in-between catching the late showing of Project Runway and making Chilled Asparagus Salad for the potluck at work tomorrow.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:58:12 GMT

I was going to make a post about Doumeki and Watanuki nonchalantly talking about sex (well, Doumeki's nonchalant anyway, much to Watanuki's ire) and uncomfortable first-times in the latest chapter to freak out Yoshiko, but then I realized it was far too preposterous for anyone to believe and gave up on the idea.

That said, I still have no idea what's going on with xxxHolic right now, but as long as Doumkei continues to appear or get mentioned in one panel out of two like this I will not object. </broken record> I also think that this new arc means the series must not be ending this year, as previously advertised. I wonder how long Clamp's planning to keep it going?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:55:46 GMT

I have reached episode 24 of Toradora (out of 25). I have a few comments.

So, Toradora finally succumbed to cliche, making me sad. Ryuuji and Taiga are now together, and even decided to get married about a minute after confessing. I am not entirely pleased. They (the writers) are handling it about as well as they could, I guess, but it's feeling a bit like Strangled by the Red String anyway.

Oh, and Ryuuji was mean to his mother. He may have had a point, but since I like her I object on principle. And I wish Minori hadn't given up so easily. To hell with Taiga; you want Ryuuji, go after him!

::sigh:: Well, there's still an episode and a half left. I guess I'll watch them, but I don't think I'll like them as much as the rest of the series.

ETA: You haven't even kissed yet! Stop talking about your happiness, and definitely don't stage an uncomfortable fake wedding!

ETA2: Okay, you've [sort of] kissed now. And it was pathetic. Go back to being brother and sister!

ETA3: Just finished. Was not placated by half an episode telling me to... try as hard as I can? For all the lecturing going on, I'm actually not quite sure what the moral there was. Bah, should have stopped with episode 21 or so. On the bright side, they got in some last-minute character development for Ryuuji's mom, so that was nice, and if you can buy the idea of Ryuuji and Taiga hooking up I guess the last bit was cute.

So, in conclusion, it could have been worse, but I think it could also have been a lot better. It has now been downgraded from the shonen Fruits Basket to the shonen, I dunno, Special A.