Well, this is just about it for the 'Rindi in Japan' part of my life. It was pretty darn fantastic. I'm so glad I had the chance to do this. ^_^
I finally went to the Ghibli museum yesterday. It was really quite whimsical and fun to wander through. Too bad I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the inside... The best part was that I got to see a 15-minute short that's exclusive to the museum. I was really lucky and they were playing 'Mei to Koneko-bus' (Mei and the Baby Catbus) - the short that I really really wanted to see. Hey, anything to expand the world of My Neighbor Totoro. ^^ Ahhhh! It was so cute! It opened with the Sanpo theme song and had the little animals jumping out and stuff... And the movie was totally understandable because there wasn't much talking at all. I even understood almost all of the spoken parts, which consisted of stuff like, "You're small," and "Is that your father?"
Anyway, the gist of the movie is thus: Mei is playing by herself outside on a windy day. She unwraps a caramel candy and is about to eat it when a small whirlwind attacks her. It snatches up the wrapper and starts chasing her. Mei flees into the house but the whirlwind follows. She shuts the door behind it so it can't get out, and when it gets close enough, she grabs it. And hey, guess what! It's a baby catbus. It panics and tries to flee out of the window, which is shut. Mei calms it down by giving it a caramel. Then the adult catbus shows up and grins at them. The kitten tries to flee again, so Mei opens the window and frees it. It flies off into the sky after its parent. Later, during the night, Mei wakes up to find the baby catbus at the window. It opens up its side, inviting her in. Mei fits perfectly! XD They fly off into the night, and join many other catbuses running through the sky. They are all chock-full of totoros, grinning madly of course. Some are long, like bullet trains! X3 They all go to a forest and drop off their passengers there. Mei is left behind, and she gets scared because all of the totoros are walking past her to some destination, and they're completely ignoring her. Fortunately, THE totoro shows up (complete with umbrella), and Mei jumps onto his chest in relief. They follow the others, and it turns out that all of the Totoros are filing into this HUGE, ancient catbus (apparently the kitten's grandmother). The sign announced where their destination was, but I couldn't read the kanji. ;~; The totoros all seemed very solemn though. Anyway, Mei befriends the huge catbus by feeding it a caramel, and all of the totoros grin and laugh. Mei gets back into the baby catbus and they take off into the night, flying alongside the huge catbus, who looks something like a cruise ship. For some reason, the totoro with the umbrella gets left behind, and he waves goodbye to them. EL FIN.
Hahaha. I was bawling through the whole thing. XD Nostalgia hits me hard like that. I hope no one around me noticed - if they did, I'm sure they were pretty confused. Anyway, it was awesome. I was so glad that I got to see it.
Mrrm, besides that, I went shopping in the huge shopping complex in Nakano, simply because I'd always seen it from the train window, and I wondered what it was like. There was a huge Mandarake there, which was pretty cool, but I didn't feel like buying more manga. I did find a cute shirt in a clothing store (it was on sale!), so I bought that. It's sleeveless, black, and button-up. There are pleats down the front, a collar, lightly frayed edges, two pockets on the front chest, and lots of chunky metal buttons. So excellent. *_* I think it'll go well with my black skirt, fishnet shirt, and favorite chunky shoes... Now, to find a reason to wear an emsemble like that... Hm. o___o; Actually, I wish I had some appropriately frilly-sleeved white shirt to wear under it. I've got the perfect thing in mind, but I don't think I'd be able to find it by randomly looking around. Ah well. Love.
Today I made one last trip out to Odaiba to check out the Shounen Jump store. Didn't buy anything, but it was a lot of fun to look through. Also wandered through that mall complex - it's freaking huge! After that, I rode over to Akihabara to pick up KOTOKO's first CD. I'm listening to it now, and it is truly wonderful. I love it! I think I might like it even more than her second CD, which I bought a while ago, but I haven't finished listening to it yet, so perhaps I shouldn't pass judgement yet. ^^; Anyway, it's good.
I'm flying home this Thursday. I need to notify various people that I'm leaving. Gotta find someone to pay my bills. Gotta reserve a seat on the Narita Express, because I want as little hassle with my luggage as possible. It'll be a bit pricey, but it's better than having to brave public transport. Hahaha. I also have to pack all my stuff. Boy, that's going to be fun. *sarcasm sarcasm*
- Rindi
Current song: KOTOKO - Genei
Current mood: Happy happy happy
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
Name Change
I have some more posts to put before this one, but they aren't quite finished yet, so they'll be up later. I just thought that I'd mention that I decided to change the name that I post under.
It's bothered me for quite some time that I've been using the pseudonym of Flykyr Skysong. I mean, she's my little golden dragon. She definitely ain't me. I totally don't go by that name - never really did before either. So from now own, I'll be posting with something a good deal closer to my real name (Rindi), and my blog will be retitled appropriately.
Not that you cared or anything. o_o;
- Rindi
Current song: Seal - Kiss From a Rose (<3)
Current mood: Feeling rushed
It's bothered me for quite some time that I've been using the pseudonym of Flykyr Skysong. I mean, she's my little golden dragon. She definitely ain't me. I totally don't go by that name - never really did before either. So from now own, I'll be posting with something a good deal closer to my real name (Rindi), and my blog will be retitled appropriately.
Not that you cared or anything. o_o;
- Rindi
Current song: Seal - Kiss From a Rose (<3)
Current mood: Feeling rushed
Monday, August 22, 2005
Rindi and Skuld's Great Scientific Adventure
By now, I think we've established that my favorite Japanese arcade game is Pop'n Music. Well, Skuld likes Pop'n Music too (we've gone through several entertaining rounds of battle mode), but her favorite game by far is Sangokushi Taisen. It's based on the Three Kingdoms period in China, and is what can only be described as an online arcade trading card game. Sound complicated? It is. >:D
You collect cards by playing the game - the machine spits out cards after every game. Player data (name, wins, losses, ranking) is stored on an IC card. Basically, you choose one of the three kingdoms (each represented by a different color), build up an army of cards from that kingdom, and then face your troops against another player somewhere in Japan. The players come from a nationwide pool, so you could be playing someone all the way across the country. All cards have a cost, with the better cards having higher costs. The cost limit is eight, so you can either use eight weak cards, or fewer (but stronger) cards. You move your troops by pushing the cards around on the playing field. The object is to get your troops across the field to attack your opponent's castle. Action takes place on a video screen, where you can watch your troops running around, attacking, and casting spells. Destroyed troops have to return to the player's own castle to recharge before setting out again. It's interesting because you're up against actual people instead of a computer (you can play the computer if you want, but that's not nearly as fun). As with any trading card game, the people who have the money to buy rare cards dominate the game, so that kind of puts a damper on things...
Anyway, Skuld and I were curious about how the game managed to read cards. I thought there might be some sort of chip to read, but that sounded rather pricey, and people throw out unwanted cards all the time. I put an extra card in water for a while to separate the front and the back, but there was nothing inside. Since there was no chip inside, we hypothesized that the game sensors were optical, and we went over to the arcade to check it out.
At the arcade, I put down the separated card on the table, and it recognized the back but not the front. Understandable. Even for a normal, unaltered card, only the back can be read. The back of a card consists of part of the character portrait from the front, and a few boxes with text in them. Next, I completely crumpled the card so that it was completely illegible. I took another card and tore it in half. Lastly, I took a third card and folded it in half twice. We tried all three of these cards, and only the third card was readable by the game. Conclusion: the sensors must indeed be optical. Our guess is that it reads the character portrait... But that's just a guess. A good next experiment would be to cut out the character portrait from one card and tape it to a different card, to see if we can trick the machine.
Haha. Yay for the scientific method. Yay for being nerds. This is how MIT students amuse themselves when they have nothing better to do. ^__^;
- Rindi
Current song: None
Current mood: Still exhausted
You collect cards by playing the game - the machine spits out cards after every game. Player data (name, wins, losses, ranking) is stored on an IC card. Basically, you choose one of the three kingdoms (each represented by a different color), build up an army of cards from that kingdom, and then face your troops against another player somewhere in Japan. The players come from a nationwide pool, so you could be playing someone all the way across the country. All cards have a cost, with the better cards having higher costs. The cost limit is eight, so you can either use eight weak cards, or fewer (but stronger) cards. You move your troops by pushing the cards around on the playing field. The object is to get your troops across the field to attack your opponent's castle. Action takes place on a video screen, where you can watch your troops running around, attacking, and casting spells. Destroyed troops have to return to the player's own castle to recharge before setting out again. It's interesting because you're up against actual people instead of a computer (you can play the computer if you want, but that's not nearly as fun). As with any trading card game, the people who have the money to buy rare cards dominate the game, so that kind of puts a damper on things...
Anyway, Skuld and I were curious about how the game managed to read cards. I thought there might be some sort of chip to read, but that sounded rather pricey, and people throw out unwanted cards all the time. I put an extra card in water for a while to separate the front and the back, but there was nothing inside. Since there was no chip inside, we hypothesized that the game sensors were optical, and we went over to the arcade to check it out.
At the arcade, I put down the separated card on the table, and it recognized the back but not the front. Understandable. Even for a normal, unaltered card, only the back can be read. The back of a card consists of part of the character portrait from the front, and a few boxes with text in them. Next, I completely crumpled the card so that it was completely illegible. I took another card and tore it in half. Lastly, I took a third card and folded it in half twice. We tried all three of these cards, and only the third card was readable by the game. Conclusion: the sensors must indeed be optical. Our guess is that it reads the character portrait... But that's just a guess. A good next experiment would be to cut out the character portrait from one card and tape it to a different card, to see if we can trick the machine.
Haha. Yay for the scientific method. Yay for being nerds. This is how MIT students amuse themselves when they have nothing better to do. ^__^;
- Rindi
Current song: None
Current mood: Still exhausted
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
The Beginning of the End
In a completely unsurprising turn of events, summer vacation came and went almost before I realized it. It was fun though, and for that I am glad. I have photos of Comiket cosplay, Nikko, and Shimoda.
No pictures for today - I didn't do much, although I did go shopping in Harajuku again. I really get a kick out of seeing Japanese clothing. I walked down a sidestreet which ended up having all these fancy little boutiques, and I wasn't really planning to go into any, but then I walked by one that just made my jaw drop. Everything inside was black or white, and spiffed up with straps, buckles, seperated sleeves... You name it, they had it. Gothic awesomeness, in a very classy sort of way. I had to go inside and poke around. The sales clerk pointed out the cute little ears on one of the hoodies. I swear, the moment I am able to drop $100 for a shirt without thinking twice, I'm going to buy a plane ticket to Japan and go and buy out that store. Because at that point, paying for a ticket to Japan will seem like nothing either. XD Hahaha, so much hawtness. Now, if only I had a reason to wear clothing like that, the money to buy it, and a svelte Japanese physique. >_<
I put some of the pins that I bought at Comiket on my backpack. They make me ridiculously happy. I've been filled with this sort of warm, fuzzy feeling since Friday-ish. I think it's the feeling of fangirlishness. It's certainly something that I'm not used to, but I rather like it.
Well, tomorrow puts me back to the daily grind. Only two weeks left! I can't decide whether to feel sad or relieved about that. Heh. At least Skuld is coming to stay over for a few days again... Darn those other interns and their non-communicativeness.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: Kiss and Cry - Fly Hi (Physalis remix)
Current mood: Still on a weekend high
No pictures for today - I didn't do much, although I did go shopping in Harajuku again. I really get a kick out of seeing Japanese clothing. I walked down a sidestreet which ended up having all these fancy little boutiques, and I wasn't really planning to go into any, but then I walked by one that just made my jaw drop. Everything inside was black or white, and spiffed up with straps, buckles, seperated sleeves... You name it, they had it. Gothic awesomeness, in a very classy sort of way. I had to go inside and poke around. The sales clerk pointed out the cute little ears on one of the hoodies. I swear, the moment I am able to drop $100 for a shirt without thinking twice, I'm going to buy a plane ticket to Japan and go and buy out that store. Because at that point, paying for a ticket to Japan will seem like nothing either. XD Hahaha, so much hawtness. Now, if only I had a reason to wear clothing like that, the money to buy it, and a svelte Japanese physique. >_<
I put some of the pins that I bought at Comiket on my backpack. They make me ridiculously happy. I've been filled with this sort of warm, fuzzy feeling since Friday-ish. I think it's the feeling of fangirlishness. It's certainly something that I'm not used to, but I rather like it.
Well, tomorrow puts me back to the daily grind. Only two weeks left! I can't decide whether to feel sad or relieved about that. Heh. At least Skuld is coming to stay over for a few days again... Darn those other interns and their non-communicativeness.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: Kiss and Cry - Fly Hi (Physalis remix)
Current mood: Still on a weekend high
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Great Comiket Moments
Stepping into the largest room I have ever seen, and being blown away by the amount of people in there. I hear that Tokyo Big Sight is as big as six Home Depots. And yes, it still isn't big enough.
---
Finding an artist whose website I've visited multiple times... and getting a personalized sketch from her!
---
Finding the Deuil/Pop'n Music doujin section... and realizing that it's bigger than the Inuyasha, Shaman King, and Sonic the Hedgehog sections combined. Take that, teenage American fangirls!
---
Deuil cosplayers. Japanese Deuil cosplayers. 'Nuff said.
---
Pong: But yaoi doesn't involve explicit male sexual encounters, right?
The rest of us: *long long moment of stunned silence*
*hysterical laughter*
Pong: *hangs head in shame*
My wording is off - so shoot me. Pong is such the fanboy, but that's what makes him so loveable.
---
Playing 'The Typing of the Dead' with Skuld at Leisure Land. It's still the best game ever, but the fun is doubled with an extra player.
---
Purikura and Japanese karaoke are fantastically hilarious. What kind of crazy bored people make those karaoke videos?!
---
Note to self/anime club members: Next time, when infiltrating Comiket as foreign press, bring business cards!
---
More later... Let me fangirl in peace. Because fangirl is totally a verb.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: none
Current mood: I must be the happiest fangirl alive... KYAAA!
---
Finding an artist whose website I've visited multiple times... and getting a personalized sketch from her!
---
Finding the Deuil/Pop'n Music doujin section... and realizing that it's bigger than the Inuyasha, Shaman King, and Sonic the Hedgehog sections combined. Take that, teenage American fangirls!
---
Deuil cosplayers. Japanese Deuil cosplayers. 'Nuff said.
---
Pong: But yaoi doesn't involve explicit male sexual encounters, right?
The rest of us: *long long moment of stunned silence*
*hysterical laughter*
Pong: *hangs head in shame*
My wording is off - so shoot me. Pong is such the fanboy, but that's what makes him so loveable.
---
Playing 'The Typing of the Dead' with Skuld at Leisure Land. It's still the best game ever, but the fun is doubled with an extra player.
---
Purikura and Japanese karaoke are fantastically hilarious. What kind of crazy bored people make those karaoke videos?!
---
Note to self/anime club members: Next time, when infiltrating Comiket as foreign press, bring business cards!
---
More later... Let me fangirl in peace. Because fangirl is totally a verb.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: none
Current mood: I must be the happiest fangirl alive... KYAAA!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Scattered Thoughts
A few quick notes before I drop off to sleep. Summer break started today, so I have no work until Tuesday. Woot! I went to Shinjuku today to pick up a sketchbook, mail some junk to the US (darned expensive! ;~;), and to watch Star Wars. About time. I've been meaning to see it for ages. By lucky chance, Wednesday is Ladies' Day at the theater, so I got my movie ticket for only 1000 yen (a bit less than $10). That's totally comparable with going to see movies in Boston, so yay. Usually it's 1800 yen. @_@
I had about an hour to kill before the 6:30pm show, so I wandered a bit. There's a theater in the area that's putting on 'We Will Rock You: Queen, the Musical'. It was very amusing to watch/listen to the advertisements for it. I also went into one of the numerous arcades and played the best game ever! There's nothing more amusing than blasting zombies with your... keyboard. The game characters even run around with these keyboard devices strapped to their chests. The game isn't even all that old - it's from 2000, and the graphics are quite impressive. The dialog's in English, which leads me to wonder if this was an American game at any point. Nahhh.... There's no way. The game is too nerdy for its own good. Actually, I thought it was pretty fun, although it would've helped if the words were in English so that I wouldn't have to type a vowel as every other letter. That really hampered my gameplaying abilities. XD Ah, that arcade also had DDR, so that makes two places in Shinjuku now! This one was expensive though, so I didn't play.
Anyway, I finally went and got to see the movie. The theater was cool - it was totally a theater at one point. It still had the plush seats and the stage with a screen across the back of it. Much much bigger than the place where I saw the Fullmetal Alchemist movie. Makes sense, I guess. There were plenty of other people, but I had no problem getting a seat. Movie's been out for a while, so I think most people have already seen it. I was clever and bought some meat buns from a department store beforehand, so I had dinner as I watched the previews and advertisements. Japanese ads are funny. They really are something else. I thought it funny that the car commercials all focused on happy drivers/families/people in general. American car ads are all, SPEED! COOL! OMGBUYMENOW! The Japanese commercials had the same elements, but there were people too. Heh. Anyway.
It was really funny. I was totally spacing out through the first few minutes of the movie. I think that my general non-understanding of Japanese has trained me to space out when people are talking. I had to kick myself a few times because the movie was totally in English, and I was busy thinking, "Eh, they're yelling stuff and getting shot at. It's action. It doesn't matter what the actual dialog is." Heh heh. I totally could have watched this movie in Japanese and still known exactly what was going on. It wasn't complicated like the FMA movie. :P Soooooo predictable (except for one little exchange between Yoda and Obiwan at the end about Qui Gon which pleasantly surprised me). But I guess I can't really blame George Lucas - it all had to work out like that to tie in with the original series. I kinda feel like I ought to go back and watch all those movies again.
I feel bad for all the Japanese watching the movie. I wasn't at all impressed by the subtitles that I was able to read. They missed out on so many nuances! It felt very... sterile. Dispassionate. Ah well. I guess it's the same for anything that gets translated. Better than it not being translated at all.
---
I have figured out why I'm going to be single for the rest of my life. Some random guy tried to talk to me in English when I was walking to the theater, but he surprised me and he looked a bit sketchy, so I didn't answer and just kept walking. I should've at least asked if he was lost or something. I feel like a bum now.
Let's take a look at me versus random guys in Japan:
Gaijin waiting for the Narita Express from the airport - Were talking together, too shy to join in
Random foreigner dude that I saw one day at Hitachi - Too shy to go and talk to him
Guy who danced with me at Club Womb - Invaded my comfort zone and I accidentally smacked him. Didn't mean to. Honest.
MIT graduate who saw my ring while I was waiting for the Sumidagawa fireworks - Had a lovely chat for a few minutes. He was an Econ major, class of '81, and was surprised that I was still an undergrad.
Sketchy Indian guy in Roppongi - Treated me like property. I refused to answer his calls (hooray for caller ID). Dares fail. >:(
Random guy in Shinjuku today - Did not respond to his "Hello, how are you doing?" and weird eyebrow-raising-ness
The verdict: I suck! But so do other people!
Sometimes it feels good to hate the world.
---
I think I've figured out why LotR doujinshi disturbs me. It's based on real people. I don't mind weird pairings between anime and manga characters because they aren't real to begin with. But, when people start pairing up their favorite band members (Green Day doujin exists!) or Major League players (I'm totally serious here!), it just creeps me out. So much for being open-minded. XD There are so many things that would never have occurred to me had I not flipped through that Comiket catalog. I feel dirty. ._.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Current mood: Sleepy
I had about an hour to kill before the 6:30pm show, so I wandered a bit. There's a theater in the area that's putting on 'We Will Rock You: Queen, the Musical'. It was very amusing to watch/listen to the advertisements for it. I also went into one of the numerous arcades and played the best game ever! There's nothing more amusing than blasting zombies with your... keyboard. The game characters even run around with these keyboard devices strapped to their chests. The game isn't even all that old - it's from 2000, and the graphics are quite impressive. The dialog's in English, which leads me to wonder if this was an American game at any point. Nahhh.... There's no way. The game is too nerdy for its own good. Actually, I thought it was pretty fun, although it would've helped if the words were in English so that I wouldn't have to type a vowel as every other letter. That really hampered my gameplaying abilities. XD Ah, that arcade also had DDR, so that makes two places in Shinjuku now! This one was expensive though, so I didn't play.
Anyway, I finally went and got to see the movie. The theater was cool - it was totally a theater at one point. It still had the plush seats and the stage with a screen across the back of it. Much much bigger than the place where I saw the Fullmetal Alchemist movie. Makes sense, I guess. There were plenty of other people, but I had no problem getting a seat. Movie's been out for a while, so I think most people have already seen it. I was clever and bought some meat buns from a department store beforehand, so I had dinner as I watched the previews and advertisements. Japanese ads are funny. They really are something else. I thought it funny that the car commercials all focused on happy drivers/families/people in general. American car ads are all, SPEED! COOL! OMGBUYMENOW! The Japanese commercials had the same elements, but there were people too. Heh. Anyway.
It was really funny. I was totally spacing out through the first few minutes of the movie. I think that my general non-understanding of Japanese has trained me to space out when people are talking. I had to kick myself a few times because the movie was totally in English, and I was busy thinking, "Eh, they're yelling stuff and getting shot at. It's action. It doesn't matter what the actual dialog is." Heh heh. I totally could have watched this movie in Japanese and still known exactly what was going on. It wasn't complicated like the FMA movie. :P Soooooo predictable (except for one little exchange between Yoda and Obiwan at the end about Qui Gon which pleasantly surprised me). But I guess I can't really blame George Lucas - it all had to work out like that to tie in with the original series. I kinda feel like I ought to go back and watch all those movies again.
I feel bad for all the Japanese watching the movie. I wasn't at all impressed by the subtitles that I was able to read. They missed out on so many nuances! It felt very... sterile. Dispassionate. Ah well. I guess it's the same for anything that gets translated. Better than it not being translated at all.
---
I have figured out why I'm going to be single for the rest of my life. Some random guy tried to talk to me in English when I was walking to the theater, but he surprised me and he looked a bit sketchy, so I didn't answer and just kept walking. I should've at least asked if he was lost or something. I feel like a bum now.
Let's take a look at me versus random guys in Japan:
Gaijin waiting for the Narita Express from the airport - Were talking together, too shy to join in
Random foreigner dude that I saw one day at Hitachi - Too shy to go and talk to him
Guy who danced with me at Club Womb - Invaded my comfort zone and I accidentally smacked him. Didn't mean to. Honest.
MIT graduate who saw my ring while I was waiting for the Sumidagawa fireworks - Had a lovely chat for a few minutes. He was an Econ major, class of '81, and was surprised that I was still an undergrad.
Sketchy Indian guy in Roppongi - Treated me like property. I refused to answer his calls (hooray for caller ID). Dares fail. >:(
Random guy in Shinjuku today - Did not respond to his "Hello, how are you doing?" and weird eyebrow-raising-ness
The verdict: I suck! But so do other people!
Sometimes it feels good to hate the world.
---
I think I've figured out why LotR doujinshi disturbs me. It's based on real people. I don't mind weird pairings between anime and manga characters because they aren't real to begin with. But, when people start pairing up their favorite band members (Green Day doujin exists!) or Major League players (I'm totally serious here!), it just creeps me out. So much for being open-minded. XD There are so many things that would never have occurred to me had I not flipped through that Comiket catalog. I feel dirty. ._.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Current mood: Sleepy
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Fun in the Sun
Today was a good day. Full details here.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: Random piano stuffs in the background
Current mood: Happy
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: Random piano stuffs in the background
Current mood: Happy
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Mounting Excitement
Oh man! I am totally psyched for Comiket! I'll bet it's something that you've never heard of. Comiket is short for 'Comic Market', and it's Japan's premiere doujinshi convention. Doujinshi are fanmade manga, based on anime, manga, or game series. Perfect if you want to see other peoples' takes on your favorite series. The event is three days long, and each day has a different theme. Friday the 12th is primarily video-game centered, although there are also some manga series featured too (I noticed GanGan - they publish Fullmetal Alchemist, among other things). Saturday is dedicated to other manga series - primarily Shounen Jump (there are huge sections dedicated to One Piece, Naruto, and Prince of Tennis). Sunday is like, bad hentai day or something - it's seriously all porn. I'm definitely going on Friday and Saturday, but I think I'll pass on Sunday. It really is catered to guys. ^^;
Next week, from Wednesday to the next Tuesday, is Hitachi's summer vacation, so I'll have that Friday off. Le woot. I was flipping through my catalog and I randomly landed on the Pop'n Music section. SCORE! I am going to raid the Deuil section because I will kill to get my hands on any doujin featuring Yuli. XD Actually, I recognized one person whose website I've visited a couple of times. I'll have to drop by - maybe they'll draw a sketch for me. That would be totally sweet. I hear that if you bring a sketchbook with you, you can ask artists for drawings, and they'll do them for you, free of charge! I wanna fill up a sketchbook with drawings by doujin artists. X3 Just have to remember to pick up a sketchbook this week.
You have to really be familiar with a series sometimes, to figure out what different circles are featuring. They tend to shorten names to the first one or two syllables...
The catalog really opened up my eyes to stuff that I wouldn't expect to see. I mean... Lord of the Rings doujinshi? Aragorn x Boromir? Oh man, my eyes!! Some pairings are just disturbing... Although the single offering for Isildur x Elrond just made me laugh. Of course, right after LotR comes the huge Harry Potter section. I had to strain my eyes to find straight pairings amidst the plethora of male/male pairings. Draco x Ginny? o_O Hm. I might drop by there if I have time, although I'm not a terribly huge HP doujin fan. Things I definitely have to check out will include Fullmetal Alchemist (Ed and Envy... does it exist? I feel like everything is RoyEd... blech), Final Fantasy VII (Reno? o_O), Pop'n Music (Deuil!!!), Naruto (SasuNaru? KakaIru? I wonder if NaruHina exists...), One Piece (ZoLu = so cute :3), Legend of Zelda (Link <3) and probably ten thousand other things that haven't sprung to mind yet because I haven't finished flipping through the catalog. I got too excited and I had to calm myself down by writing this. I'm sad that I won't be able to understand anything that I buy. Need to improve the kanji skills. ._.
Anyway, I got a bit of planning that I need to do before I'm ready to go. I have a bunch of floor maps that need to be marked up and stuff. Gotta get the sketchbook, and also contact Pong and see what his plans are. The lines will be really long and I don't want to wait alone, so it'd be nice to hang out with him. Haven't seen him since June either...
Oh yeah. One last thing I want to do. Take pictures of Japanese cosplayers. They tend to do a fantastic job, and I really really am looking forward to seeing them. I need to make sure I've got spare batteries. ^_^; My only problem is that of money. I'm not getting paid 'til after summer vacation (;~;), and I'm down to a couple hundred yen. Makes day trips a difficulty. I might have to find myself an ATM. Geh! Didn't want to have to do that. I knew I shouldn't have bought all those CDs over the past few weekends. Sigh. I wonder how much a single doujin costs...
*smacks herself* Nothing's going to dampen my enjoyment and anticipation! Lookin' forward to it!
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: KOTOKO - RETRIEVE
Current mood: :DDDDDD
Next week, from Wednesday to the next Tuesday, is Hitachi's summer vacation, so I'll have that Friday off. Le woot. I was flipping through my catalog and I randomly landed on the Pop'n Music section. SCORE! I am going to raid the Deuil section because I will kill to get my hands on any doujin featuring Yuli. XD Actually, I recognized one person whose website I've visited a couple of times. I'll have to drop by - maybe they'll draw a sketch for me. That would be totally sweet. I hear that if you bring a sketchbook with you, you can ask artists for drawings, and they'll do them for you, free of charge! I wanna fill up a sketchbook with drawings by doujin artists. X3 Just have to remember to pick up a sketchbook this week.
You have to really be familiar with a series sometimes, to figure out what different circles are featuring. They tend to shorten names to the first one or two syllables...
The catalog really opened up my eyes to stuff that I wouldn't expect to see. I mean... Lord of the Rings doujinshi? Aragorn x Boromir? Oh man, my eyes!! Some pairings are just disturbing... Although the single offering for Isildur x Elrond just made me laugh. Of course, right after LotR comes the huge Harry Potter section. I had to strain my eyes to find straight pairings amidst the plethora of male/male pairings. Draco x Ginny? o_O Hm. I might drop by there if I have time, although I'm not a terribly huge HP doujin fan. Things I definitely have to check out will include Fullmetal Alchemist (Ed and Envy... does it exist? I feel like everything is RoyEd... blech), Final Fantasy VII (Reno? o_O), Pop'n Music (Deuil!!!), Naruto (SasuNaru? KakaIru? I wonder if NaruHina exists...), One Piece (ZoLu = so cute :3), Legend of Zelda (Link <3) and probably ten thousand other things that haven't sprung to mind yet because I haven't finished flipping through the catalog. I got too excited and I had to calm myself down by writing this. I'm sad that I won't be able to understand anything that I buy. Need to improve the kanji skills. ._.
Anyway, I got a bit of planning that I need to do before I'm ready to go. I have a bunch of floor maps that need to be marked up and stuff. Gotta get the sketchbook, and also contact Pong and see what his plans are. The lines will be really long and I don't want to wait alone, so it'd be nice to hang out with him. Haven't seen him since June either...
Oh yeah. One last thing I want to do. Take pictures of Japanese cosplayers. They tend to do a fantastic job, and I really really am looking forward to seeing them. I need to make sure I've got spare batteries. ^_^; My only problem is that of money. I'm not getting paid 'til after summer vacation (;~;), and I'm down to a couple hundred yen. Makes day trips a difficulty. I might have to find myself an ATM. Geh! Didn't want to have to do that. I knew I shouldn't have bought all those CDs over the past few weekends. Sigh. I wonder how much a single doujin costs...
*smacks herself* Nothing's going to dampen my enjoyment and anticipation! Lookin' forward to it!
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: KOTOKO - RETRIEVE
Current mood: :DDDDDD
Firework Frenzy
Fuwa fuwa... Today was awesome! I started out by going to Akihabara and picking up a CD that I've had my eye on. I also grabbed souveniers for various anime-fan friends of mine (they are super cool and no, I'm not saying what they are), and I got the main thing that I went to get - the Comiket catalog! More on that in the next post.
After that, I grabbed lunch and hopped on a train to Ichikawa to wait for the Edogawa hanabi taikai (fireworks event). Hiro, who lives in Tokyo, invited all the MIT interns to come and watch, so I decided to go, since I'd been rather disappointed by the Sumidagawa hanabi taikai. I got there around 3, and there was only one other person waiting... Hiro showed up about half an hour after that. He'd set up the tarp on Wednesday, and we were in a perfect spot - directly across the river from the launch site. Actually, it was a bit of a problem because the wind was blowing towards us, which meant that later on, during the fireworks, we were constantly having debris rain on us. Still... Talk about freaking awesome! I don't think I've been so close to fireworks before. Not even in Boston, where we usually get the best seats in the house, right across from the launch barge. I mean, when the stuff is actually falling on you... Anyway. It was fantastic. Pictures can be found here!
Some of the more interesting fireworks included hearts, butterflies, and kitty faces! There were also the standard smiley-faces, but those are just so... common. Plenty of flower-inspired fireworks too. There were also various 'themes' for the various major parts. One was 'rainbows' with seven-colored fireworks, and another one was 'red rain' with plenty of red and gold fireworks (I heard something about imitating the autumn sky over the loudspeaker). Sam took lots of video, so I'm going to have to download that. Fun fun.
Also got to speak some Japanese to various friends of Hiro, which was nice. I got complements about my kanpeki (perfect) Japanese. ^^;
We chilled at Hiro's house for a bit after the show, and people displayed photos on Hiro's laptop. I gotta get my hands on some of those, because most of mine came out wobbly.
In the end, I dragged myself back to Kokubunji and jumped into the shower so I could wash off all the ashes. Thank goodness! I'd been feeling like I'd never be clean again.
Then I settled down to check out my Comiket catalog and I got so excited that I had to start blogging about it. In fact, I'm going to give it its own entry. Check it out, yo.
There was a small earthquake right after I started typing this... just to round out the evening, I guess.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: KOTOKO - 4 2 1 -a will- (from her second album, which I bought today... it totally rocks!)
Current mood: Utterly exhilerated
After that, I grabbed lunch and hopped on a train to Ichikawa to wait for the Edogawa hanabi taikai (fireworks event). Hiro, who lives in Tokyo, invited all the MIT interns to come and watch, so I decided to go, since I'd been rather disappointed by the Sumidagawa hanabi taikai. I got there around 3, and there was only one other person waiting... Hiro showed up about half an hour after that. He'd set up the tarp on Wednesday, and we were in a perfect spot - directly across the river from the launch site. Actually, it was a bit of a problem because the wind was blowing towards us, which meant that later on, during the fireworks, we were constantly having debris rain on us. Still... Talk about freaking awesome! I don't think I've been so close to fireworks before. Not even in Boston, where we usually get the best seats in the house, right across from the launch barge. I mean, when the stuff is actually falling on you... Anyway. It was fantastic. Pictures can be found here!
Some of the more interesting fireworks included hearts, butterflies, and kitty faces! There were also the standard smiley-faces, but those are just so... common. Plenty of flower-inspired fireworks too. There were also various 'themes' for the various major parts. One was 'rainbows' with seven-colored fireworks, and another one was 'red rain' with plenty of red and gold fireworks (I heard something about imitating the autumn sky over the loudspeaker). Sam took lots of video, so I'm going to have to download that. Fun fun.
Also got to speak some Japanese to various friends of Hiro, which was nice. I got complements about my kanpeki (perfect) Japanese. ^^;
We chilled at Hiro's house for a bit after the show, and people displayed photos on Hiro's laptop. I gotta get my hands on some of those, because most of mine came out wobbly.
In the end, I dragged myself back to Kokubunji and jumped into the shower so I could wash off all the ashes. Thank goodness! I'd been feeling like I'd never be clean again.
Then I settled down to check out my Comiket catalog and I got so excited that I had to start blogging about it. In fact, I'm going to give it its own entry. Check it out, yo.
There was a small earthquake right after I started typing this... just to round out the evening, I guess.
- Flykyr Skysong
Current song: KOTOKO - 4 2 1 -a will- (from her second album, which I bought today... it totally rocks!)
Current mood: Utterly exhilerated