Sunday, May 7, 2006

   Graduation celebration . . . 'tis fun
Alright, so this is an interesting post, because I'm in some little computer store on E. Hastings Street in Vancouver at 1:30am. As I drove home from work, some guys . . . well, some people, from kung-fu called me out to go drinking. Well, for one thing I hadn't seen these people in about a month (I'm feeling very guilty about not going to kung-fu in a very long time), so I tried as hard as I could to come out and say hi.

So yeah, another long bus ride, and suddenly I found all my kung-fu friends camped in this little computer store on a heavy commercial street of Vancouver (playing poker). I was let in, and EVERYONE had a red face (asians. Gotta love 'em).

So yeah, as already stated, it's 1:30am in this little store, and I've got some drinks in me after many months of not drinking. Heh, that's a horrible thing to post about, but I mean, this is such a random place to post right now! In fact, I'm really surprised at how well I'm typing at the moment (I can still somewhat recite the alphabet backwards . . . I kinda get caught up at the "I" and "H" area . . . . . oh, funny story, we just took a picture with a somewhat sleeping friend (he must have drank a lot). I did an ultra-Honger pose with the V-signs ablazing. Maybe I'll post that if I can get someone to send me the picture, you can decide how pink/red my ears/face are.

And now we're in giggle-mode. This is too funny . . . . .


Um . . . . . I'm gonna take this moment to remind everyone that drinking is a serious business and that one should always be responsible when doing so. In my case, I took a bus out and someone ALLEGEDLY said they'd give me a ride back home (one of the people who didn't drink, bless them) . . .

. . . . . I just took the time to comment that I can still type quite well despite having a beer and a bunch of Crown Royal (I dunno, how much is three and a half gulps worth of whiskey?).

So yes, I'm quite bouncy tonight. 'Tis good. I've been wanting to celebrate my graduation with these guys for a while.

Curious . . . has this post become stream-of-consciousness yet?


Anyway, it's quarter to two at the moment, and we've decided to pack up. Probably a good idea. I'll see you guys later, a'ight?


. . . and yes, for those of you still worried about other people, you are allowed to stop worrying for now. I promise.
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Saturday, May 6, 2006

   Sharpe's Challenge! Holy crap!!!
Though kings and tyrants come and go,
a soldier's life is all I know,
I'll live to fight another day,
over the hills and far away...

O'er the hills and o'er the Main,
through Flanders, Portugal and Spain,
King George commands and we obey,
over the hills and far away...


So first "Silent Hill" came out where Sean Bean played a supporting role. Then I was all in the mood again and pulled out my DVDs of "Sharpe's Rifles" and "Sharpe's Company" . . . heh, and this is where I explain to everyone not from the UK what the hell I'm talking about . . .

So, Sean Bean became famous in a series of made for TV movies that spanned 1993 to 1997, about a British rifleman during the Napoleonic Wars named Richard Sharpe. There were fourteen movies in all, from "Sharpe's Rifles" to "Sharpe's Waterloo". They're kinda low-budget and though they had some crazy scope and scale, it was never totally blown out. But it's so awesome . . . he's such a badass rifle commander . . .

So I'm doing searches for pictures or something to make some new MSN avis or something . . . eventually "Sharpe's Challenge" pops up . . . . .

. . . . . holy crap! They made a new one this year!


I did some internet work and found it online. Damn, it was cool. For one thing, the war in Europe was over, and this 2-part episode took place in India. For another, the production values were noticeably higher, with a few simple CG shots for blood and swords going through people, and a helluva lot more extras blowing up. In a post LotR world, it seems ol' Bean's gotten a little fancier with his swordsmanship (which was never bad to begin with), and well . . . it's just good times. They do play up the whole "It's many years since we last saw these guys, and they're older now" thing, which is good . . . all in all it's just good old fashioned muzzle-loading fun.


Back in the present, it seems my Sunday is going to be very busy. "Faramir" has a friend flying in to see Vancouver ('tis a fun place to visit), so I said I'd go pick her up with him. After we do that, we all then have to go wish another friend a happy birthday . . . heh, busy busy . . . . .

I hope the weekend fares well for all of you. For some, I say rest well. For others worrying about others, I say não se preocupe, borboleta. The rest, I say cheers.


Random SomeGuy Trivia: I want a Nock Volley Gun . . . . .
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Thursday, May 4, 2006

   Things I need to do soon . . .
I've been trying to get a hold of a friend from school for a little while now. It's been a little tricky as of late . . . you know how it is, when you see someone online, so you message them with a "hey" or something. Then after about five minutes of nothing they go offline, or set to away or something. 'Tis less than productive . . .

So what do I wanna do? See, when my brother's friend graduated from UBC . . . about five or six years ago, he apparently walked home from campus. He was a bus guy like I was, and it was a LONG distance to walk. So yeah, I said that once I was finished school I'd follow in what could very well become a tradition. Said-friend said that she'd join me in the walk from campus to home.

. . . if anyone's wondering, this is gonna involve a 29 kilometer walk. You do the math, I have no interest in doing so myself.


I watched about a fifth of "Gundam Seed Destiny" yesterday. I love YouTube . . . my goal is to finish it off inside of a week . . . I may or may not reach that, so we'll see.

I nailed A minuses for Children's Lit' and Beowulf. I still have yet to hear back from 17th Century. All in all, I guess I wasn't completely horrible in school . . . not great, but not horrible . . . . which in a way is the real tragedy. I could have been a great student if I had just tried a little more than nothing . . . too late now, though, so I'll live. It's over, that's what matters.

Meantimes, I think I need to practice waking up earlier - I'm sleeping in way too late these days . . . see ya later!


Random SomeGuy Trivia: I still have and somewhat use the very first CD player I ever bought. It sits in my room and plays video game soundtracks quietly when I'm having trouble sleeping.
It really hasn't found much use outside of that here on in.
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Tuesday, May 2, 2006

   Mimmi = Brilliant
So, I come upstairs the other day, and I see a box with "Mary Kay" all over the sides sitting on the floor. I figure that must be for my mom.
I also see a large mailing tube on the floor, also addressed to my mom. I'm not sure what was in that, though.

Then at some point as I walked back and forth, I suddenly noticed a huge, honkin' yellow parcel sitting on the side table next to the front door. Again, not sure what I was expecting, but lo and behold, my name was on the top of it . . . curiosity grows, of course, so I take a closer look . . . . . it came from Sweden!!!



So for an occassion not apparent to myself, it seems that lovely Miss Mimmi seems to have graced me with a big honkin' load of wonderful stuff which I sorted through while eating curry for lunch and watching "Kim Possible" (for some reason I'm all addicted to that show and stuff . . . go fig', I know) . . .



The little wooden Dalahäst makes for a beautiful addition to "the shelf", so I'm quite happy about that.
The amusingly battered DVD box with "Swing Kids" was an extra amazing bit, and I look forward to checking this out finally (Christian Bale's in it, I didn't know that . . .). Heh, the brother came home, saw it, and just muttered, "if you had gotten this a couple months earlier, I could have used this for a school project..." Silly brother . . . oh yeah, bonus points for watching for the DVD region code before sending it over. Mimmi = attention to detail.
The Ikea owl pillow is just cool. I laughed pretty hard when I saw it. It's just cool.
The little thing of chocolate, also quite cool. I'll hafta chew on that some time soon.
The gigantic hard cover Samurai book (aptly titled Samurai) is also insanely awesome. I can't wait to chew through that in more depth . . .


So yes, to put it more straight-forwardly . . . Miss Mimmi, tack så mycket for the gigantic parcel of much love.


In other news, it seems a great number of Calgary family are driving down to Vancouver next month to see my graduation. Now I may possibly have too many people coming. I suppose that's irony in some sense of the word or something . . . probably not, but I don't really feel like thinking harder about it. The mother still isn't gonna be able to make it which sucks, buuuut . . . I guess there are definitely worse things to happen.

I may possibly actually be improving in my "We <3 Katamari" skills. This pleases me.

Oh yeah, same day I got "Advent Children" I also picked up the full series of "Azumanga Daioh". That done, I have no more need of the burned CDs with it. Who wants 'em? It's my custom to mail those off to others.

My brother has had the song "Everlasting Love" from "We <3 Katamari" stuck in his head for a while. Then he forgot about it when he got Chiyo-chan's "Cooking is so fun" song stuck in his head. Bwahaha . . .

I saw "Silent Hill" a few days ago. I enjoyed it immensely. I can tell it won't be for everyone, but it's good for a change of pace for horror films. Much like the games upon which it is based, the movie has no real "jump" moments, but instead just pours on the atmosphere. Keen eye'll notice the "gameplay" moments like memorizing maps, and those with keen ears'll notice that every song in the movie actually comes from the games! I especially liked how they had the Silent Hill 3 song playing during the end credits (it's a good song).

I'm sleeping in too much now. Maybe I'm just staying up too late . . . . . something to think about, I'm sure. Other than that, I'm thinking about what kind of new articles I might wanna work at (including one that Red never got around to, so I might hafta reappropriate the project from her . . . heh, I should tell her this some time . . .). Meantimes, you all take care, now, and I'll see ya again soon.


Random SomeGuy Trivia: To memory, the most money I have ever spent in one day was probably . . . . . actually, it was probably last Christmas, when I was buying up Pocky and other fun stuff for all you far away people.
If we're talking less fun, then it was paying $1000 of tuition with my debit card at the beginning of . . . . one of last year's semesters. That was still only partial, though.
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Friday, April 28, 2006

   Happy Birthday, kiddies!
The Little One is turning sixteen years old today.

The Butterfly is turning twenty-one today.


Everyone go wish them well. They deserve it, savvy?

So yes. Happy birthday, you two. I hope this coming year proves to be just as good, if not better, than the last one.

Tanjoubu omedatou, futari tomo!
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Thursday, April 27, 2006

   Finals suck . . . I'm glad I never have to do them ever again
Hallo everyone! It's a wonderful Thursday to be back. I missed an entire weekend to exams, work, and more exams. I've been missing out on "Silent Hill", "Advent Children", MSN . . . I even friggin' missed "House" on Tuesday! Gickness . . . . .


So let's see . . . Saturday was Renaissance Drama at noon. I wasn't really looking forward to it, and it was probably the one class I was least prepared for. I probably sucked at it, but maybe I hung in alright. Anyway, I got my term paper back that day . . . the one that required seven pieces of research . . . . . have I ever mentioned that I hate research papers? Well, I get it back, and sure enough she comments, "You can't let the research dominate your paper. It should support your own ideas," and so on. Really, I can only find it ironic and funny. Whatever, that's the least of the worries . . .

Sunday, I worked. I had a tempura chicken teriyaki donburi for dinner. My uniform wasn't washed, so I febreezed it for the day.

Monday, Children's Literature at 3:30pm. I'd like to think it went alright. I mean, I read the books, so that helped. I perhaps did not think broadly enough about what kind of questions might come up on it, and the one I DID cover pretty well kinda went "blah" because the question itself wanted more broader points to the topic than what I was preparing. But meh, whatever. Done.

Oh yeah, I got my "Spirited Away" paper back. A. In fact, prof' wants me to e-mail him a copy so he can keep it on file. Certainly can't be a bad thing . . .

Tuesday, Beowulf at 7pm. I got to school at about 1pm so I could have lunch, buy some UBC clothes (something I have DEFINITELY not done enough of during my time there), and then meet up with another friend to study with (she had been there since 7:30am because of a morning exam - deathly . . .). I reread the poem, went over my notes . . . looked up some graduation info (seems I'll be graduating May 24th, at 1:30pm) . . . had dinner (meat panini) . . . and then did the final. I'm confident about 70% of the exam where we talked about a passage . . . though I totally blanked about the other 30% . . .

You see, this 30% should have been the EASIEST marks to get. It was a straight forward, "regurgitate the plot about..." question. However, he picked a part I couldn't remember quite so well (same with that friend I mentioned prior). He wanted us to reiterate "the fight between the Danes and the Frisians." I totally forgot what that was and was actually writing up some garbage story instead. Then at the last second I remembered! It was the Hildeburh story!

Of course, during the actual exam I mixed up my female characters and said it was Wealtheow instead . . . and I couldn't remember a lot of the details of the part as well . . . . . so yeah, "Damn you Hildeburh!"
For those of you who know "Beowulf", we'll say that that last exam was my dragon.

Oh yeah, and for whatever reason the vending machines on campus stopped stocking the chocolate cookies I always bought before exams. I had to make do with chocolate chip (which is also good, but breaks tradition nonetheless). I guess the change in cookie really does mark that this was my last semester ever. Indeed, I took a camera-phone picture of my very last exam cookie as I walked to the building.


In between there, I watched "The Chronicles of Narnia" with actor commentary (Georgie's adorable), took a couple webcam videos of myself playing with a LotR Uruk Hai crossbow toy, bought "We Love Katamari" because Panda kept talking about it, and . . . yeah.

So now I'm done, just waiting for my official grade report to come back so I can confirm that I will indeed in fact be graduating next month. Heh . . . the gown rental is $40. $40 for like, a fraction of a single day. Ahh, gotta love school . . . . . really, that's the least of the worries, though . . .




. . . . . So hey, um . . . anyone wanna come to Vancouver and be around for May 24th? I'm gonna have an extra ticket or two for people to bring to my graduation . . . turns out the 24th is the same day my parents leave town for England . . . something they can't exactly change at this point . . . . . I'll have an extra room here and everything, and I can pick you up from whatever airport or bus station you might choose to arrive by . . . . . if not, that's fine too . . .

. . . heh. I won't deny that THAT particular bit sucks . . . buuuut, it's not the worst thing ever. I'll still have my brothers, which . . . in a way, actually, is pretty darn cool in itself. I guess I should also call up my dad, see if he's free around then . . . I feel like he might not be, but I should try him anyway . . . . heh, he IS my dad after all . . . . .

Whatever, I'm done school and never have to go back ever again. I should be happy. I can go get Harry Potter 5 now and enjoy that, or something . . .


"Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" has a pretty decent dub. I'll take the point of the minority, in fact, and say that I kinda liked the "dilly dally, shilly shally" line. Sure, it's kinda dumb, but hey, Tifa's the girl next door, she's allowed to say anything as unelegantly as she wants to make her point.

"We Love Katamari" is cute and addictive and I love the music.


So yes. I might have to change my info bar soon.
I'm not a student anymore.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

   Damn You Hildeburh!!!!!!
I'll explain the title tomorrow. I'm too tired right now.

Oh yeah, I'm finished with the school stuff.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006

   It's Thursday already?!
Wanna know what's funny? Over the course of the past couple days (along with watching all that TV stuff on DVD), I thought of two really neat, really quick articles I could write up for the site. I'll probably get to work on those after the exams, though . . .

. . . . . that said, I figure I'm on exam seclusion 'til Tuesday now. Don't expect too much from me, yada yada yada . . . I'll leave you with this bit, though:


Apparently I have a strange connection to Canadian voice actor Brad Swaile . . .

Tears ago, when "Gundam Wing" was at its North American height, I took a couple internet quizzes to see whom I was most like in "Gundam Wing". To my chagrin, the quizzes all pinpointed my personality like Quatre Rabarba Winner (did I spell that right?). In any case, I softened on the issue to decide maybe it wasn't so bad.

Later in life, once "Gundam Seed" took over the world, I came to work one day and found out that apparently my new nickname was "Dearka". Allegedly "because of the hair". So yeah, at work I'm "Dearka".

My favourite X-Man is Nightcrawler. He just kinda is just because.

In the dubs for "Gundam Wing" and "Gundam Seed", as well as in "X-Men Evolution", Brad Swaile voices all three characters. Weird, eh?


Alright, off to exam writing/studying/blah. See ya the same time "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" comes out!
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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

   I've flooded myself in the world of DVDs . . .
Y'know what happens when the DVD warehouse has a 7% off Easter Weekend sale? You spend a lot of money . . .

On Friday, the day my brother left without me to get DVDs, he picks up "The Sixth Sense", "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", and . . . I dunno, "U-571" and maybe something else just for kicks. He went light . . .

And then me, yesterday . . . hoo boy . . . . . "Justice League, Season 1", "Gargoyles, Season 1", "Arrested Development, Season 2", "Saw", "Saw 2", and . . . "Unbreakable" for kicks (hey, I liked it, so live with it). Sadly, the 2-disc set for "Moulin Rouge" was sold out, so I didn't get that just yet . . . which is a real shame because that was like, the ONE thing I really wanted to get . . . still haven't seen it yet, I know, it's a travesty. I'll fix that soon, I promise!

So yes, I expect I'll be keeping my brain well occupied just before finals blast me starting Saturday.


Ummm let's see, what else . . . . . I heard someone had a 2 year anniversary yesterday. Much congratulations to her, along with full faith that many more happy years are still to come.

Annnnnd . . . . . I think that's about all I have to say for now. I think I'll go watch some more "Gargoyles" . . .

. . . . . oh yeah, and "Saw" friggin' rules. Go young and aspiring Aussie filmmakers! Go Dread Pirate Westley!


Random SomeGuy Trivia: As the first few days of writing "Cream Filling & Nougat: World's Finest" finished, I started getting a better image of how I pictured the two. Now, my saying the following'll probably ruin a lot of images the rest of you had put together of them . . . buuuut . . .
If I were to compare an existing character with Nougat, I would say . . . . Detective Elisa Maza from "Gargoyles", but male (obviously), vulgar, and with or without facial hair. Style of dress would be similar, though . . . but y'know, male.
Cream Filling, meanwhile . . . . . somewhere in between Spike from "Cowboy Bebop" and the guys Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan played in "Rush Hour". Just with a worse looking suit, though.
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Saturday, April 15, 2006

   In you and I, there's a new land . . . . .
Here's news: I bought Kingdom Hearts II before I finished my last essay.

Here's more fun news: I finished it a couple mornings back. Took 'til 6am that morning . . . I was tired.
Not my fault, though, those boss fights were hella hard at the end. Good game, though, gotta say. Very satisfying ending. I mean, now I have Utada Hikaru's songs and Ariel's "Part of your World" stuck in my head, but really, it could be worse.


Oh yeah, apparently we're all going to burn down Comcast. Anyone else wanna come? I'm really just there as two extra arms . . . very mercenary of me, I know.


Oh yeah! I need to watch "Howl's Moving Castle"! I bought that earlier this week, but didn't have time to watch it yet. Heh . . . irony, my parents saw it before I did. They quite enjoyed it, though, so that's a plus.
Heh . . . for those of you unfamiliar, I've been slowly and gradually hooking my parents - specifically my stepdad - on anime. Mostly movies. It's working well, though . . . can't wait to bring home "FFVII: Advent Children" later this month . . . . .

Heh . . . so, going by the voices for KH2, I think the English dub for Advent Children should be pretty good. I still think it's pretty interesting that Rachel Leigh Cook and Mena Suvari are playing Tifa and Aeris respectively. They sounded fine in the game, so I don't expect anything horrid for the movie.

Other than that . . . this week I worked 2 graveyards, played KH2 all night, celebrated the aniki's 28th birthday . . . . . heh, while on that subject . . . . . I never realised how deep the in-jokes go between my brothers, brother's best friend, and I.
I'll put it this way: the friend got the brother a t-shirt that said "class of 1980" on it. We all laughed. The parents didn't know what the hell was going on.

I wonder if I should start studying for exams yet . . . . .

Oh yeah!!! "REC"!!! I watched "REC". I liked "REC". And it's like, only 9 episodes and each one is about half the size of a regular anime episode. Very cute, funny, and you get to see an anime character striving to be a voice actor . . . it's good stuff.


A'ight, I'm done for now. Have a good weekend, and don't forget to read my Spirited Away thing if you haven't already. I know, I'm shamelessly plugging myself. But hey, I can't exactly sing or anything, can I?


Random SomeGuy Trivia: I expected to study science in university. I had this expectation for practically all my elementary school and high school. Then the last half of grade 12, I figured maybe that wouldn't be the case anymore.
I did suck at Math 12 really bad, so that was maybe the catalyst . . . but let's face it, I'm better with words than I ever was with numbers . . .
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