Thursday, December 24, 2009

They will pay for their crimes...
Mark my words, they will pay for their crimes, those who have done this great and terrible thing to America. They will pay with their careers, they will pay with their reputations, and they will pay with their livelihood. Something this criminally terrible cannot be let to pass without due process of judgment. They are guilty, the blood is on their hands, and they shall reap the punishment they so justly deserve.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Friday, October 9, 2009

Pink Walls and Waterfalls

The World is Large -
Its beauty indescrible.
- Zhuang Zi

I am writing the first portion of this post on a bus somewhere between Changchun and Changbai Shan, a mountain on the North Korean border. Given the timing of this bus ride in the greater scheme of things, it seems the appropriate point to do a little recap of the last two months.

That's right, I said it, two months. It has been a whole two months since I last set foot on American soil, two months since I had a real American bacon cheeseburger (or bacon at all for that matter), two months since my last taco, two months since my cell phone worked. Things have changed greatly, but I seem to be taking it in stride. Of that I cannot be more grateful. First of all, being here with a group of Americans rather than just being here alone makes all the difference in the world. I cannot describe how much different this trip has been from my other two with just that little change. When, after a hard day, I can return to my living space and be able to actually converse in English with somebody who understands where I am coming from, life is good. Thus the cultural adjustment is moving along smoothly. Granted, we all need a little bit of home to feel comfortable, and I am finding ways to make China a more like home. Me and my Star Trek DVDs have never been closer, I am finding ways to keep up with American television, I am talking to friends and family at home on a more than regular basis, I am spending more time in quiet time, I have found a Chinese student with whom I have been playing Go and tennis, and my bed is comfortable and warm. I have even gone so far as to install incandescent lights in all the sockets in my apartment. All the lights were incandescent when I got here, which was nice, but I lost three of them in a two-day span my first week here. When I went to the foreign affairs office to ask for more light bulbs, they gave me fluorescent ones. I cannot abide fluorescent lighting. It is evil. I do not care if it is better for the environment or if it is more energy efficient. If a home is not comfortable, life is less enjoyable, and I refuse to allow this whole “going green” junk to get in the way of my happiness. Not here. So I yanked those fluorescent lights out of the ceiling and installed incandescent ones the first chance I got. With all that said, you can see life is going well and I am settling in quite nicely. This year is off to a good start and I cannot complain.

If I were to make a complaint about anything, it would have to be with the food. It has only been two months and I am already tired of Chinese cuisine. It is greasy. It is bland. It is all starting to taste the same. I am tired of fried meat in a sticky sauce. I am tired of limp vegetables in a sticky sauce. I am tired of noodles in a sticky sauce. Let it be known that Japanese food remains my favorite national cuisine. It has so much variety that I never got tired of anything, you can never call it bland, and it is far from sticky. Granted, I never say no to a good deli sandwich. Mmmm… Quiznos (and yay for effective advertising campaigns! ^_^).

Moving away from the cultural adaptation, you probably want to know what I have been up to for the last two months. That is an easy question to answer. In Colorado the rest of CTF and I went through the first portion of our training. This first portion consisted of mostly cultural stuff. Basically, we were taught what to do and what not to do in Chinese culture so we could make a good impression right off the bat rather than making fools of ourselves for a few months before we got the hang of the culture. It appears it has worked, because we have not had any major cultural mishaps… yet.

After a few days in Colorado we hopped on the airplane for Beijing. We spent half a day in Beijing visiting some of the more notable cultural sights, then got on a bus for the seaside city of Qinhuangdao where we had two more weeks of intense teacher training. This was the hard core stuff. We were taught all about teaching in general, teaching techniques, lesson planning, classroom management, disciplinary tactics, testing methods, etc.. It was intense. I do not know if I would say I came out of it more confident or more nervous, but it did prepare me for what has come, that much is certain. We even got the chance to deliver a lesson plan of our own creation to an actual class of English students at a university in Qinhuangdao. That went very well. I was not the brightest star there by far, but I would not say it went poorly. I have improved greatly since then.

After the two weeks in Qinhuangdao we dispersed in teams to our assigned schools. I am now comfortable in Changchun and have been teaching for two-and-a-half weeks. I am teaching three classes of freshmen and am doing two English Corners. English Corners are like a study hall for anyone studying English. I give the students a context in which to speak English and help them in whatever way I can. My students are all extremely ambitious and take every chance they can to study and prepare for class. They are some of the best students I have ever seen. They put American university classrooms to shame, and I am already learning a great deal from them as they are learning a great deal from me. I have not had the chance to get to know any of them very well yet, but that will be changing very soon as I am starting to get the hang of this teaching thing. I hope that soon I will be able to focus more on getting to know my students than on simply trying to be a good teacher. So, all in all, it has been going very well thus far by the good grace of our Father and I just know that He will continue to provide as the year goes on.

Now, to close off the post, you might be wondering why I was on a bus. Well, the People’s Republic of China just celebrated its 60th anniversary. The students were given a 10-day break during which time most of the two CTF teams in Changchun joined with the team in Harbin for a trip out to the North Korean border to visit a dormant volcano called Changbai Shan. When I say this mountain is on the border, I mean it. Half of it is in North Korea and the other half in China. It is a beautiful mountain and the volcanic crater has been filled in with water that has created what the Chinese refer to as the “Heavenly Lake.” The Chinese side has been turned into a tourist attraction with many different sights. The lake is of course the main attraction and was the highlight of the day, but there is also a beautiful waterfall that flows off the lake, a gorgeous forest called the underground forest, a hot spring, and a few other attractions that we did not see.

We went with a Chinese tour group, because that is the cheapest and easiest way to see the mountain. We were up on the top of the mountain by 9:30 last Saturday morning, and after standing in the mob that the Chinese refer to as a line, enduring a harrowing car ride up the side of the mountain on icy roads at breakneck pace, and trekking up 200 meters of rocky steps at -7C straight into 25mph winds, we did not get to see the lake. It was snowing and the top of the mountain was completely surrounded in clouds which resulted in an impenetrable shroud of whiteness that prevented us from seeing the beauty of the lake. Even though we did not see the lake, it was fun just being up on the mountaintop. After that we worked our way down to see the waterfall and the hot spring. The hot spring had been turned into a public bath house which only I dared enter. Having already experienced a public bath house in Japan, this was no great surprise to me, and since our hotel did not have showers, I was in need of a good bath. I came out sparkly clean, refreshed, and faintly smelling of sulfur.

We ended the day in the underground forest, which is really above ground. The nomenclature here eludes me but that did not take away from the beauty. Due to the volcanic nature of the soil in the area, the river coming off the “heavenly lake” has created a gorge that is absolutely breathtaking with small rapids and waterfalls throughout. I enjoyed every minute of it and so did the rest of the group. It was a satisfying and relaxing trip and gave us all a chance to grow a little closer as a group and to experience a little more of the country we are all beginning to love dearly.

With that I end this post. I thank you all for continuing to lift up my team and me as we embark on this great quest, this new road of life, this adventure. We are having phenomenal success and I can only imagine that it is your support that is aiding us on our way. Please keep the support coming, and until next time I wish you all a fantastic day!

P.S.: My apartment walls are pink.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Saturday, May 2, 2009

The trek nears an end... or is it a beginning?
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No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space.
- Captain James Tiberius Kirk

Greetings, All! I trust everyone is doing well? I certainly am. I know I said I didn’t think I could get around to posting again before my exodus from Thailand, but as things would have it, I have time. That’s a miracle all it’s own. The last few weeks since Phuket have been the busiest since I got here. There was one night I was at the office until 11:30, and another I was there ‘til 11. Thus, there have been quite a few things of postworthy nature and I’ll report all that are appropriate to report.

Finality Approaching
My aforementioned exodus from Thailand will be occurring in less than a week on Friday, May 8th at 6:30 AM. Yahoo. Naturally, things have been winding down for a week or so now. This past week Gregg invited me to have dinner with his family for the second and last time. It was a delicious dinner and it was a fun time. After dinner and episode of the Cosby Show was used to calm down the children before bed. I’m not sure if it worked or not, but they enjoyed it. Then, while his wife put the children to bed and went to bed herself, Gregg and I sat up for hours just talking. It was after 11 before I left. He’s been such a great guy and a great help during my time here. I’m thankful for him.

A couple days later P’Nok invited me out with a few other employees from the office for a lunch at an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet. The food was fantastic. They had barbecue, noodles, sushi, and pretty much every other kind of Japanese food you could think of. I had my fill and thanked P’Nok thoroughly. He hasn’t been as helpful during my stay, but I don’t blame him. He’s a busy man. He’s rarely in his office, and I’ve only spoken to him a handful of times. But, he’s one of the reasons I cam to Thailand and I am glad he invited me. I would not trade my time here for anything. It’s been great and it has definitely helped prepare me for my time in China.

Michael has plans for the end of my trip as well, but those are not finalized. But, from what he has told me, he wants to go see a new movie coming out here next Thursday called Horsemen. It’s got Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi in it and it looks to me to be very similar to Se7en, one of my favorite psychological detective films. He also wants to go out for a nice dinner that night before the movie, then after the movie he says he wants to go to a bar and have a few beers before heading back to my house so I can finish packing and head off to the airport. I’ve got to leave for the airport no later than 3:30 in order to be there early enough to get the things done that need to be gotten done. So, just not sleeping that night would probably be easiest. If I went to sleep I’d have to be up at 2:30 anyway. So, Michael’s plan has merit. I might go with it, I might not. That waits to be decided.

P’Tote has mentioned at one point that he wants to take me out to eat before I leave, but I’m not sure if that will happen or not. We just got finished eating a fantastic meal of pork steak, chicken legs, steamed carrots, stir-fried greens, rice, and potatoes which he cooked himself. I’d consider that quite a treat. But, he never said it was to be any sort of final meal. I’m not sure of his plans. I’ll have to wait and see.

Congress
This coming week is the convention for which I designed the brochure back in January. It is also one of the main reasons I extended my stay here in Thailand. It starts on Monday and will go through Friday. I will not go on Thursday or Friday, but plan on attending at least two days of it. I’ll go on Monday for sure. It’s supposed to be fantastic. Thousands of Christian leaders from all over Thailand have come to Bangkok to meet and plan. It’s something that Thailand has never seen before and I can’t wait to see it myself. So, since the Congress is this week, that means that Thursday was my last day in the office. Friday was labor day in Thailand. So, my trip really is coming to an end fast, but I look forward to what comes next.

Certified
As of last Wednesday at around 11:00 PM, I am a PADI certified scuba diver. I wasn’t sure if I would ever see that happen. After my colossal failure so many years ago, I had figured that I would never be scuba certified, or if I even wanted to. But, Thailand convinced me that I did in fact want to be certified. Looking at pictures of what the coasts of Thailand have to offer for the adventurous diver really inspired me to go through with the certification. I can also now put that failure behind me permanently. I have done what stopped me, I have proven that I am capable, and I am glad.

Star Trek
The day I leave for the States is the day that the new Star Trek movie comes out. How awesome is that!? I’ve been looking forward to this movie for years, ever since I heard of it on StarTrek.com when it was still my browser home page (when CBS effectively shut the site down by firing its administrators, I switched my home page to Megatokyo.com). It appears my wait has not been in vain. The first reviews of the film have been trickling out this week and I can’t help but report on them. They are PHENOMENAL! RottenTomatoes.com has 17 reviews in already, and every single one of them is positive. That gives the movie as 100 thus far. I don’t expect it to stay that way, but to have so many positive reviews leads me to believe that this movie is going to be fantastic. One reviewer is quoted saying, “Revitalizing the stagnant franchise, the gifted, visionary Abrams has performed a magical act, a movie that stands on its own merits and will recruit new fans, a work that will please the old trekkies and one that points to potent direction in the future.” That reflects the general sentiment so far. Can I wait a week? Yes. Do I want to? No.

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins
Staying on the subject of Star Trek, I found a video online of a certain man singing a certain song relating to a rather well-known fantastical creature of small stature. I find the video to be absolutely hilarious and couldn’t help but share it given the upcoming release of a long-awaited film. Enjoy!

Believe it or not, while fumbling through the related links on YouTube.com I came across yet another amazing video that just begs to be shared. This one is a little more serious, but not by much. At least it’s tastefully done. Anyway, enjoy this one as well!

I hope you enjoyed those videos if even a little bit and I hope to blog again before next Friday. If nothing else I’d like to share with you what the Congress is like. But if I don’t, know that I’ve really enjoyed myself here and feel as if this has been a productive and educational trip which I am happy to have been able to experience. Thanks for following along and have a great day!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Allow Me My Soap Box

The left never seeks to make lives more equal by elevating those at the bottom so that they, too, might become more prosperous. Liberalism, socialism targets people at the top as achievers and punishes them, tries to take away from them so that everybody is equally miserable.
-Rush Limbaugh

Greetings All! There was a lull in the workflow today. The logos I created last week are complete and I don’t have to give a presentation until the My Hope committee meeting. I’m not sure when this meeting is, but it wasn’t today. Can’t say I look forward to the meeting either. I’ve heard horror stories from my professors and other designers saying that committees are the bane of graphic design. According to them, it is the goal of a committee member not to be supportive, but rather to find every tiny flaw in anything created, making a final decision a deceptively tough thing to arrive at. Now, knowing this, I have taken steps to prepare myself. I am trying not to get attached to any of my logo designs, and have instead tried my best to find all possible flaws. This way, when I am met with inevitable rejection, I do not take it personally. Sure, this might sound a bit cynical, but it is the best I can do to prepare. Wish me luck!

Foaming Like Foamy
Back to the topic at hand. I took advantage of the lull this afternoon to read up on things going on back home. This was sparked by a remark made this morning in the office prayer meeting. It was loud and I couldn’t hear all of P’Wit’s translation, so I’m not sure what the actual remark was about. All I know is that they were troubled by something they read on the front page of the news regarding the United States. So, to determine what this troubling news item was, I went to the website of the only English-language newspaper that I know of in Thailand, the Bangkok Post. The top news story of the day, and the one I believe the man in the meeting was referring to, was one regarding a trip to Asia by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her goal for the trip is, in her words, “to work with leaders in Asia to resolve the economic crisis…(and) to strengthen our historic partnerships and alliances while developing deeper bonds with all nations.” One might think this good news for Asia in general. For once, America actually seems to care about what goes on here. But… the Thais appear to feel differently. The reason: Thailand, along with some of America’s oldest allies in Asia (like the Philippines and Singapore) are not on the roster for Secretary Clinton’s visit. In fact, one editorial I read noted that the only mention of Thailand by Obama at all has been when he confused Thailand with Taiwan. Ouch… So, the Thai’s seem to be losing confidence and trust in this new administration that seems to care more about its pocketbooks than its diplomatic relations. After all, Japan, South Korea, and China are America’s three largest trading allies in Asia right now. And the only reason Clinton is going to Indonesia is because Obama went to grade school there. So, the Thais are beginning to see the stupidity of the new administration. Congratulations, Thailand, you’ve one-upped America herself.

Of course, that was only the beginning of my research. From there I went on to read about what the government has been doing lately. I learned about this stimulus bill (you know, the one that nobody read) and I learned about Obama’s plans for the future of America. Gotta say it, my hope for this administration is fading fast… very fast. It seems that America never learns, because we’re doing the same things we did 80 years ago when we were faced with a different economic crisis. Crazy thing is, the one 80 years ago was much worse than the one we are experience now. The two hardly even compare. It was a depression, this is still a minor recession not even equivalent to the one we experienced at the turn of the decade in the 80s (see? And here too). We’re all panicking and taking such drastic measures to protect ourselves with little reason to be doing so. By drastic measures I mean turning over the country to a bunch of power-hungry democrats and their crazy idiotic policies. So, you ask, what is so crazy about what Obama is doing with his power? Isn’t he trying to get us out of the recession? Isn’t giving money to big corporations to keep them in business a good thing? We don’t want all those people to be out of a job, do we? Lets look at exactly what his plans are. Step one of his plan is to give out even more money to failing corporations. Where is this money coming from? I thought America was already a few trillion dollars in debt? Yes, it is. All that money is coming out of your pockets. Have you ever bought a GM car? No? That’s okay, because now you don’t have to! You are giving your money to them if you like it or not! And you should feel good about this! You’re keeping American companies in business and saving people from losing their jobs. Sure, you’re crippling the natural flow of the economy in the process and keeping it from functioning correctly, but that doesn’t matter. GM didn’t go out of business.

So, apart from giving away your money to private businesses, what else is Obama going to do to save the country? He’s going to create jobs through government funded public service projects (again, using your money to do so). Hmmm… for some reason I think I’ve read about something like this happening before. Oh right… F.D.R. did it back in the 1930s as part of his New Deal. So, did it work? Did the creation of government jobs revitalize the economy and bring us out of the Great Depression? Nope. Historians agree that the only outcomes of Roosevelt’s New Deal were a prolonging of the problem and an increase in bureaucracy. What actually brought the country out of the Great Depression was World War II. The influence of Roosevelt’s failed big government wasn’t benign either. You know those wonderful government programs like Social Security, Medicare, and welfare… the ones that are corrupt, failing, and causing a panic? Those were F.D.R.. That was his big government trying to get the country out of the Depression. So, what is Obama doing? THE SAME THING!!! Only this time he’s doing it on a larger scale. He’s going to create a national health care system so you don’t have to worry about paying for your own health care anymore. Instead you can pay for everyone else’s too. Brilliant! Though, the thing that scares me the most out of this shocking similarity to the events surrounding the Great Depression was the fact that Americans, in their panic, elected Roosevelt to office for four consecutive terms. What if, out of our stupidity, this economic recession turns into more than a recession? What if, out of our panic, we abolish the term limit and keep Obama in office for four terms or more? Venezuela just did it! Now Hugo Chavez can run for office as many times as he wants. God help us if Americans go that far.

All of this just goes to prove that people never learn. We’re just going to keep repeating our mistakes until it kills us. We’re not going to let bad businesses fail, giving rise to better businesses. We’re not going to let an unregulated free economy revive itself and the job market. We’re not going to let this recession run its course. We’re going to fix it with big government. We’d rather give away our freedoms and our money than endure a few months without going out to eat after church. I’m actually glad I’m not in the United States right now. I’m actually glad I have the option of leaving, because I just might if this trend continues. It’s not even a full month into Obama’s presidency and I’m already foaming at the mouth with rage. I’m not sure I feel like enduring four years of this. So, for now all I can do is complain about it in this blog and offer my condolences to all who are suffering in this economic downturn caused by the very people we voted into office. Andrew, David, Ben, Lauren, Carley… I pray you find jobs. I pray you are able to endure this. I pray that God protects you during this time of strife. If I could I would help you myself, but my sympathies are all I have to give.

Accidental Tourist
Finally, this past weekend, I was able to put on my tourist hat and actually go see some of the sights that Bangkok has to offer. Stop number one was the National Museum that I tried to see a week ago. Well, this weekend I had success, but not immediate success.

I ventured out of the house on Saturday morning around 10:30. The night before I had asked P’Tote how to get downtown without paying for a taxi. He said I should take a bus to the river pier and take a water taxi to the old city. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it wasn’t. As I learned, P’Tote is inept at giving directions, and I will never make that mistake again. He told me to get on bus 63 and get off after it makes its first left turn. So.. that’s what I did. After the bus made a left turn, I hopped off. I figured I was close to the pier, because I immediately saw a sign which pointed to a pier. I walked that direction. After ten minutes of walking, with no pier in site, I found a tuk-tuk driver and asked him where to go. He pointed in the direction I was going and indicated I should take a right turn. I did. What he was unable to do was tell me how far to walk before that right turn. I took the first major one. I didn’t walk as far this time. I only went about 5 minutes before asking for directions again. The woman said I should turn around and continue in my original direction. So I did. Getting tired of this, I only walked as far as the nearest 7-11, purchased a bottle of water, and hailed a taxi. The taxi did indeed take me the way everybody said I should go, but he drove about two miles before he made that right turn the tuk-tuk driver indicated. P’Tote had told me to get off the bus WAY to early, and he never mentioned it would take a right turn. But, I made it to the pier after an hour after I left the house.

The water taxi was equally as difficult as the bus. The problem with water taxis is that they don’t stop at every pier. The one I was on skipped the pier I wanted to get off at. The attendant should have said something when I told her where I was going. She dind’t. All she did was tell me how much the bus was and point towards the only water taxi at the pier at the time. The taxi took me to a pier about a mile down river from where I wanted to go. So, I had to walk a bit. I figured it would be fun enough. I looked at a map at the pier and knew where to go, or so I thought. What those little maps fail to do is inform you of all the smaller streets. So, I ended up getting lost a bit, but had a great deal of fun doing it. I was in the old city, there were tourists everywhere, and there were endless rows of stands, most of which selling food, souvenirs, or clothing. Though, I did manage to stumble upon a Velentine’s day flower market. The thing was massive. It took up at least 3 blocks of this one street. I turned off, so I’m not sure how far it actually went. It was cool though.

Eventually, some concerned man, clearly noticing my confusion and, pulled me over and said “don’t go down that way, there are a lot of pickpockets.” He then asked me where I was trying to go. I explained my situation to which he responded by informing me that the museum was closed for Valentine’s day. He then whipped out a pad of paper and wrote down four destinations in Bangkok that I just had to go see. He even hailed a tuk-tuk and negotiated it where the man would take me from place to place all day for only 100 baht total. Amazing. I thanked him immensely, hopped in the tuk-tuk, and was whisked off to my first destination of the day: a shrine of a sitting Buddha.

The tuk-tuk driver took (HA!) me too a small neighborhood shrine, one kinda off the beaten path. It was nothing special, but the nice well-meaning guy who gave me the itinerary said that I could not come to Thailand without seeing the famous Thai sitting Buddha. There are many of these, so this specific one is not all that famous, but it was something interesting to see at least. The most interesting thing about it was the man I met inside. I kinda interrupted his worshipping. Well, he suspended his worshipping for the time being to have a little chat with me. It actually ended up being a bit more than just a chat and became his life story. I’d have stuck around and chatted for a while longer if the poor tuk-tuk driver wasn’t waiting for me outside. I enjoyed it, but I was nice, said my goodbye, and met back up with the tuk-tuk driver.

Next stop was something the good Samaritan referred to as Thai Export Fashion. The man said that every Valentine’s day the fashion sellers hold a big sale. I figured I would be taken to some sort of clothing market, but that wasn’t it. The tuk-tuk driver took me to a tailor. I tried to say, “no no, I don’t want a suit,” but it didn’t work. By the time I got the guy to turn around, he had turned off the machine and the guys from the tailor shop were begging me to come in. Again, I figured they would at least have a show room, but they didn’t. They had cloth on the walls, and suits on mannequins in the front window. That’s it. But, I was inside. It was too late to turn around, I was already getting the pitch. I figured I’d hear what they were asking and make a judgment then. I have been wanting a suit for a while and figured if I was going to buy one, here would be the best place. The guy originally asked 10,500 baht, but that was WAY too high for my taste. I had got $200 for my birthday and that was as high as I would go. 10,500 was a bit high. I said that to him and opened up my side of the bargaining table at 3500 baht. The man laughed at that a bit and said no, which I figured. He came back with 7000 baht. I said 5000 baht and he came down to 6500 baht after discussing it with his manager. I agreed to 6500 baht, which is a bit less than $200. I still think I ended up paying a little higher than I should have, but $185 is a heck of a price to pay for a custom tailored cashmere suit. So, I started the day with the intention of walking around a museum, and ended it having bought a suit. Heck of a day.

But, that wasn’t the end of it. From there the tuk-tuk driver took me the most interesting sight of the day, the standing Buddha. This one truly is something famous and it was much more than I expected it to be. The thing was probably four stories tall and completely covered in gold. It was more than impressive. I took my fair share of pictures of both the Buddha and those who worshipped it. It was really quite amazing. And, with that I called it a day, at least for the touring.

The day ended with me wandering around Rot Fai park looking for the Valentines day event that the church had planned. I knew where it was supposed to be and managed to get to that spot about half an hour after the even was supposed to have started. Knowing the Thais, I was probably right on time. I went to where it was supposed to be, and found it to be empty. Nobody from the church was there. At this point I discovered I had left my phone back at the house (the first time I have done this since arriving in Bangkok) and could not call anybody to ask where it had been moved to. So, I walked around the park as much as I could. I never found them. So, I went home. I took a shower, grabbed my phone, and headed to the church to wait for them until their return. After they got back I explained my story and was then, naturally, invited out to eat with them. I said yes of course, and enjoyed a great meal. It was a wonderful day, although it was completely different than I had planned. There were definitely some lessons learned.

Sunday went much smoother. I woke up early and went to church downtown. The church that P’Tote preaches at is all in Thai, and since I’m not going to be here long enough to bother learning the language, I think an English-language church is best for me. I’ve picked a few international churches and am going go visit a different one each Sunday for the next few weeks. Since I had been going to an Episcopal church at the end of my college experience and was liking it, I figured I would start there. There isn’t an Episcopal church in Bangkok, but there is an Anglican one. It was a great service! The pastor was very good, the message was good, and the people were nice. Not only that, they provide lunch after the service every Sunday to help foster community. I am not a mingler, so I chose to find a table that was mildly populated and attempt to insert myself. It worked well enough. I met an American couple who got to Bangkok a few months ago. They’re newlyweds who came here to teach. They offered nice conversation and gave me some helpful tips for getting around. I liked the church enough to go back, but I plan on continuing my rotation. I’ll make a final decision in a few weeks.

After church I hopped in a taxi to go downtown to the museum. I actually had mild success in this venture. The taxi actually got me to the museum, but I didn’t know it. All the buildings in this particular area look the same to me. They are all traditional architecture with the sloping roofs and embellishments. It’s hard to tell a university from a palace. Anyway, I ended up walking around for about half an hour before I figured out that I had been walking up and down the street in front of the museum. I felt like a bit of an idiot, but that’s normal with me and tourism. Anyway, the museum was great! I loved it. I accomplished most of what I wanted to do. My goal in visiting the museum was to learn about Thai history and culture, and I made it through that entire wing of the museum in about two and a half hours. It takes that long when you read every plaque and description. I came out of it with a much greater knowledge of where I am and how it got to be the way it is.

Thai Culture Tidbits: Thailand actually sent soldiers to fight alongside the Allies in World War I. She even took part in the Versailles treaty and marched her soldiers in the victory parade. Though, of all the countries who sent troops, she probably lost the least. A mere 19 Thais died in the war. Makes ya wonder how many battles they actually fought in.

Thailand has only ever been conquered once, and that was by Burma back in the 1500s. The Burmese and the Thais have a long history of war. The Burmese are responsible for bringing down the powerful Ayuthaya kingdom. It was not until the late 1700s and early 1800s that Thailand (or Siam as it was called) regained its freedom from Burma. At this point the new dynasty of kings began, a dynasy which still continues. King Rama IX is the current king.

It has become tradition for every Thai king to spend time as a Buddhist monk. This tradition started a long while ago with one of the kings of Ayuthaya and was restarted in this current dynasty by King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V). It is also worthy to note that the Broadway play The King and I is based off the true life of Anna Leonowens, a British teacher brought over to teach the children and concubines of King Mongkut (King Rama IV), one of whom was, of course, King Chulalongkorn himself.

Unfortunately, the museum closed before I had a chance to browse the entire thing. I was just making it into the artifact wing when the siren went off, signaling that the museum was about to close. It was only 200 Baht to get in, so I’ll go back later in this trip and look around at the artifacts. That trip won’t take nearly as long as this one, because there are no plaques to go along with everything.

Next stop of the day was the tailors that I went to on Saturday. They said I could come by after 4-o-clock to get my suit correctly fitted. The sleeves were a bit long, but that’s the only thing that needed to be done to make it suitable (PUN!). I will pick it up later in the week.

I got my tuk-tuk driver to take me to the sky train station where I did my best to talk him down to a reasonable price. That was unsuccessful. I couldn’t get the man to go any less than 250 baht. He simply wouldn’t do it. I eventually gave up when he shot me a look of anger and offense. I’ve now learned never to take tuk-tuks by myself, I need a Thai person with me to make it price efficient. If I go by myself I just end up getting ripped off. I don't like getting ripped off.

Thai Cultural Tidbit: There is no such thing as equal treatment when “farang” are concerned. It is the general assumption by all Thais that if you are a foreigner, you have more money than they do and are happy to spend it. Water taxi prices for foreigners are 10 baht higher than prices for Thais. Tuk-tuk drivers charge more for foreigners than they do for Thais and will take offense if the foreigner asks for too low of a price. If you want to get a good price in Thailand, take a Thai person with you. This is one reason why I couldn’t get a better price for my suit. The salesman knew I was American and assumed I had a lot of money. In fact, on of his sales pitches was “You’re American, you’re rich, you have the money to look good.” Not a good sales pitch when it isn’t true.

My last stop of the day was the weekend market that I had visited the week before. All of the straps on my bag are either broken or ripped, and I need a new one. I had a very hard time trying to find a bag that worked for me. The trick is I have to find one with a padded pouch for my computer. I don’t have to get one with a pouch, but if I want to protect my computer, I need one. I found only one bag that was suitable and I didn’t have enough cash on me to purchase it, so I’ll go back later. I’ve asked around and everybody says that’s the best place to go to find a bag like this, so perhaps I’m just not looking in the right spots. I did have some success with footwear this time, though. I found a very nice pair of flip-flops that call themselves Diesel. I’m sure they’re not, but they look nice and are as comfortable as flip flops ever are. So, mild success was had. That was the weekend.

On the subject of entertainment...
The Oscars are, as I have repeatedly mentioned, this coming Sunday. As with every year, I have formulated my predictions. I still have yet to do better than 50 percent. I'm hoping this is my year, but ya never know. You may click here to take a gander at said predictions. I apologize for the confusion, I tried to combine three different lists of predictions onto one sheet. If you can't figure it out from my happy little key at the top, the red are what I think should win, the yellow is what I think will win, and the blue is what Entertainment Weekly has predicted. The key should explain the rest. Now, as I said last week, I want to try for something funny in every posting, so this time I have another video. I discovered this one myself. Enjoy and take heed!

Well, that’s all I have for this post. Was it long enough for ya? HA! I’m sure it was. Well, have a great week, all, and I will type to ya later! Ciao!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Humor for the Sake of Culture

Venn ist das nurnstuck git und slotermeyer?
Ya! Beigerhund das oder die flipperwaldt gersput!
- Monty Python’s funniest joke in the world

Greetings All! I apologize for having to inform you of the funniest joke in the world in another language, but if I told you in English you would surely die from laughter. ^_^ And this brings me right into the body of my post. No lollygagging today, I’m getting right down to business. As I told you in the last post I plan on informing you of some of Thai culture. I believe this is just as necessary for you to know as it is for me. If you are to truly grasp where it is that I am and what it is that I am experiencing, we must meet on a similar ground of understanding. No small tidbit shall be left out, all will be laid bare. So, on with it I say!

R.E.C.K.
An acronym imparted to me by Gregg during our first meeting, which ended up happening is his car of all places (if there had been a W at the beginning of that acronym, I’d have been a bit scared). The acronym was his way of informing me of four of the principal values of the Thai people. Naturally these values are far different than our own in America, or even the west for that matter, but they came as no great surprise to me.

R – Religion The Thai people are all about their religion. It is one of the parts of their culture which binds them together, and many if not most attribute their religion to the fact that their country has never been colonized and managed to fend off the spread of communism. Approximately 93% of Thai people are Buddhist, about 5% are Muslim, and the last two percent make up various other religions including Christianity which constitutes a little less than 1% of the Thai populace. Like many “Christians” in America, the average Thai person on the street does not practice a pure form of Buddhism and does not do so with terrible conviction. It is simply a cultural standard. Many of their beliefs are also a bit animistic. They believe there are spirits everywhere inhabiting most everything. They believe there is a spirit protecting their country, their province, their city, their neighborhood, their house, and even themselves. They put “spirit houses” all over the place, in front of businesses, homes, and even the dashboards of cars. These spirit houses are meant to appease the spirit residing in the place where they live. As you can see, this isn’t Buddhist at all, yet it is a major aspect of their belief. This belief also translates into some social conventions including not touching other people’s heads and never showing another person the bottom of your foot. They believe the soul or the spirit resides on the head and the bottom of the foot, being the part of one’s body furthest from the soul, is the dirtiest part of the body. To do either of those things would be an insult.

E – Elders The Thai, like many other east Asian cultures, believe that one’s elders are to be revered. This does not pertain to just one’s relatives, but to all elders of any sort. The practice of referring to people as Pee or Nong is exemplary of this fact. Even if a person is one second older than you, he is still your elder and should be referred to as Pee. This value also helps to bind their families together. Not only are you to revere your elders, but you are to be loyal to them as well. So, to go against your family would be to go against your elders and would be frowned upon to say the least. The extent to which people will go to help their families is amazing and unfortunately helps to support the rather large prostitution industry. Often families in the more rural areas of Thailand will send their daughters or sons to the bigger cities to make money to send back to the family. Being good children, they go. But, the people in these villages often don’t have higher than a 3rd grade education and can’t read or write their own language. It’s hard to get a job if you don’t even have that ability, so after looking around a while and not wanting to disappoint their family, they get jobs in the bars and start prostituting. They do not do this because they want to, they do it because they physically have no other choice. It’s sad, but true. That is the extent to which these values hold sway in this society.

C – Country & K – King The Thai people are very proud of their country, and are thus very proud and loyal to their king. This pride stems from their ability to fend of communism, to be one of the bright spots of modern culture and capitalism in east Asia, and their intense loyalty (if not worship of) their king. Every day at 8 AM and 6 PM every television and radio station plays the Thai national anthem. Before every public social gathering, such as at a concert or in a movie theater, they all stand for the national anthem or/and a tribute to the king. The king’s flag and the flag of Thailand fly outside every home and business. And as I said in the previous post, they wear king shirts on Monday in honor of their king and country. The king of Thailand currently holds the record as being the longest reigning monarch. The man is well into his 80s. To insult the king or speak badly of him is not only socially unacceptable, but it can also land you jail time or get you killed. The day I arrived in Thailand I was introduced to this on the front page of the Bangkok Post. An Australian journalist in Thailand wrote something offensive about the king and has been sentence to two years jail time. So, during my stay in Thailand, I am going to do my best to keep any possibly negative opinions of their country to myself. I don’t wish to insult anyone and I certainly don’t want to risk my life.

Those are four of the core values of the Thai people. Though there are a few other social values that will take some getting used to:

Fun The Thai people are a fun loving group. They don’t like to do anything that isn’t fun and therefore try to make everything fun. I was talking with P’Nu yesterday and he was telling me how during meetings (business meetings, mind you) if the talk is getting too serious, they will find funny videos online, tell jokes or funny stories, or even sing karaoke to lighten the mood, then it’s back to the grind. Games are very popular, during lunch a couple days ago a couple people sat down for a game of dutch blitz before returning to work. Thai people also don’t do many things alone. To go in groups is more fun. Malls are very popular and so is eating out. That’s where social interaction seems to happen. This love of fun is also why I am going to purposely begin putting jokes in my posts and using funny videos. I was shown an EXTREMELY funny video yesterday that you can see right here. It’s off a Japanese television show and it’s funnier than about anything I’ve seen in a very long time. Enjoy!

Moving on…

Relationships The Thai are a very friendly folk. They are warm and inviting and are full of smiles. Thailand is referred to as “the land of smiles” which speaks directly to this fact. Building a good relationship is very important to them. This is one reason why finding friends has been so easy. It’s certainly not my doing, it’s the fact that ever since I arrived the people around me have constantly been wanting to spend time with me, to get to know me, to be my friend. This value is such a part of their social culture that it has led to the bottling up of emotions. The Thai are not very honest about their true feelings. This has made it very hard for me at work. I can’t ask for any criticism or feedback, because I will never get an honest opinion. In order to be nice, they will tell me they love whatever I create or will find some roundabout way to let me know how they truly feel.

This bottling of emotions has also helped to lead to two other unfortunate parts of Thai culture, drinking and transsexuals. If you can’t express your true emotions, it can lead to depression and even that can’t be expressed. So, how do they deal with these emotions? They drink. Liver disease and alcoholism is very common. The Thai men also do not generally show their love and affection to their children. Their love is expressed through their financial support. Without this paternal love, many young men are driven into the transsexual lifestyle to find any form of affection. And they can pull it off too. There are models who are transsexuals, they appear on television and in mainstream culture, and at a university fair I attended this past week (I’ll get to that later in the post) there was a drag show during dinner. Everybody loved it.

Time Isn’t Valued Though I wish it was. Americans are all about time. We’re all about schedules. We’re all about keeping ourselves busy all the time. This is just not so for the Thai people. It is not uncommon for them to arrive late to things. The first Sunday here, I noticed people arriving up to an hour late to church. This was not seen as rude at all. It just happens. The same is true for university classes. They are gene

Well, that’s everything that I have learned so far. As more information comes my way I will send it yours. It’s amazing how quickly I picked up this information. Even if Gregg had not told me in person my second week here, I would have figured it out in the next few days anyway because P’Nu has confirmed everything that Gregg has said, not only through his telling me about it, but also in the way he acted. He told me a Thai proverb once which was “Whatever my friend has, I have too” which really illustrates the Thai concept of personal property and privacy… there is none. It’s a communal culture. When they order food, they order many different dishes and everybody takes from everything. It’s the Thai way. So... and everything Thai is going to take some getting used to for me. I’m doing pretty well so far I think, but again, I ask you to keep me in your prayers.

Tourism… Or Something Like It
To tell ya the real truth, I haven’t done much touring since I’ve been here. The most I’ve done was that very first week with that group of Americans when we went on a boat ride through some of the river dwellings. The next time I did any touring at all was a week and a half ago when I went with that group of students from church. Of course, explaining why I was out with them on a Saturday evening takes a bit of explanation. We went to a concert. There was an “inspirational” concert at one of the universities downtown, Tammasat University. There were eight different musicians, all Christian, all wildly popular with both Christians and non-Christians. One in specific, a guy who calls himself ToR+, was very popular and received fangirlish screams from the entire audience, not just girls. My ears were ringing after that scream. It was a great concert, and I have all of the music from it even though I can’t understand a single word.

So… onto the touring. I went to the concert with a group from church and afterwards they all decided to go out to eat and “drink.” I met one girl that evening for the first time, a girl named Kim, who spoke practically perfect English. She and I talked for most of the evening while we were walking through the crowds of downtown Bangkok. They wanted to find food that I hadn’t had before, so when Kim asked me what I had had, I was unable to really give a straight answer. I’m not really sure what any of the food is that I’ve had so far. It’s all pretty much the same. It’s all been meat and veggies in a sauce of some sort on top of rice. That’s pretty much what they eat here. I told Kim that, so they took me somewhere that didn’t serve meat and veggies on rice as a principal dish. We went to a fairly well-known restaurant called Roti-Mataba. The place didn’t look like much, in fact it looked like every other restaurant I’d been to in Thailand, but this place is so well-known that Fodor’s actually reviewed it. I didn’t know that at the time I went, I discovered this fact as I was writing this post. But, it makes sense. The food was excellent, I enjoyed the matabas and the rotis (look ‘em up, cuz I’m not explaining the dishes). From there we walked through an area of Bangkok that probably had more tourists than foreigners. It was crazy. I can understand why though. It was exactly the sort of atmosphere I expected Bangkok to have. Due to the amount of tourists, the area felt a bit contrived and fake, but nevertheless it was fun to walk through. Our destination was a place called Mort. This is where the “drinking” is explained. When somebody says they’re going to go out drinking, I assume alcohol. But they were just using the word to describe the action of consuming a liquid. We in fact did not drink alcohol at all, though I could have gone for a pint of beer. Mort exclusively serves sweetened milk. It was like hell for the lactose intolerant. They have all different flavors and kinds, but I had the regular. They also do sweet toast. That is, they toast bread and put any sort of sweet sauce on it you could dream up. This place clearly had a reputation because it was packed. But, leave it to Thai people to find sitting space for a group of nine in a room that was already at twice capacity. I was impressed. The picture in the previous post was me standing with this same group of people right before we went to Mort. That was taken in front of the monument to democracy in downtown. On our way out of Mort we tried to catch a cab at that intersection, but traffic was blocked due to a protest put on by the red shirts. We found a cab elsewhere.

To Market, To Market
Last week the university across the street, Kasetsart University, held their yearly market fair. It’s such a big deal that the entire university is shut down for the entire week, including classes. The market was set up on the ring road that circles campus, and it was incredible. They were selling all sorts of stuff, but most of it was plants and food. Kasetsart is famous for its agricultur program, so the amount of greenery vendors makes sense. Other stuff on sale included herbal medications, touristy trinkets, furniture, artwork, cushions, and even pets. The dogs were really cute. I ended up going to the fair three times and I still don’t think I saw the whole thing. I didn’t buy anything other than food, though a couple of those puppies gave me looks that I almost couldn’t resist.

I had planned on going to do some more touring this past Saturday, but ended up sleeping instead. I needed the sleep badly, so I’m not that bummed about it. I still have plenty of time to see everything I want to see and then some. In fact, I just got my stay here extended another three weeks. So, yeah, I’ve got time. So, instead of embarking on some grand tourist excursion, I went to the weekend market. It’s not terribly far from where I’m living and is set up every weekend, thus the name. It’s probably a few acres in area and is packed tight with all sorts of vendors. I went looking for slip-on shoes because I’m tired of having to sit down and tie my shoes every time I leave a building. I had no success with finding slip-on shoes, though I did find the most awesome pair of Converse All-Stars I’ve ever seen. I didn’t but them on that particular trip because I don’t want to dirty them up commuting through dirty Bangkok, but I will buy them before I leave. They’re just $4 after all. This particular market was much more touristy than the one at Kasetsart. There were a lot of junk vendors and such. Probably three quarters of the stuff there I would never in my life think of buying. But, I got lucky. On one corner of the market they were throwing a contemporary art fair. There were probably 80 booths set up with original pieces of art by local artists. I’m not talking yer run-of-the-mill Buddha painting you see on the street corners, this was quality artwork. I probably spent half of my time at the market walking through this one section. There were a good 8 pieces there that I would have purchased if I could. I was there a bit early actually, the art fair didn’t technically start for an hour or so, so not all of the artists were standing with their work yet so I didn’t get to ask about prices. Not that I could have afforded any of it anyway. But it was beautiful.

Cinematically Speaking…
By now you’re all aware that I love movies. So, when I heard that I could go to movies here for just $4 a pop, I was elated. Since arriving I have seen two movies. P’Nu took me to see Underworld: Rise of the Lycans last Thursday. I went because he invited me. I honestly didn’t expect the film to be any good, but it actually was. I really enjoyed it. Sure, it’s no masterpiece, but for a pop culture film about vampires and werewolves, it ranked fairly high in my book. The other film I went to see is The Reader. I’ve wanted to see this film since the first time I saw an advertisement for it. Then, when it got nominated for best picture at the Oscars, I knew I had no choice. So, last Saturday after walking around the weekend market for three hours, I saw it. And, I have to say, it was phenomenal. The acting was brilliant! Kate Winslet really proved she’s got the gift. Now, it was a bit explicit on the sexuality at the beginning, and the time frame of the movie was all screwed up for me due to what I think was a translation error in the Thai subtitles, but the second half of the film made up for the shortcomings. It was a sad film, but I left it in a happier mood than I went in. Good movies do that to me, even if they’re sad. If you’re a fan of a good drama, I highly suggest this movie. Honestly, it’s no best picture winner, but it certainly deserved its nomination.

On the subject of the Oscars, it appears I will actually get to watch them. I’ve seen multiple advertisements for them on one of the television channels that P’Tote and Arm regularly watch. I’m not sure when it comes on, but if I can swing it, I plan on watching them. I’ll let you know how things unfold.

Project 2: My Hope Logo
The second project I have been assigned is the visual identity for a conference being held in December called My Hope Thailand. With all identities, logo creation comes first. So, that’s what I’ve been doing all this week. This project is going much better than the previous one. I’ve been given my own freedom so far. Most of the office is gone on a trip up to the north of Thailand, so I have the room to myself and nobody looking over my shoulder. I’ve completed three logo designs and am planning on finishing two more before the end of the week. On Monday, when the office repopulates, I’ll present my logo ideas and hopefully one of them will be acceptable. I have no doubt that there will be changes required no matter what happens, so I’m trying not to attach myself to any one design.

But, so far I would be happy with any of the logos I’ve created. I have my favorite of course, and I will do my best to steer them that way, but I will be happy with any of them. They are all good quality logos. And I’ve learned in this process as well. It’s nice to actually have time to sit and be creative. In school I always had short deadlines and competition from four other classes for my time, so to actually have the time to sit for eight hours straight during the day and put all my effort towards one task has been creatively liberating. In fact, just today I went into a fit of jubilation when I discovered how to create a convincing 3D drop of water in Adobe Illustrator. I had to sit back and really think about it, a task that took me the whole of an hour, but I figured it out. I never would have had the time to do that in school. So, yeah, I’m enjoying myself right now. This has been a good week and I hope it stays this way.

And now for something completely different.

Type to ya later!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanks!

There but for the grace of God go I.
- John Bradford

Greetings all! It has been a little over two weeks since my last post. I felt the need to post and the words started flowing. The posting style has not changed, but I have. I have changed greatly. I come to you a changed man. The man who types to you now is no longer the man he was two weeks ago. No, this is another man. A better man. What is this change you ask? The answer is simple. I’m two weeks older. Aging has a profound effect on the human body and mind. I see things a bit more clearly now than I did then. I cleaned my glasses. ^_^ I even have less hair. That is partially due to the fact that I got a hair cut last week, but that’s beside the point. The fact is, aging is happening, growing is happening, I am changing, and change is a good thing. I am now two weeks closer to graduation, two weeks closer to freedom from undergraduate life, two weeks closer to my trip to Thailand. My life is moving along nicely and simple span of two weeks has helped me realize that. Thank God for two weeks, one week, even a day. My days are what make me whole.

Speaking of Thanks…
How was your Thanksgiving!? Mine was nice. I was guilted into driving back to Chattanooga to be with my family for the holiday. I didn’t really want to drive all the way out there because that would mean giving up a full two days of my very short five day break just for travel, not to mention the gas expenditure. It usually takes me over 11 hours and four tanks of gas to get out there from school. Not fun. But, it ended up being well worth it. It was great to see my parents again. My grandfather flew out from Texas to be with us for the holiday as well. My sister drove out from Arkansas the weekend before I did. She got much more time out there. So, it was nice having us all together, eating great food, and simply relaxing. I couldn’t have asked for a better Thanksgiving.

But… it could have been more interesting. Although it was great being with my family for the holiday, I didn’t do much. Honestly that’s what I wanted, but I came across some unfortunate but hilarious news earlier today. As it turns out, two of my good friends from my university drove out to Chattanooga a few days before I did. They were invited to spend thanksgiving with a friend of theirs from Chattanooga who happened to work with me in the Phonathon. She lives about 15 minutes away from me. All three of them are engineering students and thus spend a lot of time together. I didn’t know about this trip. I had no idea they were going to be out in Chattanooga for the break or I would have hung out with them. The same rings true on their part. They didn’t think I would be out there either. Going back home was a last minute decision on my part and very few of my friends knew I had done it. So… while I was sitting at home, they were off rock climbing, hiking around the Ocoe river, traveling around downtown, eating ice cream at Clumpies, rummaging around McKay, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Kinda sucks for me but they had a great time. I think it’s hilarious and we all had a great laugh when we discovered that we had been 15 minutes away from each other and didn’t know it. Communication is a glorious thing, ain’t it?! ^_^

Recollection
It was in my Thanksgiving post one year ago, entitled “Thanksgiving & the 8th,” that I announced my intent to cease downloading anime and focus on purchasing and renting my favorite anime titles. I have managed to keep to my decision with the exception of a couple series of which I downloaded the first episode just to see what all the fuss was about. I am glad I made this decision and I am also glad to have seen other follow in my footsteps.

On a note of update, the anime industry in America is beginning to recover. The companies caught on and started cracking down on fansubbers. They also realized they needed to change their tactics a bit in order to keep up to date with the changes in the way people prefer to consume their media. Anime companies have started trying to get their titles onto American television and they have been putting in online for viewing as well, not to mention making it available via iTunes for purchase. One wonderful site which has made great breakthroughs in the viewing of American television and movies is HULU.com. Hulu plays television shows and movies in streaming format with breaks for commercials. It manages to do this without any costs being passed on to the consumer, and a couple anime companies have taken advantage of this. It is now possible to watch good sections of if not the entirety of 20 different anime including Death Note, Slayers, Mushi-shi, Naruto, Bleach, and xxxHolic. The companies make money, Hulu.com makes money, and we as consumers pay nothing. It’s wonderful and I look forward to many other shows being added.

The problem is not solved though. Fansubbing continues, piracy continues, and American anime companies are still in trouble. Stop downloading, stop fansubbing, and support your anime distributors. If not for them there wouldn’t be any anime available on shelves in the US and we wouldn’t see any of it on television either. The future of anime in American depends on you supporting these companies by buying their products. If you like a show, go buy it. If you’re curious about a show, go rent it. That’s how it should be, nay, that’s how it NEEDS to be.

The Sound of Silence
Megatokyo is a wonderful webcomic. I absolutely love it. The characters are hilarious, the story is engaging, the art is beautiful, and it just keeps getting more interesting. One really cool thing about it is the author, Fred Gallagher, often reveals little tidbits or discoveries he makes. One such discovery has been particularly interesting. It is a music album called Stases by an artist named Loscil. The music this artist makes is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. A friend of mine, Noe, commented that if silence and solitude had a sound, this would be it. I just find it intriguing. The music is quite simple, actually. The genre is referred to as drone. And, as the name denotes, it is simply a droning sort of sound. A singular tone. But at the same time it is not. These tones are interwoven with so many nuances, reverberations, and harmonies that it is infinitely engaging. It sounds so simple, but it is some of the most complex music I have ever heard. It is also some of the most relaxing music I have ever heard. What Noe said rings true and I find it interesting that it is possible to create a sound that is reminiscent of silence. That seems to me a paradox but it proves to be quite the opposite. I enjoy this music so very much that I figured I would put the playlist on here for you all to hear. After all, you won’t believe what I’m saying unless you hear it yourself. So, below is a playlist containing the whole album. Unfortunately the player is a little weird and kinda touchy. The playlist can't be made visible and the tracks don't play in their entirety, but you can scroll through the tracks and listen to portions of each. My personal favorite is track three entitled Sous-marin, but all of them are equally as impressive. If you want to see the whole playlist, listen to the entirety of a song, or download any of the tracks, go here. I hope you enjoy it or at least find it as interesting as I.

With that lovely note I call this post complete. I wish you all a wonderful day and hope to see you around!

side note: the cute Thanksgiving picture is by Tralu on DeviantArt.com.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Monday, November 17, 2008

What Was, What Is, and What Shall Be

I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it.
'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such
thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look
to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without
the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.
- Margaret Thatcher

Greetings All! I am not sure exactly what it is that is prompting this odd surge of postings. I guess lately I’ve had a desire to post. I don’t have a problem with that though. After all, the more I post the more you know about how things are with me, and the better I feel about the things that are actually going on. If there are things worth posting about then my life is not as boring right now as I sometimes make it out to be. So… HUZZAH! ^_^

Arkansas Anime Festival
This past weekend (Nov 8-9) was the Arkansas Anime Festival. This is the third occurrence of this particular convention, but its second year in operation. It’s a smaller convention that was started as a bet-like-thing between two competing anime stores in the area. Currently it is the only anime convention in Arkansas, but it still continues to be a small convention, which speaks volumes about the status of anime fandom in this state and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, this convention also happened to be the last convention I'll be able to attend for a long while. You might be thinking that I already said that about AnimeFest in September, but you'd be wrong. I said AnimeFest was going to be my last major convention. The Arkansas Anime Festival is hardly what I'd call major. But, it is my last for a while. The next convention I have the remote chance of being able to attend is A-Kon in June. I should be back in the states through June and should be able to attend if I can somehow get myself to Dallas. That'll be the real challenge.

Anyhoo, despite being a small upstart convention, the guests it has managed to pull this year are of extremely high quality. Samantha Inoue Harte, who’s panel on the state of the American anime industry last year inspired me to stop my support of fansubbing altogether (which included deleting my entire fansub library from my computer), returned and brought with her an American animator whose name I cannot recall. She’s a wonderful person and I always enjoy her panels, whatever they are. But, the really big name this year was Johnny Young Bosch. Johnny is a voice actor whose credits include Vash the Stampede from Trigun, Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, and Renton Thurston from Eureka Seven. He also brought with him his currently unsigned rock band, Eyeshine, of which he is the lead singer and guitarist. They’re a highly talented group of individuals whose songs are quite good. And they were a very nice group as well! They performed two concerts, one a full rock concert on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning they did an acoustic performance (you can see some of the acoustic performance here). Then, on Sunday afternoon, they had a panel that was supposed to be instructional, but ended up being a song-writing panel. By the end of it they had written a completely new song that can be viewed here (I apologize for the bad, off-key singing from behind the camera. The entire panel wrote the song together, so the rest of the room is singing along as well.) It was fun to have them at the convention, and honestly was the highlight of the entire weekend.

But, for me, the convention was historic in the fact that I, for the first time in three years, was able to cosplay as Shugo from .hack//Legend of the Twilight. After my first day wearing this particular costume at A-Kon three years ago, it was accidentally destroyed. It has since been remade and was finally unveiled on Sunday. I hadn’t even cosplayed at a convention in two years, so getting to cosplay again was a treat in itself, but the fact that it was a costume that has been my favorite for a while made it even better! I can’t wait to wear it again and I send my deepest thanks to Kyle for his help in completing it. There is but only one problem with the costume, and that is that I am technically dressed as two characters. Y’see, Shugo, in the anime, received his character design in a contest. The original character design is of a character named Kite, from the .hack// video games. So, more than Shugo, people will say “Hey! It’s Kite!” This is a problem because I have to roll with it and I don’t know anything about the Kite character because I don’t own a PS2 and have not played the video games. I need to do some research into his character so I can more accurately portray him when somebody comes up thinking that that is who I am dressed as. It’s an irritating problem, but hopefully one that can be mended with little effort on my part.

Surprise Reconnection
Back in high school I was given the amazing opportunity to sign on with a government program called People to People. The program creates what they call “student ambassadors” and sends them to countries around the world to learn about the culture and connect with the people. The year I went, the group to which I was assigned was sent to Australia and New Zealand. We spent a week and a half in each country. The first part of the trip was in Australia. Near the end of the Australian side of the trip we stopped in a town somewhere between Brisbane and Sydney (Toowoomba, I think it was called) and spent the day going to class at a local high school. Each American student was assigned an Aussie student escort who we spent the day with. The girl who was assigned to me is named Megan. She was extremely nice and we became fast friends that day. We exchanged contact information at the days end and continued to write back and forth to each other for a while. Unfortunately we fell out of contact and I haven’t heard from her in a few years.

Last week I was going through my emails at the email address I now use as my junk mail address (in high school it was my primary address) and was surprised to see an email from Megan! I don’t know why, but she had decided to try to resume contact with me. I was thrilled about this! It was just so unexpected to see an email from her, and honestly it made my week. I responded immediately, of course. Like I said, she is an amazing person, and she has my deepest respect for trying to resume our conversation. I just hope we can keep in contact this time. ^_^

Clarification on the Matter of the Election
It has been brought to my attention by a very trustworthy and outspoken source (thanks Mom) that my treatment of the issue of the election in my last post was a bit less than honest. This is true, but that was the most civilized and cordial response I could muster. Let it be known that I do not agree that Obama was the best candidate for the Presidency. If I had been able to vote I would have cast my ballot for McCain (the reasons for me not being able to vote will not be elaborated upon for the sake of time, though I assure you that they are legitimate reasons). But, unlike many who cast their ballots for McCain, do not think I hold even the slightest amount of animosity against those who voted Obama into office. On the contrary, I hold pity for them. They were simply taken in by the exceedingly well-executed campaign strategy employed by the Obama camp. The man did a great job! He used all the right words and did all the right things to get his name into every American household, and even households around the world.

As a graphic designer with a high interest in advertising, allow me to approach Obama’s campaign from a purely analytical perspective. For it is his campaigning, not his stance on the issues, that got him voted into office, because, let’s face it, our government can’t even be trusted to effectively maintain the interstate highway system (have you ever tried driving through Missouri? Oklahoma? It’s a nightmare!), the educational system, or even the national debt. The national debt is close to 11 trillion dollars now! So, do we honestly want to put our health care into their hands as well? Doesn’t seem like a very smart choice. Our country is too big and too poorly managed for that to work. No, it is not the issues that got Obama elected. So, what did?

First of all, the Democratic primaries took much longer than the Republican primaries. John McCain was effectively the Republican nominee by early March, but it wasn’t until June that Obama was chosen as the Democratic nominee. That’s three full months in which very little news about the Republican side of things was reported. All reporting centered around the Democratic primaries. Obama simply had more news coverage during this time. His name was kept in the forefront of American minds, while McCain’s name faded into the background. This set Obama up, from the start, with a natural advantage.

Moving on, Obama chose wisely in his campaign to use single, highly emotional words as catchphrases and slogans. Change. Hope. Progress. Who doesn’t hope to see change or progress in government? Everybody does. The real question is what change is Obama vying for? Most people never thought that far ahead. McCain on the other hand didn’t have one slogan but many, the best of which being “Best prepared to lead from day one.” Really rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it? Yeah, that stuck to my memory like Velcro on wax paper. Even Obama’s logo was more catchy and memorable than McCain’s. A nice sky-blue O with the red stripes of the American flag arcing across the front giving the whole thing the look of a bright morning sun rising over rolling hills. Very pretty! I love the logo. McCain didn’t really have a logo per se (this is what he calls a logo). Obama used a logogram, a symbol to convey deeper meaning. McCain had what graphic designers refer to as a logotype. A logotype is exactly what it sounds like, a logo purely made up of type. It’s hard to convey a deeper meaning this way, and McCain’s logo didn’t even try. It looked very official, very governmental, but was “hip” and “cool” because it used a sans serif font. Simply put, Obama had a better logo. And what is more memorable than a logo? I say golden arches and you think McDonalds, a yellow scallop with a red outline and your mind should go to Shell gasoline, an apple with a bite out of it… do I even need to point out the company that one belongs to? These things are memorable and connect you to what they are advertising. Obama’s use of a logogram did just that, while McCain’s attempt at a logo fell far short.

In addition to his slogan and logo, Obama beat out McCain again in his creation of posters. Obama created a few posters all using his signature one-word catchphrases (the other two posters can be viewed here and here). But, what really made the posters amazing was their iconic nature. They remind me of war propaganda posters. They are highly emotional, simple, and are very memorable as well as being aesthetically pleasing. But even more important than the physical look of the posters was the paper on which the posters were printed. Every single one was printed on a cream-colored paper as opposed to the standard white, or, if the paper was standard white, a cream color was used as the background for the image. This did wonders for the posters’ marketability. With all the emphasis on the environment and “going green” that America has been experiencing lately, a cream colored paper conveys a more elemental feel. It looks more natural, more friendly, more environmentally conscious. People latch on to this on an almost subconscious level and the posters are more effective because of it. McCain’s poster had no such feel (see?). Rather, McCain’s poster was boring. It felt contrived, forced, bland, unoriginal, and wasn’t even that appealing. And, perhaps putting fighter planes in the poster wasn’t the best of ideas given the national belief regarding our war in Iraq. Fact is, McCain’s poster didn’t do the job it was supposed to, but Obama’s went above and beyond.

Clearly Obama’s marketing campaign was better than McCain’s. The men behind his campaign strategy obviously understood that marketing the candidate rather than allowing him to win on the issues was a better plan. And, it worked. He marketed himself like he was selling detergent or cars. If the goal was to make me want to buy the best looking brand, then I choose Obama, it’s as simple as that. But, even apart from his ingenious marketing strategy, Obama was a more pleasing candidate from his physical appearance alone. He is an attractive man. He is fit, tall, young, and charismatic. Honestly, I look at him and I get the feeling he is a very likable individual. McCain looks like a chipmunk. He is old, saggy, unfit, and appears awkward in front of a camera. America is tired of a president who doesn’t present himself well, and Obama is the stark opposite of Bush. And, to top it all off, he’s black. He is a walking symbol of American progress and individuality. It’s quite a thing to say we have finally elected a black president while even 50 years ago blacks were still having to drink out of separate fountains and sit in the backs of busses. It’s hard to say no to progress like that when it stares you in the face and says “vote for me.”

This is how Obama won. It was not his stance on the issues, it was not what he believed in or even his experience in government. No, it was his marketing campaign that won him his presidency and I applaud him for it. That is why I pity those who voted for the man. Because they did exactly what his marketing managers wanted them to do. They fell for the hook, the look, the brand, the idea. They voted for him because he looked more appealing. There are other men in history who won for similar reasons. Kennedy won because of this as well. In contrast to Nixon, Kennedy appeared more likable on TV. He was younger and more relatable. Hitler gained power by marketing himself like this as well. Don’t think that I am calling Obama Hitler, I’m not, I’m merely using Hitler as an example. Hitler was young, attractive, highly charismatic and played on people’s emotions. He even had a marketing campaign and a logo. It was a very appealing logo at that. High contrast, bright colors, simple shape, easily memorable and it has proven to be able to capitalize on people’s emotions even now. He gained the support of the people this way and Obama has simply followed suit. It works. This has been proven.

So, as I stated in my last post, I pray the man makes the right decisions. I pray he does what is right for this country, it’s people, and the world as a whole. Because that is what is at stake… the world. Currently America is the only superpower. What we do, whether we like it or not, affects the rest of the world. Let’s all just pray and “Hope” that this “Change” is a good one and that we as a country don't "Progress" down the wrong path.

On a Lighter Note…
And by that I do mean a physical note. As I stated in a post not too long ago, Dido’s new album is coming out this next week and I am greatly looking forward to that event. There have been a few songs released from the album already, and I have listened to two of them. One of these songs, “Don’t Believe in Love,” has already been made into a video of exceedingly high quality. It’s a beautiful video and a beautiful song and I present it for you now. Unfortunately, the official video did not have a link to embed in a blog, this feature was disabled at Dido’s request, below is another occurrence of this video on YouTube, but if you want to see it in higher quality, then go here. Enjoy the video!

With that I conclude this post. I hope you have all enjoyed it and I hope that I have not offended too many people, but if I have please hold no reservations in telling me so. I love to get responses to my posts. ^_^ Have a great day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Hail to the Chief

Let us hope ... that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.
-Abraham Lincoln

The Deed is done: Barack Obama is our new President. Regardless of my own feelings on this matter, this man has been entrusted with the highest office in this wonderful country for the next four years. So, for our new President I offer up my blessings. May he rule this country with wisdom, with discernment, with sound mind, with a clear head, with good judgment, and a clean conscience. When he is under pressure may he not falter and when he is under stress may he not break. May his actions be for the betterment of this great country, its citizens, and for the world as a whole. May peace and prosperity flow through his leadership.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Not So Much

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
- William Shakespeare

Greetings All and Happy Halloween! It is now time for what has become my monthly blog post. Honestly, I’d post more often if there were a sufficient reason to make a post. Unfortunately, life in college this semester is exceedingly boring with very little excitement or activity to speak of. Oh, I wish I could say things were different, I really do, but alas they are not. I am stuck, frozen, static, and have been trying my best to break that monotony when possible. The best way I have found to free myself of boredom is the weekly Anime Club meeting. But, even in that there is monotony, for the weekly Anime Club meeting has become routine as well. But please, take not my woes as complaints. Rather, I ask you to look on them as incentive. They are an incentive for me to persevere. After all, I have little more than two months left here in college, then I am free. With that freedom comes change and with that change comes the unknown and with that unknown comes excitement. For us both this is good news. Something worth posting is rapidly approaching… ETA two months (and therefore two uninteresting posts) and counting.

Bad Karma or the Like Thereof
About a month ago I was asked to help a friend of a friend move a carload of possessions from one apartment to another. Halfway between the old place and the new, the “check engine” light on my car came on. Never is this a good sign. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the new place and get them all moved. I decided to head for a gas station where I could get some light to look under the hood (this move occurred at 10PM for some reason). I had almost made it to the gas station when my car started behaving like my last car did before the transmission blew. I started panicking. I made it to the gas station, but my car never moved again. It died there in the parking lot, perpetually stuck in park. A friend had to drive out from school to pick up my friend and I. A tow truck hauled the car to the nearest transmission shop.

I was now limited to two modes of transportation, my bike and my legs. The bike didn’t last much longer. The day after my car died, in fact it wasn’t even a full 24 hours later, the rear wheel on my bike quit spinning as I was on my way to Anime Club. I carried it the last half mile and after anime club a friend agreed to take a look at it for me. We discovered quickly that the bearings in the rear wheel had completely shattered. This was unfortunately no easy fix. According to the guy at the bike shop, it was going to be $60. I could almost buy a new bike for that price, so I did. Or rather, my parents did when they drove out to Arkansas with my replacement car. That’s right, a friend of theirs out in Tennessee had an “extra car” which they gave to me free of charge. That’s about the only silver lining to this tale. My parents drove it out to me about a month ago now and it has been running wonderfully. My deepest thanks goes to the Masseys who will be receiving a cordially worded note from me in the very near future.

About East Asia…
My move to Thailand is getting all nailed down. My dad was able to get in contact with a couple dentists over there who gave quotes on price and duration of treatment regarding the issue of my teeth. Unfortunately none of the treatments seem possible or promising, so I’m going to be putting off the medical portion of my trip to a later date. I’ll just tear my food for the time being, biting it will come later.

But, this hasn’t put a brake on the trip as a whole. I still plan on going to Thailand early next year to do graphic design work. It’s a job, it gets me out of the country for a while, and keeps me active until my hopeful trip to China in August. I’ve been in the application process for a while now and have only to get a couple references submitted along with my transcripts. The transcripts are still trickling in, but I have no idea what to do about the references. One of them has me downright puzzled. The application asks for a reference from a pastor at my church who knows me well. I don’t currently have a church and even at my last church none of the pastors knew me all that well to begin with. There is only one woman I would consider asking for a reference, so lets hope that works out. As soon as the application is done, which it looks to be within the next month, I’ll have a short personality survey and an interview between myself and a ten-month trip to China. It’s so close I can feel it!

The Firefly Syndrome
Six years ago a phenomenal sci fi show called Firefly was cancelled prematurely by the Fox network after it had received bad ratings. This is primarily due to the fact that Fox pulled all advertising for the show a full two weeks prior to the series premier as well as not airing the episodes in the order intended by the producers. Another of my favorite shows looks to be coming down with this same fatal disease. Pushing Daisies, a beautifully made dramedy on ABC which received wonderful ratings last season before the writers strike, has been receiving below average ratings this fall and looks to be one of few shows that is going to get dropped. I’ve never seen a show like it. It is highly stylized, hilarious, and has unique and charming characters with a story to match. Nothing about this show deserves to be canceled, but due to poor advertising on the part of ABC (I didn’t even know the show was back on the air until two weeks after the premier) it looks to be ready to push up a few daisies of its own. An unfortunate fate for a show that deserves so much better. Catch it while you can.

What I’m Looking Forward to in the Rest of 2008
To end a bummer of a post on a happier note, I figured I’d share with you a few things that I am looking forward to before the years end. First of all, in the area of music, three of my favorite artists are scheduled to be releasing CDs. Not necessarily are they all going to be released this year, but the mere prospect of their release has me all giddy. Dido, Kate Havnevik, and Imogen Heap are all working on new albums. Dido’s new album (of which two songs have already been released) is scheduled to hit shelves in two weeks and I will be there money in hand when it does. Kate and Immi are in their respective studios in Europe working hard to put out new albums as well. No release date for either one has been made known, but I am looking forward to both with great anticipation.

On the movie front there are a few flicks that have caught my eye. The new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace is nearest in its date of release. A few friends and I plan on attending the film on opening night dressed in suits and ties with martini glasses in hand. ^_^ It shall be fun. Other films in my scope of vision include the Oscar buzz-worthy Doubt, the Israeli animated film Waltz With Bashir, the English-language samurai western Sukiyaki Western Django, the 70s drama Milk, and the new Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man. Each of them looks promising and I can’t wait to see ‘em. A couple are already out, actually. I think Waltz With Bashir and Sukiyaki Western Django have already made it to the U.S. but neither are playing in Arkansas. I’ll probably have to rent them.

In other news, I’m sorry about the graduation countdown clock not working for some people, so if you can’t see it just know that as I type this there are exactly 50 days left before I am free of my undergraduate life. That’s definitely worth looking forward to. There have been a couple instances where it didn’t look like I was going to be getting out of here, but those have been resolved and all is okay with the university. Against their wishes they will let me leave. ^_^

Lastly, I am planning a ski trip in late December. It has been two years since I was on the slopes and since I have a free round-trip flight to anywhere in the U.S., I figure I’ll used it to go skiing some place I haven’t been… some place expensive. I’m thinking some place like Vail would be nice. Or perhaps I can avoid Colorado altogether and go somewhere out in Utah or Wyoming. I’ve never been skiing out there before. So, options are open to me. Since I effectively have my own snowboard (my dad can’t use his anymore and it fits me) and I have the free flight, all I’ll have to pay for is a hotel room, food, lift tickets, and transportation to and from the slopes. Yes, it’s still an expensive trip, but without having to pay for transportation or board rental, it is a lot cheaper. It’ll be a great way to end the best year of my life thus far.

Well, with that I’ll call it a post and be done. I hope I haven’t depressed you all too much and if I have, I’m sorry. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Monday, September 15, 2008

And the Boredom Ensues

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist,
but you have ceased to live.
- Mark Twain

Greetings All! Unlike the last post, this one has very little content of any real interest. Life is boring in school, for the most part. I go to class, I eat, I do homework, I go back to the apartment, I sleep. That’s about the extent of things. But, as usual, I will do my best to squeeze as much content out of my life as possible for the sake of the post. To start off, I am posting this wonderful blog on the day that I have been looking forward to since Spring. This evening is the season premiere of Heroes! Oh, how greatly I look forward to what the writers will do with this show. Last season was an unfortunate step down from the first. The first season had mystery, action, a great story, and fun character development. The second season had action and an okay story with much less of the mystery and development of characters that the broad audience did not find appealing. The creators have promised that this season will be a return to what made the first season great, and I hope they hold to that claim. Anyhoo, on with the post.

AnimeFest ‘08
By far the most interesting thing that has happened to me since I returned to school is AnimeFest. AnimeFest was the 10th convention I’ve had the privilege of attending and it was the last major convention I will ever attend as a college student. That’s a bit sad if you ask me, but I made the best of it.

In a previous post I spoke of a couple things that were to make this particular convention a memorable one. One of those things was the fact that all of my best friends were going to be there. That ended up falling through rather dramatically 48 hours prior to the convention. Two of my very best friends who I met when I was going to school down in Texas told me they would be attending and assured me of this fact. But, right before the convention I found out through unfortunately roundabout ways that they wouldn’t be coming. I was frustrated more than anything. I was trying to plan this convention to make it as affordable as possible, so when somebody drops I’ve got to call people and let them know of the jump in price. But, neither of these friends of mine bothered to inform me personally of their absence. I heard one of them wasn’t going to be attending in a phone message left by a mutual acquaintance of ours. The other didn’t tell me at all and I had to hear about it when I called him the night before the convention to see when he would be arriving. “Never” wasn’t the answer I was expecting to hear. Both of them had perfectly legitimate excuses why they couldn’t attend, and thus I don’t hold their absence against them, but next time I’d like to hear about such things a little more than two days in advance.

The other thing that was going to make this convention memorable was the reintroduction of the Shugo costume I created for A-Kon three years ago. After that costume got destroyed in the wash one of my friends offered to remake it using the old costume as a pattern. He was supposed to have it done by Ikkicon earlier in the year, but didn’t. Then, he was supposed to have it done by Otakon, but since I didn’t end up attending Otakon I told him he didn’t have to worry about having it finished until AnimeFest. He didn’t have it done in time for Otakon and then he didn’t have it done for AnimeFest either. So, I didn’t get to wear my Shugo costume to this convention like I was so looking forward to doing. Even if he had finished it, I wouldn’t have been able to wear it anyway because I forgot the gloves for the costume back at the apartment. Thankfully, it should be done by the last convention I get to attend coming up in November. He’s gone ahead and admitted that he’s never going to finish it but says that he’ll teach me how to sew on a machine so I can do it myself. Thanks, dude.

Apart from those two minor negativities, the convention was a wonderful one. I got to see friends of mine who I haven’t seen in ages, I got to go back to Dallas for the first time in a full year, and the convention itself was amazing as well. Probably the highlight of the convention was the premier of an anime called Freedom which will be released on Blue-Ray in November (it won’t be on DVD until next year). The anime is about three friends who live on a lunar colony with the rest of humanity a few decades after the evacuation of Earth due to a third world war. One of the kids discovers that the lunar government is hiding the fact that earth has become inhabitable once again and decides to travel to earth himself using an old Saturn 5 rocket. That description is pretty pitiful, but it’s the best I can do without spoiling the entire plot. The story and character design are by the same man who created the movie Akira and it is fully 3D animated. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and the story is top-notch. The director and the screenwriter for Freedom were two of the industry guests the convention invited to attend. I attended all of the panel discussions with these amazing artists, was given a promotional poster for Freedom autographed by both of them, and beat the screenwriter, Dai Sato, in a match of rock, paper, scissors to win a promotional booklet for his creative collaborative called Story Riders. There are some amazing illustrations in that little booklet.

I spent very little in the dealer’s room. All I bought in there was some wonderful-smelling loose-leaf green tea, a keychain of Miyuki fromLucky Star, and two pieces of art, one of them an original work and the other an InuYasha fanart. All in all that probably cost about $30. The real expenditure from the convention happened on the last day at the charity auction. I never win anything at the charity auctions at conventions. There are always too many people there with very loose budgets. But, for some reason, the charity auction at this convention was sparsely attended and nobody there was being terribly generous with their expenditures. I managed to walk out with four items: a piece of original anime art, a 20-year-old X-Men poster in mint condition (I’m not much of an X-Men fan but the poster was a good value and it looked cool), and autographed photos of both Brent Spiner as Data and James Doohan as Scotty, both from the Star Trek franchise. Amazing stuff! Everything I bought at the convention totaled out to right around $100 which is amazing given the amount I’ve spent at conventions in the past.

Other things I did at the convention include the dance at which Greg Ayres dj’d, a few anime screenings including Shion no Oh, Moon Phase, Genius Party, and my favorite Bamboo Blade, and a few random panels. My favorite panel actually had nothing to do with anime even remotely. It was put on by an artist and voice actor guest named Bruce Lewis. The panel was called “Reality 101” and it consisted of Bruce answering any question anybody felt like throwing at him, any question at all. The question that opened up the panel was “what is reality?” I also attended an InuYasha panel, the panel for the other Japanese guest, Akiharu Ishii, and a couple industry panels by Funimation and Bandai. Both Funimation and Bandai have some fun stuff coming out soon. I’m looking forward to seeing Bandai’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Blade of the Stranger. Both are movies and both look amazing. Anyhoo, there isn’t much else to say on the subject of AnimeFest. It was a wonderful convention despite the snags and I will miss going to it.

Classes
Since I haven’t actually posted on how my classes are looking this semester, I figured that was necessary. I’m taking 15 hours of credit and my array of classes is varied. I’m taking Graphic Design IV, Digital Darkroom (essentially a photo editing course), Ethics, Irish History and Culture, and a course entitled the Arts in Western Culture offered through the music department. They are all fine classes and I’m enjoying them all so far. Digital Darkroom is turning out to be the most boring of all. It’s a bunch of data at this point and the instructor himself has told us that the class is completely useless because any company we end up working for is going to have their own way of doing this stuff. So… I feel like I’m wasting three hours of my life every Thursday night, but I’ll do the work anyway. At this point I just want to graduate.

Winner!
As a requirement for my Arts in Western Culture course, I am to attend at least one artistic or cultural event. The gallery openings on my university campus satisfy this qualification, but when my professor passed around a sign-up sheet for a drawing of tickets to the Tulsa Ballet’s performance of Don Quixote I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put my name down. I never expected to win, but I did. So, in two weeks I will be attending the Tulsa Ballet with nine other students. It should be fun!

Calling Again
Phonathon started back up this weekend. I went to training this past Saturday and will start my first shift on Tuesday night. This year the university has finally hired a full time staff person to handle Phonathon. This new guy is coming in and making changes, cutting pay, making hours harder to get for Phonathon veterans, and basically making this year a bit more difficult. At least this is what I had heard from a couple of girls I worked with last year. I went and talked to Chad, the new Phonathon coordinator, on Thursday last week to hear the truth from him personally, rather than from a couple of disgruntled girls. Everything I had heard is pretty much baloney. Yes, he is cutting pay for the time being until he can get a grip on who deserves the pay. I don’t fear that I’ll make my pay back in no time, in fact after our training session on Saturday he assured me that I’d be sure to get my old pay grade back. Also, there is no fear that I’ll get all the hours I need. We have a lot of people this year, but not enough to overbook every shift, especially on the shifts I’ve signed up for. Tuesday is notoriously a low shift and so is Saturday. So, I’ll be sure to get at least two shifts a week with no problem. It’ll be good to start making some money again. I hate not having a steady income. I feel like a hobo. So, I’m looking forward to getting started again and I have no doubt that Chad is going to do a great job. He’s a really nice and understanding guy and having a full time Phonathon staff will make it a much better experience. So, on with the moneymaking!

That’s all I’ve got. Have a great day all!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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