Facepalm-Worthy Moment of the Day
You know you're addicted to Sims 3 when you're in the middle of a task and all of a sudden feel the urge to hit the 3-key or 4-key. (If you actually understand this reference and we're not friends yet, I WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND.)

Christmas Cards
I had to go back for supplies. Twice. O_o Gmail doesn't thread comments like it used to--I miscounted the number of cards I needed (only bought half as many as I should have). Still addressing cards, but hopefully everything will be done by Friday. They'd better be done by Friday--that's when I'm mailing them, dammit. Otherwise they won't get to two countries on time, according to Japan Post. The link is for 2007--2009 isn't out yet--but I think it's better to be safe rather than sorry, especially since there are a lot of letters to write, too. ^_^

And, erm... don't kill me, guys, but this year's poem is a litle (maybe a lot) lacking. ^_^; I was this close to throwing in the towel and just writing a regular carol on the thing. T_T I'll try not to torment people with bad poetry next time.

Liquid Story Binder XE
Printed the manual, all 78 pages. Let's see if this will help with the usage of the program. I'm tired of trial-and-error already. ^_^;

The Modern Rain Dance (aka How To Make It Rain)
Step 1: Do your laundry and hang it on your open balcony.
Step 2: Wait a few hours.

While I expect weather forecasts to occasionally miss the mark (Japan's weather forecasts have been incredibly accurate in the past), recenly they have been worth absolutely zero sometimes. T_T This is the third time my laundry's been rained on. I just checked the weather forecast, and even though it's raining outside, the forecast only says cloudy. WTF weatherman--what's up with this spate of absolutely crappy and way-off-the-mark forecasts? Did they fire the old one recently, or did he retire?

And here I'd thought it was safe to let my laundry stay out over night and bring it in before going to work, too. I guess this means I have to wait until Monday night... if the weather forecast wasn't lying about Monday being sunny. At this rate, I don't have much hope.

Dryers
We don't have a dryer, but after all this getting rained on, part of me wonders if it might be so bad if we got a dryer and stuck it in the kitchen. I don't think dryers need water outlets... do they? I mean, my ex-housemate's dryer had a tube that went into the washing machine, but I don't know that there was ever anything going through that tube... This bears investigation.

Cooking
I finally made some Japanese curry from roux, and damn--why did it take me so long to do this? It was fantastic, even if I do say so myself. Carrots, potatoes, perfectly juicy chicken... mmm. ♥ Can't wait for tomorrow, when I get to eat leftovers for breakfast. ♥

Ever Wanted To Hide?
After the Ichihashi saga (cf. Lindsay Ann Hawker), reading Vanish! (Wired Magazine) is really very awesome. Writer Evan Ratliff decided to vanish (just like people sometimes do) and completely reinvent himself and get a new identity. Hopefully this will help raise awareness about people who just run and disappear. And yes, this is REALLY useful right now for a story I'm writing.

Liquid Story Binder
Huh. Well, how about that. I'm actually working on outlines for different bunnies. No actual prose yet, but... huh. Outlines. Whodathunk? Maybe Monday will be a writing day after all. I guess I should seriously consider printing the manual to LSB and then paying for the program if I can actually figure it out. Who'd have thought having a workspace and different organisational things would make this so much... easier? Except it's not very easy--I'm going through the tutorials and reading the manual, and wow, this takes some getting used to.

And yet--it's so... easy. As in, when I want to make changes. Once I know what I'm doing with a file--be it changing relationships, moving outline points around, or merely grouping a bunch of random one-or-two-line notes--making a change no longer involves crossing out, erasing, or tearing up (and rewriting, sometimes entire pages). Typing is still way faster than writing. One can only imagine how powerful Scrivener is for people who use it (because it's a lot more user-friendly than LSB).

I haven't even tried PageFour yet, either. I'm not quite sure if PageFour is exactly what I need for the outlining and worldbuilding process, though. I think the ideas go in LSB, and drafting happens in PageFour. At least, that's how it looks to me just from screenshots. However, unless I miss my guess, the Builder (or is that Planner?) in LSB seems to work just like PageFour does, in which case--there's no need to get two pieces of software that do the exact same thing, is there?

Random
As a personal research challenge (albeit not a very difficult one), I answered a question on lifeinjapan. The OP wanted to know where the Beatles-themed McDonalds was. Now that I've found it, I sort of want to go there. ^_^; It's not that far from my apartment, after all.

ETA: RSI
Shit--did so much typing today I've aggravated the RSI. *wincing from pain up right arm* The mouse doesn't help either, I suspect. No more for me. Off now.

Scrivener
Bah, forgot about Scrivener. Maybe I should have gotten a Mac after all. Oh well. There's always the Hackintosh. If only I lived in the USA--this would be perfect. In the meantime, I could try Liquid Story Binder, except I'm a little worried (everyone complains about the learning curve).

Liquid Story Binder XE
Oooh. Okay, it's not as pretty as Scrivener, in a way, and it does seem to have something of a learning curve all right... but on the other hand, this is definitely a Windows product, which means I don't need an entirely different machine just to make this work. Also, having a widescreen is a definite plus when working with this--thank goodness for this HDMI screen (1920 x 1080 pixels, baby!) How long before I begin to call it LSD?

Changed my mind. If I can get used to LSB, then I won't need a new computer--just this program... ^_^ And I get 30 days (of use, not calendar days, which is awesome) to figure out if this is right for me. So far, I'm 50-50 on this--I'll have to see if I really can work on some projects using software instead of paper/pen and lots of folders. Now, the question becomes: what do I do with all these folders I already have? ^_^;

In Other News, Ai's Most Recent Truly Epic Fail
februaryfour: *trying to peel carrots with her new peeler, but the peeler refuses to peel for some strange reason* ARGH. Dammit, what's wrong, why won't it peel?
doubt72: *keeps quiet as Ai continues to harangue the peeler*
februaryfour: *gives up on peeling the carrot, chalks it up to super-tough carrot skin, cuts carrot and then starts on potatoes* ARGH. *keeps trying to peel* Darn it, this is what I get for buying the cheapest one, isn't it? *presses down hard*

And then I cut my hand. I asked Doug to help me by getting me antiseptic cream, and he did.

doubt72: I look forward to antibiotic curry.
februaryfour: *raspberries* Okay, I fail at this peeling thing. Can you help me?
doubt72: *picks up peeler, peels* Huh, this thing sucks. It's not cutting at all. *looks closely at it* ... Huh. Maybe this would work better without this plastic sticker. *pulls off a sticker that was protecting the blades*
februaryfour: O_o HOLY SHIT, I DIDN'T SEE THAT.

And I didn't. Even though I kept trying to rinse the blades and even though the peeler didn't work. I even looked at the peeler, but everything looked fine to me... until Doug pulled that sticker off.

februaryfour: *sudden realisation* Shit. This proves it. I need new glasses.

Well. It has been over three years since my last glasses prescription... *adds "truly epic fail" tag*

DDR
5 x 4 songs = 20. All of them were 7-star Difficult, and I averaged B- (more Bs than Cs). Bah--plateauing on the DDR. This is what I get for doing it on 4 hours of sleep. ^_^; Did three more with dr4b in Ikebukuro, and did not suck too much. I guess I am slowly getting better at this...

Still No Writing (But Feeling Better About It)
Notice the absence of any writing on this blog for a very long time? The itch is slowly beginning to reassert itself. I guess aishuu was right, only the timescale works out really weirdly with me--whoever heard of a two-year no-writing hiatus just to get the itch back? *facepalms*

Found on the Internet
♣ Call me suspicious, but when I see that the NSA and Microsoft have collaborated on Windows 7, I don't think "increased security", I think "backdoor".

♣ This dog is better at skating than I am. O_o

♣ So you want to buy a new TV? Here, have a flowchart to help the decision-making. *giggling too hard* ("Khaaaaan!")

Make Your Own Collage
Shape Collage Online lets you make your own collages. Here, have a look at mine:


Pictures stolen from doubt72 (I hope he doesn't mind). [Edit: Huh, embedding fail. Somehow. Even though I copied it exactly as given to me. Anyone who makes it work, gimme a holler?]

If you don't like doing this online, you can always download the desktop software. ^_^ Via Lifehacker.

Google Chrome OS
I am definitely intrigued by Google Chrome OS. Check out this very irreverent video:



Now... they're not going to release this anytime soon. That's a pity--I'd like to have it earlier rather than later, really, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Still--nice thing to save up for. I guess I'll wait on that Eeepc. ^_^

Reverse Regionalization Shock
Living in Japan makes me want to smash computers. I've never wanted to smash computers before [ETA: okay, fine, not under normal use; I disclaim all urges suffered while hacking or tinkering because that's my own fault], but this country is certainly getting me there. The reason? Regionalization.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for regionalization in a sense. It makes things more accessible (there's nothing worse than not understanding what your computer is saying to you). I know. Because right now I'm suffering from reverse regionalization shock.

First of all: Windows.

Living in Japan pretty much means buying a computer in Japan (unless I take a very expensive plane to the USA, or get something shipped from the USA, which is not quite as expensive as flying there, but still will take a $1000-plus hole out of my pocket when it comes to shipping a complete desktop system.) Unfortunately, buying a computer in Japan pretty much means having to live with Japanese Windows... unless I spend money to upgrade my computer to Windows Ultimate.

So. I paid an extra $120, merely for the pleasure of computing in a language I can understand, when if I'd lived in--oh, Hong Kong? Malaysia?--I'd have been able to get English on my computer to start with. But wait, it gets better.

Second: E-books.

I am so not down with "this book is not available in your country." WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I'm looking at the "Click to buy" button. I have a fibreoptic connection. I have a credit card ready and waiting. I read tons of books, and I have proven bookstore loyalty (I bought 100% of my previous e-books from one company--your company, actually.) And you STILL don't want to sell the book to me? What sort of lunatic are you? Yes, I know you have to follow the publisher's licenses, but... what sort of lunatics are they to dictate to a customer like this? "Nya, nya, you can't have this book even though it's only one click away, because we say so!"

Okay, fine, I'm going to pirate the book. Shucks for you. And f*ck you too. See if I buy anything else from you in the future. There's nothing like frustrating a paying customer to ensure you have one less customer to deal with in the future.

Third: Game regions.

I tried to buy the US version of Sims 3 from Amazon.com, but they wouldn't ship it to me because I live in Japan. (Yes, I tried.) As Amazon Japan has the Sims 3, and it installs in English, I thought, "Oh, okay. I guess they don't want to cannibalize sales." The game was more expensive in Japan, but shipping from the USA would have cost me about that much anyway, so it wasn't a big deal... until the first Sims 3 expansion pack, World Adventures, came out this week.

Suddenly, Facebook is full of people going "Argh, I bought the US version of World Adventures and it won't install/work with my EU Sims 3!"

A horrifying thought dawns on me: if I can't use my Sims 3 Japanese game with a US-English World Adventures game, that means I will have to either buy a new Sims 3 game in English (for an extra outlay) before I buy World Adventures, or I will have to get Sims 3 expansion packs shipped from Japan for the rest of my life. Obviously getting the US version of Sims 3 is the solution--I have American friends, and there will always be someone who will take pity on me and act as a mail stop. No guarantee of that in Japan.

But DAMMIT--I shouldn't have this problem in the first place. Don't even get me started on the myriad of Playstations or the Wii, or, heaven forbid, movie DVDs.

Fourth: Websites.

STOP DISPLAYING JAPANESE ADS TO ME. And dammit, Youtube (and all other companies)--I hate you and your "this content is not available in your country". I hate that IP-detection is being used to check if I'm in the right zip code. It's not as if I live in China and the government doesn't want me to see it. E-commerce is supposed to be borderless, but it's proving even more troublesome and frustrating than brick-and-mortar. I am not a Japanese-language consumer, I just happen to live in Japan because I can earn a living here and actually save some money while I'm doing it.

If I have the money and am willing to pay for the goods, and it's not as if exporting the goods to me will cause a threat to your country, why am I not allowed to buy it? I can see the point with encryption software, even if it's stupid, but... dammit, it's a book, it's a movie, it's harmless cotton-candy brainless fluff and I happen to want it, so why can't I have it merely because I have the wrong zip code?

Besides, if it's encryption software and I'm a rival nation that really wants it, all I have to do is get on a plane, go to America, buy the software on disk (or download it and save it to disk), then bring the disk back to whatever country I'm from. It's not as if Customs is going to stop me from bringing that software into the country, and I dare you to find my CD in a sea of hundreds of thousands of airline travellers daily.

Fifth: Ads.

If I see another "Live in the USA! Get a green card--CLICK HERE" advertisement, I'm going to scream and then go on a stabbing rampage. Yes, you corporate rats can live with the happy knowledge that you drove me to it.

You know what? Regionalisation blows. I'm sick of this. I'm really, really, really fed up. And the worst thing is, there's not a f*cking thing I can do about it besides be a pirate and break the law.

So I guess that's what I'm going to do.

[ETA: Friday 1:15 pm: Okay--three people have mentioned it now, so in case there was confusion, this is not an USA-centric rant (though I suppose it reads that way because all my examples come from the US, because it does affect me the most). I'm railing at corporations all over the world who make short-sighted decisions like this. ^_^]

Gokiburi Hoi Hoi!
(Translation: Cockroaches, come hither! At least, that's the translation I'm sticking to. It's funnier that way. ^_^) I just got two boxes of Gokuburi Hoi Hoi, a roach motel. 5 in each box--I put 5 out, and saved one box for later... just in case.

Computer Frustrations
Lib2go won't let me use a .htm file--it has to be .html. I want to snarl, but I can't snarl too much because they're providing a free service, and the workaround would have been trivial if not for my next problem: because the damned OS is in Japanese (still--dammit, Win 7, why aren't you here yet?), I can't even figure out how to get the OS to display file extensions so that I can change a .htm file to a .html file by the simple process of viewing the file extension and adding an L.

Oh god, I so want to rip Steve Ballmer's still-beating heart out and stomp on it right now. Which absolute idiot was it who decided regionalization without the ability to change languages was a good idea? Come see me--I've got a nice quiet back alley over here. We'll talk it over. *still fuming* Dammit, I'm good with computers. This is making me feel like an absolute dipshit. ARGHHHHHHHHH. Must. Kill. Programmers. *snarls*

Meme
Got snagged by ad_exia. The meme: Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper! Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on it!

My wallpaper is here, and no, I did not do any cleanup. There is no way I can explain in five sentences, though--I needed a wallpaper, this is a default Windows Vista wallpaper, I changed my wallpaper. Done. ^_^;;;;;;

Christmas Wish List (Update)

See Wishlist on Amazon USA

See Wishlist on Amazon Japan

See wishlist of books I have in e-format but want in print

Webhosting

Sims 3 World Adventures

Quaker Oatmeal Squares (brown sugar) (holy crap, they sell this on Amazon?)

[ETA: an oven (for baking)]

An Eeepc (argh, stop being expensive--or, well, okay, maybe I can afford one with my tax rebate if I get it)

A muse (T_T) Actually, not really--what I really need is discipline.

Christmas Cards
I missed a few people I thought would definitely be on the list, and then I realized people must not have noticed (at least, a few of the stragglers I e-mailed separately said they'd missed the list)... So. Last chance for Christmas cards! Click here to sign up! (Locked to my Contact Information Filter--if you can see it you have my postal address anyway, as well as my real name...)

Random
As I was re-reading this entry, a picture of a Christmas postcard with a cockroach Santa on it flashed across my mind. (I blame the topics.) Alas, I have already bought other cards and will not forsake them for this. Too bad--a Kafka-esque Christmas postcard poem would be so very cool. Yet my hindbrain cringes from the mere thought of a cockroach poem, even as a tiny part of the forebrain says "Do it!" (The rest of the forebrain sides with the hindbrain.)

Don't Type and Drive
A laptop steering wheel desk. As in, a desk that attaches to your steering wheel and allows you to use your laptop while you drive. Holy crap--one should outlaw these things. If texting while driving is dangerous, then what do you call using your laptop while driving? O_o

Blog Envy
readerofasaph's new blog fills me with--dare I say it?--jealousy/envy. That layout is gorgeous. A similar theme (Desktop Chaos) reminds me strongly of a Gmail theme and makes me go *_* and reach for it with grabby hands. I have no Wordpress blog, but I do believe I would find a way to host one just for the layout. ♥

Digital TV
B-CAS still hasn't sent an e-mail telling us we're registered, and it's been close to a month. Tomorrow I'm finally going to get the secretaries to help me make a call to the customer center--this wait is ridiculous. Japan's been full of waits for me this past month, and while individually they'd be merely minor irritations, this is really getting ridiculous.

Sims 3
I've just made a sim for a character in my story. (I made three, really, but the other two are antagonists and I'm not using them a s player-characters.) We'll see how he reacts in "real life". I'm hoping for some insights here--small ones, not big ones.

ETA: Sleeping Pill
After a long time of staying away from the sleep aids, I gave up and took a pill today. I've been waking up at 6am on a regular basis, and when I don't have to work until noon this is more than a tad irritating. Headaches, uncontrollable yawning, lethargy... you name it, I have it.

Polltime
A really random question: Poll #1487022
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28

Which is better, liquid detergent or powdered detergent?

Learning English on the Internet
Remember the prescriptivist vs. descriptivist wars? Well, here's an article that really caters to both sides. *winces* Too bad they confined themselves to reporting and refused to take a side.

[ETA: Doug says the fact that they refused to take a side shows they're descriptivist. Holy shit, teaching nudged my strong P (Myers-Briggs) closer towards J. O_o]

Waddle Waddle
I blame my sister for this one:

SimBlogging
So, remember how I threatened to make Sim story posts? Well, meet Thomas and Katrina Lonestar, and their two kids Harry and Angela.
♣ Thomas is a cop--he wants to be a Forensic DNA Profiler and is working on climbing up the career ladder.
♣ Katrina is a writer (she likes to write drama novels) and just picked up a gig as a journalist so she can help bring in some money on the side. (They want to buy a bigger house.)

In this picture, Mom and Dad are working (she's writing an article for the paper, he's writing reports on his neighbors) and the kids are doing homework.

Yes, this is what I do in my spare time nowadays, apparently. *facepalms*

So. Polltime!

Poll #1486746
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 19

Should Ai continue to make Sims blog posts in public posts?

Life (As In, Not Simulated)
Hectic--stress levels are rising. I'm not sure why I'm so stressed out. My guess is that I haven't settled into the new schedule yet. Previously, I didn't have anything to do on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I actually got a weekend and could decompress at home or just do something like DDR. Now that I'm free on Fridays and Saturdays, I have practically zero free time because my Fridays and Saturdays are filled with social engagements.

Don't get me wrong: it's nice to be popular and it's wonderful to have a social life at last! It's just that I'm paying the price for it right now with this impending stomach ulcer. I can't wait for next Monday; public holidays rock.

Diet
Not doing very well--backsliding. Too much good food from eating out at restaurants all the time. Doug and I are discovering new places every time we go out! (I forgot to mention this really neat Hiroshima okonomiyaki place that's one minute from our apartment... gotta mention that to him ASAP. Er, Doug, consider yourself notified that I want to try that place out? ^_^;) Add the restaurant food to the homecooked meals (French toast today, and oh boy it was yummy), and it's a wonder I'm still under 65kg. As it is, I am just barely staying out of the danger zone; my BMI is 25.39.

In Which Ai Proves to Be Bad at Time Management
Somehow, I'm going to have to fit DDR in on Friday or Saturday. (Can't be Wednesday, I have too many other things to do before work.) Perhaps it's finally time to do DDR in between lessons.

*winces* I don't like it--I don't enjoy having to go home and shower for the second time in a day and then rush to work. It's too cold to be running around in this weather (and oh god will it ever stop raining for more than 24 hours?) Also, I would lose 90 minutes a day in travel time alone. I've only just stopped going home during breaks because that break's short enough as it is; doing this would be counterproductive. I just can't see how else I could fit workout time into my schedule, though. As much as I dislike working out in the middle of the workday, I suppose I will have to grin and bear it.

I could also cut down on DDR and switch to the exercise bike in Tamachi. If I pack a gym bag, maybe I can start showering at the gym. The clothes will smell bad (all that sweat stuffed in a gym bag), but I guess that can't be helped. I don't like having to pack shower slippers, shampoo/conditioner, hair dryer, and facial wash, but I don't see an alternative besides going home (and if I'm going home anyway I'll just do DDR instead).

Bah. I'm going to bed--can't think at 1am anyway.

Birthdays
Happy Birthday to hikariblue, and to doumeki, too! Though I'm a little early in both cases... ^_^;

I Can Has Doug Sim Now
Doug just made a sim of himself in Sims 3. Guess who moved both his sim and hers into a place together? What would really be interesting would be actually building a house that looked like our apartment... One of those time-waster projects, I guess, unless Doug wants to tinker. Otherwise, I might end up building his house in Denver, just because.

Computers: Kazuki
I need to re-do Kazuki from scratch so that when he goes to my mother he's got a nice fresh factory install on him (and so I don't have to worry about having to teach her everything.) First, though, I have to get my documents off the machine. I wonder if I can't just stick the old hard drive in--it's good for another year or two, right?--and keep this one as an external?

Computers: Sangria
*snarl* Ship, you Windows 7 upgrade, dammit, ship. Yeah, okay, really thinking we should have just waited and bought the Windows 7 machine. *snarl* I ordered on November 6 (and only because the online system wouldn't let me order earlier--damn the IE-only ordering system). Estimated shipping date? November 29. Why the heck does it need over three weeks to go from "ordered" to "shipped"? Argh, ship now, dammit, ship now!

Monday
Work all day. Why yes, I am actually this boring. >_< I'll have time to do other things at work... at least, I hope I will. We'll see. I could use a nap, but going home would take too much time.

Almost A Do-Nothing Day
I'd just woken up and was about to post about how nice it was to have a day at home doing nothing when I realized I had a class with my private tutoring student in 15 minutes. >_< Thank god I'd decided to get up and not stay in bed. And I was just about to cook, too. [Edit: ... and he just cancelled, two minutes before I left the apartment! And because it was his responsibility, he'll pay for the lesson the next time we meet up, too. Wow, some days the universe does indeed work the way one hopes it to. O_o *looks at the rain pouring down* If I hope hard enough, maybe it'll stop raining and I can do my laundry... [Edit2: Ask and ye shall receive! Oh, what a lovely sunny day. *does laundry, whistles*]]

Death By Sparrow
It's raining heavily, and the wind's pretty strong. By chance, I looked down into the courtyard, and I noticed a large number of sparrows hopping along the ground, pecking away. I guess the worms are avoiding one fate (drowning) only to meet another (death by sparrow).

♥ Food, Glorious Food ♥
I am eating Maggi Mee (chicken), brought from Malaysia. Oh god, I haven't had this in three years, I've missed it so. It's oh-so-good. ♥ *on cloud 9*

My old headmistress (from primary school) and 3 of her family members came to Tokyo, and I took them around Shibuya and Shinjuku today. We went everywhere. Aside from getting lost in Harajuku (why do I always get lost in Harajuku?), everything else went beautifully.

♠ We had Kyuushuu ramen (they loved it).
♠ We went to Meiji Jingu (they loved it).
♠ We went to Yoyogi Park (okay, they didn't love it, but it was on the request list).
♠ We saw the Olympic stadium from across the street (close enough to count).
♠ We got lost in Harajuku but they didn't complain.
♠ We found Shibuya and they listened politely to me tell them about Hachiko.
♠ We had Cold Stone Creamery ice cream and they loved it.
♠ We found a bakery they'd been wanting to find, and it was done entirely by accident, but they loved that they'd found it.
♠ We went to the Tokyo Metropolitan building and this time I didn't get us lost, so this is a half-win (the weather was terrible--we couldn't see Mount Fuji at all).
♠ We didn't see the LOVE sculpture, but they didn't ask about it so this isn't quite a loss as a no-win.
♠ We found Bic Camera and priced the PSP go.
♠ We walked through Terrace City Shinjuku as well as Shinjuku Southern Terrace on the way home, and we took tons of pictures of the Christmas lights, and they loved it.
♠ We chatted in my room and they met Doug. They loved him.
♠ We had yakiniku all-you-can-eat, and they loved it.
♠ We went to Akihabara to look at the night lights, thus fulfilling another request. Most of the shops had closed, but Yodobashi Camera was open, so they got to see a huge electronics store too. Half-win.
♠ I put them on the correct train home, and everyone made it home safely.

Best tour-guiding session ever. ♥

Extremely Chilling News
Via tarigwaemir: courts reflect the country. Extremely chilling.

One Horrible Turn (Deserves Another?)
Like Dr Horrible? Here's a fanmovie, Horrible Turn. Via dr4b. Personally, the lab scene made me go "URGH" and turn it off, but that's because I have no patience for belaboring plot points/actions. I've been known to yell at Buffy DVDs ("Okay, we get the point, there is angst in spades, MOVE ON!"), so perhaps you should take what I say with copious amounts of salt. ^_^;

Easy Installer
Via thesundaywriter, Ninite is a really neat-looking mass-installer. I'll definitely be thinking about it when the Windows 7 upgrade comes and I consider a clean install-upgrade cycle. (First I have to back up all the Sims 3 data somehow...)

Video
Guess what Doug's been up to lately...



*facepalms*

Cockroaches!
I killed my first Japanese cockroach today. It was very small (1cm long) and when I flattened it with a notebook it only emitted a minimal amount of cockroach juice. Three years in Japan roach-free, and within a month of moving to this apartment I get cockroaches. As the only difference in my life is the old building and the tatami room, I think I can be pretty sure the tatami is causing this. *snarls at Japanese people and their inexplicable love of tatami* If there was an inexpensive way to coat the tatami and seal it over, I would do it. I am so glad I do not believe in futons on the floor--I would refuse to sleep in this room if I didn't have a raised mattress.

Anyway, tomorrow I am buying roach motels. Thank goodness I have good living habits; I think I can be pretty sure the cockroaches won't get into the food, but the sheer fact that they are in my room (dear lord *shudder*) is going to give me nightmares.

Dear Pirate-Haters
An open letter to those terrified of e-piracy. Via ramble_corner. I think I'm going to go Cory Doctorow's way and just offer things on the internet for free. With luck, people will pay me for other things. *shrugs* Which means, of course, I will never be able to quit my day job, but I was never really the sort of person one would say could write every day, anyway.

Book-Shopping
I have a list of books that I actually want hardcover copies of (even though I already own the e-book versions, and in both cases paid legal money.) These books are that useful. I also want to buy college textbooks on a few subjects, but that can wait...

To The People With Computer Problems On My F-list
Just a publiic service announcement: If I don't reply to any post where you say you have computer problems, feel free to e-mail me and draw my attention to them. Being too busy to check my f-list does not mean being too busy to help with computer problems. ♥ ETA: Of course, you could just ignore this part of this post, especially if you think I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm just saying, I'm a resource and here if you need me.

Livejournal
Today, Doug said, "When are you going to update your LJ? You should go update your LJ. You haven't updated in a few days. It's worrying. Go do it." Or, okay, he didn't say that verbatim, but I think that's a pretty close approximation of what he said. Personally, I think he just wants something to read while he's at school or on the train, but okay. ^_^

Rain, Rain, Go Away
Three whole days of rain. The pile of clothes in my laundry basket is looking a little mountainous. I shall have to actually run the dryer on Saturday.

ROFL
Letter of academic smackdown from Raymond T. Pierrehumbert (Louis Block Professor in the Geophysical Sciences at the U of Chicago) to Steve Levitt (author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics). Actually very readable, and immensely amusing!

DDR
Found the Namcoland in Shibuya. If I use a Namcoin--it's a chargeable coin-shaped token, go figure--I can do four songs for 90 yen! The problem is, Namcoland Shibuya reeks of smoke, and they don't have a fan or anything there to blow the smoke away. When I came home I stank of tobacco. *whimper* I don't know which will give out first, my feet or my lungs...

Sims 3
If I hadn't offered half an hour of Sims 3 as a stress-reliever to Doug, I wouldn't have played any Sims myself. ^_^;;;;;;; At least this time I managed to keep it under two hours. (If I didn't have this game, I'd probably get a lot more done and be done with the beta to boot. >_< Argh. Not the best decision ever. I'm definitely going to wait on World Adventures, because if I get that I will disappear off the face of the earth for a while.)

Busy
Still haven't finished the beta. *whimper* Stress levels have been so high I haven't done anything productive except work and whatever immediately pressing chores there were. I haven't cooked in a week, which should tell you how stressed I am--I normally love cooking. Doug is getting study time at home tomorrow, and I will spend the entire day at work, so hopefully I will be able to get at the thing and finish it there. Then I can finally start my own writing again. Friday seems to be a lost cause, as far as I can tell, since the entire day is now spoken for. Saturday is chores day. *sigh* Maybe in another month or so I will finally have weekends.

Somewhere in the next week I really need to go to Ikebukuro and pick up that thing for cienna. Maybe I'll make it a date night thing and get Doug to go, too--I know he likes Ikebukuro a lot...

ETA: So Not Caught Up
I am at skip=160 on the friends list, I haven't replied to comments, and I don't know how much time it's been since I last did anything LJ related. O_o I am oh so far behind. The sad part is... I think I am learning to live without it.

All Hail the Queen of Klutz
I burned my fingers serving udon. That's right, serving udon. I picked up a bowl of udon I'd just cooked for Doug, and promptly burned my fingers. I screamed, dropped the bowl (into the sink--I had that much presence of mind left, at least), and Doug was left without lunch. Or he would have been, except that I cook our udon separately (he likes chicken breast and I don't). So I cooked the remaining food, and gave it to him because it was my fault his food had just gone down the drain and I could no longer face the udon anyway. My fingers are burnt, and even typing on this super-sensitive keyboard hurts. T_T

I think, based on these few days, that I have managed to single-handedly wrench the title of Queen of Klutz away from whoever was holding it before me. Significant accidents occuring every single day for four days in a row? Yeah.

Pentatonic Scales
Bobby McFerrin and the Pentatonic Scale. I love audience-made music, and this was really rather cool. ♥



Sleep
Tomorrow is Tuesday. I am surprisingly despondent that it is not a holiday. I am so very, very, very tired--tired enough to be crying for no reason whatsoever (and under zero provocation from anything or anyone). This reminds me so much of toddlers crying once it's past their bedtime that it annoys me. ^_^;;;;;

I would go to bed right now, but I only have less than two hours left on my break, and I don't want to sleep because I'll be even more tired and cranky after a one-hour nap (as opposed to a three-hour nap). I will just go to work, hope I can keep my wits about me somehow, and then crash as soon as I get home. Sleeping at 10:30pm and waking up at 6:30am should be all right, for once.

Ai Time
I am going to just blow off doing whatever I can blow off. Right now work and every day life (laundry, food, showers) are the only things that will get my attention. Everything else... urgh. I don't think I owe anyone anything at the moment, besides a beta, and I will... try to find some time to do that tomorrow.

Why do I always break down at the busiest and most inconvenient of times? Why can't one schedule nervous breakdowns for when one has vacation time and can actually take the time to fix oneself? Why can't I stop stressing out?

Burning Out
Help.

They Call Her Accident-Prone, But It's Just a Fancy Way of Saying "Clumsy"
Remember how I bruised my fingers playing Frisbee? Well, it seems I am really Miss Bruiser this week. I managed to bruise one more finger on Doug's laundry basket (this is what I get for doing his laundry), and two more bruises were acquired at work (how does one bruise one's finger on textbooks? Go on, ask me how.)

Answer: dropping the textbook on your hand from a great height (involved a table and me bending under said piece of furniture to retrieve a marker). The other bruise was acquired by faulty depth perception and a meeting between my pinky and the whiteboard's ledge. Why yes, this is actually a normal day for me--some days I hurt myself so much my students ask me if I'm all right. *facepalms* Kill me now kthxbye.

Passing Through The House
Good lord, people shouldn't be fighting the healthcare bill over abortion, of all things. O_o I can understand economic arguments (I mean, look at Social Security). I can understand people worried over administrative detail (someone needs to give them a chill pill and walk them through it by handholding them). Heck, I can even understand people arguing over public options now that I live in Tokyo. But... abortion. I just don't understand pro-lifers.

Sleep
[23:55] doubt72: I hear typing
[23:55] februaryfour: *pretends she didn't see this*
[23:56] doubt72: Lots of typing
[23:56] doubt72: Was it four hours ago that you said you had to get to bed?
[23:56] februaryfour: XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD WAS NOT.
[23:56] februaryfour: Only three.

Okay, okay, I'm going to bed. ^_^; Just as soon as I answer one more comment...

DDR Party
Whoops--somehow Doug and I missed a notification that there would be a DDR party last night. That, or everyone forgot to invite me because they assumed someone else would. (I know how that sort of thing happens. ^_^) I got three calls and two e-mails asking me where I was, and the worst part was I had no idea (possibly this was during karaoke, so I didn't hear a thing.) Whoops indeed! I sure hope they didn't wait for us too long. ^_^;;;

Japanese English
Wow. You guys broke 30 comments without me even replying to any of them (still a little too busy, going to work). Okay--I'll get to the comments in the last post eventually, but in the meantime, have a quiz! Have you been in Japan too long (or been exposed to too many un-QCed fansubs)? Choose the best answer to the following questions. (Answers behind the cut--no peeking!)

Poll #1482263 Have you been in Japan too long?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40

1. Those books look heavy. ____ I open the door for you?

2. Let's meet _______.

3. Question: Would you like cream or sugar?

4. I'd like _______.

5. It's my first time ________ in front of an audience.

( The answers )

Drinks, Anyone?
I love creme de Cassis de Dijon (blackcurrant liqueur)--it goes with oolong tea beautifully, and it tastes so good going down. ♥ I need to figure out how this one bar in Shinjuku made Cassis Strawberry--oh lord, I had four in one night! I couldn't get enough of it and I suspect I needed to be supported out the door when we left. ^_^; *searches on the Internet* Closest I can come up with is a strawberry champagne cocktail, but I don't think the picture describes the drink I had. We'll see, though--can't hurt to try it. ^_^ This looks promising too, especially this talk of strawberry liqueur (love the name: creme de Fraise des Bois). Will continue searching.

In other news, I have established that Pimms is not very good when drunk with ginger ale. It is also not very good when drunk with any ginger ale variant. I guess I will have to buy lemonade after all. ^_^; Actually, I like Drinks Mixer--they've got some excellent suggestions on what to do with my Campari, too (though I think I'll stick to Campari Orange).

Did I ever mention I used to dream of becoming a world-famous bartender? ^_^; It's why I like reading bartender fiction so much and why Coyote Ugly is such a guilty pleasure for me... Good lord, I'm becoming a lush. ^_^;;;;;

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About The Onna Cup
So, apparently I have been living under a rock, as some boys were kind enough to inform me. I share my education with everyone (er, technically worksafe but possibly naughty):



Oh wow. I love how awesome the Flip model's presentation is (seriously, all the radar and targets), and check out the three choices of lube! I have nothing to say except Oh Japan. (And I wish I were a man so I had a good reason to get one of these! XD)

English
doubt72: English is full of things that don't make sense. For example, "I could care less" means the same thing as "I couldn't care less".
februaryfour: Actually, that only came about because people made a mistake and misused the original phrase, which was "I couldn't care less". Logically, if you think about it, "I could care less" doesn't make sense.
doubt72: Yes, that's my point, it doesn't make sense!
februaryfour: But my point is that you hear the phrase nowadays because people are mistaken.
doubt72: It's not a mistake, popular usage makes it right.

[This went on for a while--Doug said things like "Oh, irregardless and infamous are emphatic ways of saying regardless and famous" (which to me is a completely groundless argument that takes real chutzpah to even say without worrying that you'll lose brain cells in the process of saying so). After a while, I couldn't take it and hid in my room. Then an argument occured to me.]

februaryfour: How do you pronounce "nuclear", then?
doubt72: Nu-clear.
februaryfour: Well, lots of people say "nu-ku-lar". I guess, by your logic, that makes it correct pronunciation too.
doubt72: Well, of course it is. It's regional.

*splutters incoherently* ARGH. This is the problem with putting a descriptivist and a prescriptivist in the same space. (No prizes guessing who's who...)