Monday, February 12, 2007

   This has been an interesting night . . .
I was talking with a close and very important friend last night. This conversation stirred up a lot of my old memories that I hadn't really thought about for a while. Y'know, things like high school graduation, old crushes who in turn became very important friends in their own right . . . heh, even slightly more bitter memories about my own family from just a few years back.

Well, this led me to go through a lot of my old, old myO posts. Mostly I was looking for evidence of some of the things I was talking about with the above-mentioned friend (and I more or less never found it). Still, though . . . a lot of old memories, old faces . . .

Times when certain myO members were very talkative and had the time to do so (I completely forgot that Sakura/Heather used to say "yayfullness!" which I always thought was cute). Times when I was so single-minded about romantic pursuits. Times when I would randomly break into verse just because I felt like it. Times when certain people refused to keep their mouths shut and caused more trouble than was worth. Times when I shared my own history that happened before myOtaku. Times when my best friend on the other side of the continent and I freely messaged back and forth about any and every little thing we wanted to . . .

Names that have come and gone. Accounts created, recreated and deleted - and all the comments disappeared with them.

I found myself hopping all over the site, towards blogs I usually never visit. Names I know very well from friend lists other than my own. I eventually came upon one particular name, highlighted in blue in the member list. I'm not sure what compelled me to go there, but I did. He shares certain friends with me, after all.

I read his blog, his story. Things had changed since the last time I had been at this blog and I could only vaguely remember what it entailed before. Nevertheless, the words all around seemed to fill in the blanks quite well; both his own words, and the words of others who came by to wish him well.

And then my jaw dropped. Evidentally, he was not the only one to have made an unpredictable return.


It was like when you see an old friend's face in a newspaper clipping and suddenly realise how close to you they've been all this time. Your mind floods with the excitement and the surprise. You want to say anything and everything all at once.

But at the same time you don't, because you know they haven't been keeping a low profile for nothing. Thus, a whole other stream of thoughts pour through. So what can you do? Right now, I really can't say.


I think I've said enough for now, though. As I once always used to say, the internet isn't going anywhere and neither am I. If there's one thing we all have is time, and I'm willing to bide it in the meantime.

Here's hoping the scum under the rock doesn't dry up in the meantime . . .
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Saturday, February 10, 2007

   Anime News . . .
Since we're still ripping new orifices into that Jeff Borncamp kid, I went over to the Anime Pulse site to listen to the "Bossman Interview" over there. Well, that led to other stuff, and I ended up checking ANN's news . . .


-The dub cast for "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" has been stated. Wendee Lee's gonna be Haruhi, Stephanie Sheh's gonna be Mikuru, Michelle Ruff is Yuki Nagato, Crispin Freeman's gonna be Kyon, and Johnny Yong Bosch will be Koizumi. That's not all of 'em, but damn . . . big name cast, sounds like. I'm curious enough.

-3rd Hellsing OVA is delayed. Burn.

-I adore Yui, who sings all those Bleach songs. This isn't really news, I just think she's adorable and I love her voice.

-Bossman doesn't sound nearly as New Yorkish as I was hoping. Ah well . . . really, I don't know what I was expecting there, but yeah. Great interview, though.


News outside of anime world, I bought the Ultimate Edition of "FLCL". Lotsa special features. This is good times.

I've also re-bitten that hole in my tongue. It bleeds sometimes. I'm pretty pissed off about that and it's very annoying. I need to salt it more often . . .

Finally, here's a video I found recently that's actually from quite a while back. It's the winning skit from Anime Evolution 2004's cosplay contest. I'm quite proud to say that I saw this in person . . . these two were awesome:



Meantimes, theOtaku continues to tear orifices into AnimeFF, an allegedly evil organization. Good times all around . . .
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Thursday, February 8, 2007

And thus, things get interesting . . .
If you haven't done it yet, check out the front page of theotaku.com and see what's going on. It's quite interesting . . .

Our site's gonna be a part of internet history, yo. I mean, history only for the anime community (maybe), but it's still somethin'. Let's all keep tabs on this one, it's guaranteed to be somethin' different in your regular internet life.
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Tuesday, February 6, 2007

   Interstate = Win
I must say I'm quite happy with how my first solo cross-border road trip went. No dumb incidents on the road, at the border, and with minimal instances of getting lost. T'was a good drive, from Vancouver to Bellevue . . .


Alright, so I'm up and out the door at about 8am on Sunday. Brother's around watching tv as I leave, he tells me "don't die." Then a drive through Surrey (dirty southern side of Greater Vancouver), hit Tim Horton's for coffee and a bagel . . . and found no line-up at the border, so I was very happy.

Alright, now here's where we talk about amusing border guards and their questions. They grill you about everything as you go through. They make you feel uncomfortable about it; they're trained to make you feel uncomfortable about it. Ultimately, though, it's just procedure and they won't block you unless they really have a good reason to. Still, before they let you through, they'll grill you . . . and believe me, they'll think of questions you'll NEVER expect them to ask. You can prepare as much as possible about things like where you're from, where you're going, for how long . . . but they'll still think of somethin' . . .

"Where do you live?" he asks as I give him my passport.
"New West'."
"Where you going?"
"Bellevue."
"What's the purpose of your trip?"
"To visit a friend."
"Why do you have a friend in Bellevue?"
( . . . the hell?!)
". . . he works down there."
"So he's Canadian?"
"Yes."
"How long are you staying?"
"One day."
"What do you do?"
"I work at the Real Canadian Superstore."
"What do you do there?"
"I'm a clerk."
"Whose car is this?"
"It's my mother's."
"Your mother's," he mutters as he walks around, looking into the back . . . "you bringing any alcohol, tobacco or medication with you?"
"No."
"Okay, have a safe trip."
"Thank you."

Good times. And then the I-5 was more good times. Very fast, I enjoyed that. I-405? Also pretty nice.


So what did I do all Sunday? Met up with "Faramir" at his place, got lost driving to some big mall in Lynnwood waiting for Sakura to arrive with her friend. Went to Suncoast, ate at Taco Time, felt sick after eating at Taco Time . . .

Sakura/Heather arrived, we walked around a bit more, went to see "The Messengers" (mediocre movie, plays on jump moments constantly), had a milkshake, stupid . . . it was fun. And yeah, it's still plenty of fun to meet myOers.

Then Chicago lost the Superbowl. That sucked.

After dinner and we all split up, "Faramir" and I spent the rest of the evening playing Guild Wars and reading GTO manga (it ends nicely). Yeah, I was tired that night . . . people were not meant to wake up so early on Sundays . . .


Next morning, found "Faramir" playing Guild Wars and skipping out on work. Nice. I left his place at about 9:30am, drove back to Canada through the fog . . . bought a Red Bull along the way (that stuff tastes like hell, might I add) . . . and I got to the border at about 11:30am. There was a line-up this time, and I also picked the slower queue of the two. Heh, I need Nexus . . . so who wants to know the fun things they asked me about for getting back home?

"Where do you live?"
"New Westminster."
"How long were you out of the country?"
"One day."
"And what was the purpose of this trip?"
"To visit a friend."
"Who's your friend?"
(. . . . What the hell?!?!?!!)
". . . his name is [blabla]."
"Where does he live?"
"Bellevue."
"How do you know him?"
"We went to school together."
"What school?"
"New Westminster Secondary."
"Did he give you anything to bring back?" (You guys'll love this part . . .)
"Yeah, a computer game."
"About how much would you say that's worth?"
"Uh . . . about fifty bucks."
"What game is it?"
(What . . . the hell?!?!)
"Neverwinter Nights 2."
"You bring any alcohol, tobacco or drugs?"
"No."
"Any weapons or firearms?"
"No."
"US Currency, ten thousand or more?"
"No." (I freakin' wish . . . maybe . . . probably not . . .)
"Alright, have a good one."
"Thank you."


Got home at about 12:30pm. Good times.



I need to go on another road trip soon. That was fun . . . who's comin' this time?
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Sunday, February 4, 2007

   Road trip!!!!!!
I'm drivin' to Bellevue, WA today. Gonna go visit stupid "Faramir", hang out with Sakura too, with a little luck. Maybe see a movie, watch the Superbowl, drink beer . . . good times.

Should be pretty exciting, driving over borders alone for the first time and all that. Heh, good thing I took care of all that passport stuff last year, nya? Comin' back Monday morning. I'll do DVD releases then.


Oh yeah, I called Adam "fail-sauce" in the podcast comments today because his haiku are less than pass. Alexa is proud of me. I hope.


Peace!
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Thursday, February 1, 2007

   Viral Infection: Report
Saturday, nasal congestion was at the point of complete irrespriation. Used Nyquil the first night; proved ineffective, entire night was spent with conscious, oral respiration. Chills remained throughout, as was a steady stream of hot lemon tea with honey.

Sunday, chills came and went depending on intake of heated sustenance or tea. Suppressed congestion and aches as best with generic-brand daytime medicine; questionable effect. Again, evening met with extreme nasal congestion, again to the point of stopped nasal respiration. Nyquil used again, perhaps to the point of overuse as the night went on. Nyquil still proved ineffective; night against spent with dry throat, dry lips, and no sleep.

Monday, went to the walk-in clinic for advice. Over an hour's wait because one doctor did not come for clinic work (possibly at home watching "House", cannot confirm or deny). Doctor poked the scope into nose, agreed that it was indeed the nasal congestion of doom. Doctor suggested Dimetapp for the day and Otrivin right before bedtime. Doctor did not, however, tell me to not go to work.
Went to work. Still had chills, still had congestion. Longest four hours ever, and Dimetapp is not good to have in one's system while driving. Nevertheless, Dimetapp eased some stoppage and that night the nasal spray completely cleared the blockage that night; went directly to bed, humming happily.
Otrivin was used after watching "Heroes", naturally.

Tuesday, woke up 14 hours after going to bed the night before. Felt good. Nose still slightly sniffly but nowhere near as bad as before. Coughing began to act up at this point, but not painful coughing. Spent whole day in vegetative state, breathing through nose. Did not use Otrivin before bed, feeling it would be overkill.

Wednesday, Dimetapp not used; weaker medication taken so as to not affect driving. Drove to work; worked; coughed a lot at work, especially while laughing at stupid things that happened. Chills seem to have eased away, and nasal congestion is at bearable levels.


So yeah, I'm getting better. More or less, anyway.

I still think "kancho" is funny as hell, though, and am in the process of turning "kancho" into a means of rating the amount of impact a news story can contain.
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Sunday, January 28, 2007

   Question:
Do you know how you know that you've gone mad with fever?

Answer:

You search "kancho" on YouTube and expect to see something really entertaining . . .
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Saturday, January 27, 2007

   Aw no . . . oh no no no . . . no no no . . . not now . . . . .
I got sick. Coldish-flu type thing. My body doesn't regulate heat anymore. This sucks kintama.

It's a real word, look up the South Park song.


Someone get me some Nyquil while I try to lie in bed, okay?
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Thursday, January 25, 2007

   With great power . . .
Yeah, I'm doing polls for theO as well. Continue being scared.


In other news, my car actually DID come back yesterday. I still haven't driven it yet, but it seems to be working well enough thus far. Just gotta watch out for the potholes after the snows, is all . . . hopefully . . .

So what's bad about Wednesday? I didn't go to kung-fu just because. Shame, I know.

On the plus side, Janissary Musketeers in Medieval 2 are brilliant. So is 'Beck, whose Christmas gift and card arrived yesterday and the day before yesterday respectively. Thank you very much, ojou-chan; and yes, we most certainly will, damnit.


That will be all.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

   If anyone's wondering . . .
That night I ended up watching six episodes of "Heroes" on YouTube before going to bed.

Last night, I got through the next five. I'm caught up now.


Don't think I'm ready to get myself in "24" just yet, though . . . missed that boat, and I don't think I wanna wait at the docks in the meantime . . .
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