Bored Rican a Bloggin'

My journey through Anime

2010-03-11T13:30:00.010-05:00

Chiyo-Chan from Azumanga Daioh

It was an interesting albeit unexpected day for me during my Twitterland™ discussions for the day. I usually get up, check what the current stuff is and go back to finding stuff for my crazy Japanese obstacle course show "Sasuke" obsession since the new tournament is coming on TBS (Japan) in 2 weeks. I spent most of my time on the RamblingRican blog more than this one .. as evident by my lack of blogs here lately. Either way I saw a post by BaileyChadwick who is/was a member of a cool Anime show appropriately enough called "AnimeTV". I found them a few years ago on my Comcast On Demand (of all places) (Season one is still on Youtube). The show catered to my biggest and longest running passion.. Anime. They review anime titles of all genres, had different segments of current stuff in otakuland™ and even introduced me to new things I didn't even know existed.

Anime TV

I noticed this year that Anime TV was back and even sponsored (Revision3 website). Although I'm still iffy on some of the new people in it (call me old fashioned I just get used to certain people and it takes a while for me to warm up to new people - sorry CristinaVee) I was still enjoying the new season. Either way I saw Bailey post that there was a new Anime TV episode.. and I almost choked when I saw what title they were going to review.. I had a distinct jump the shark moment and was going "well damn.. there goes another show that is veering off the path".. I watched a few minutes and was just so furious that I was wasting my life on it.. I shut it off. Then I waited a moment and remembered what one of the guys said in the beginning of the show where he was doing this basically as a case study to shut the kids up.. so I put it back on (right where I left off.. I wasn't that stupid) and I got to the talking points segment. Then I was a bit relieved.. Still, I did post to the AnimeTV twitter feed thinking no one really reads them and I got a response almost immediately! I was shocked (happy but still shocked). What followed was a small and pleasant exchange that lead to me writing this blog. If ya'll already know me from RamblingRican.. it's almost damn near impossible for me to make a point without going into a long discussion trying to explain wtf I'm trying to say. I have to quantify my reasons based on my experience since I know it weighs heavily on what and how I react to things of this nature.

Star Blazers (Space Ship Yamato)

A lot of my frustration is based on how I grew up. I'm friggin 37 years old and I started with Anime since literally the day I was born. I have 2 older sisters that introduced me to Anime with reruns of Marine Boy, Astroboy, Speed Racer and the coup de grace of all anime and the reason I'm such a geek today.. the "omg I have to watch" .. Star Blazers (yes.. I'm totally fangirling about that new movie coming out later this year in live action.. it looks.. intense baby INTENSE!!). I remember hauling ass home trying to make it in time for Star Blazers.. because there are only 210 days left Starforce! Hurry and save planet Earth! THAT was my soap opera while my other friends wasted life on General Hospital.. ugh.. They can have Luke and Laura.. I got Star Blazers!

Star Blazers (2nd Season - Comet Empire with Trelaina)

From there I went into the subculture world of "Japanimation" (as it was called back in the day) and even paid good money for 10th generation underground VHS copies of bad animes just because the US market was too stupid to actually produce real copies of it. (Lord knows I watched ALL of DragonBall in reaaaaaaally bad quality.. but we LOVED IT folks.. we LOVED it!).. yes yes.. uphill.. both ways.. in a blizzard.. I got it. When the USA finally got their heads out of their rear ends and finally supported anime I happily plunked my money down even if the dub was super bad.. Finally after my college years REAL anime broke through .. despite Pokemon.. shudder.. and DVD's had BOTH tracks (Japanese and English) and I was able to watch unedited versions in any format I wanted. 90% of my entire DVD collection is anime. (mostly shojo but I digress..) Trust me.. my friends can attest to that.. I even QUOTE them Lucky Star... LOL Even with streaming in the internet I began to realize the sheer magnitude of the amount of titles of Anime that is out there. Some great ones.. some OMG-that's-horrible ones and some that I have to wait until someone reviews because I know nothing about.

DragonBall Z crew

This is where AnimeTV came in. It was a low budget but well conceived indie show with kids younger than me but no less passionate about Anime and all things in that nature (videogames, cons, etc) and even as a throw-in had a host that was actually a real USA voice actor in Johnny Yong Bosch who this generation knows as the English voice of Ichigo in Bleach while I still remember him as Vash the Stampede from Trigun... sorry.. digressing again.. I personally felt (well my husband too since he's a geek like I am) that it was a show that we can get into. I don't always agree with the reviews but that wasn't the point. It was a fresh look at titles from Japan that either were not so new or maybe even overlooked and treated it with a reverence and respect that is not given (or should be given) to American cartoons. It was a round table.. er.. sectional discussion as someone would doing movie critiques (like I did in film school back in the 1990's). Each with their own varying tastes, likes and dislikes and at the end they said their recommendation for each title shown. This year it's a bit more off the cuff but the essence of the original show still remains. Heck.. I'm renting Genshiken from Netflix simply because I appreciated their review!!

Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2

So when I saw this week's show I was horrified and thought "oh no .. here they go destroying a good thing just to please the new fanboys". Personally Anime for me will always be a Japanese produced or at least conceived show. I grew up watching American cartoons as well and I have a name for them. Cartoons. Nothing wrong with it but it's not Anime. Anime has a sophistication and a totally different way of reaching to the audience than their American counterparts. - it JUST happened to be animated. Given a lower budget (since making live action anything is a hell of a lot more expensive to produce in Japan) they still say a story that's rich enough for movies in a style that's easier to digest by way of animation. Heck there are stuff that I question can even be made into live action these days. As opposed to American cartoons that are geared directly to a style simply because it's animated! In the USA they stunt the story because the audience is limited simply because most adults won't bother watching an animated film thinking it's for kids. Maybe Up being nominated in the best Movie category in the friggin' Academy Awards alongside live action will change their minds after this.. though I won't hold my breath.. so was Beauty and the Beast.. sorry.. digressing.. Anyway back to cartoons.. wait.. there are some exceptions like Avatar: The Last Airbender but for the most part I stick what made me like Anime - the fact that it's not the typical American story. I'm fine with new things. Heck I'm Puerto Rican and grew up in a very different culture even though I was born and raised in the USA. That has always been the allure for me in (Japanese) Anime. Given that I've grown up with it for the past 37 years and have distinctly put each version of animated stories in my mind "this is an American Cartoon" and "this is Anime" each giving them their own space and respect each genre. It's different and I like different :)

Marvin the Martian

Which leads me to the main complaint why I was so frustrated with the catering that happened in this weeks episode. I applaud things like Avatar: The Last Airbender for keeping the style of Anime but I don't distinctly look for something distinctly Non-Japanese simply because I can't understand it in it's native form.. or "gasp" because I can't immediately pronounce the title (actually I can since I pronounce it with my Spanish voice :p ) like some of the kids in THIS generation. Similar to the arguments I get a LOT by this generation when it comes to Sasuke/Ninja Warrior.. Kids these days.. having grown UP with Anime have a laziness when it comes to new things. Some people won't watch Sasuke because they can't understand it.. but rather would watch the horridly edited and bastardized version of it in Ninja Warrior simply because it's "in English". Branch out folks.. at least you have subtitles these days.. heck.. most are dubbed for your laziness! (shaking my cane in the air) Back in my day I paid 40 bucks for a half hour episode that I can barely see because the quality was so bad!!

Kiki's Delivery Service

While I may be considered snobbish for wanting to see things in Japanese simply because it's produced better that doesn't mean that I'd literally go out of my way to avoid something simply because I can't understand it. Plenty of Anime these days have far better voice actors than their original counterparts from back in the 1970's and 1980's.. trust me.. I had to sit through them because it was all I had. I'm not too lazy to see a brand new title with no English dubbing but actually fan-subbed if it was recommended to me. I'd gone through manga online that was fansubbed and even sat through full episodes in complete Japanese only and STILL enjoyed it. In fact when something new comes out (thanks Netflix.. I abuse you daily!!) I watch it in English (especially if it's in instant watch) and if it's too grating I change it to Japanese.. but if it's a great story I don't care what language it is or where it came from. Whether it was Korean, Vietnamese.. heck.. Russian.. If it's a good story and well produced.. I'd watch it!

Tenchi Muyo

By now for those who know me and have read the small snippets here and there that I write about in terms of anime and all things geeky as I call it.. (my condolences to my friends who have to endure my "check out this clip since this reminds me of this" whenever I have a conversation with them online... ) I have a very distinct and even small list of anime that I'd watch anyway. I don't dismiss stuff off the cuff.. unless it's so bloody that I will be wanting to wretch every 10 seconds.. (although I distinctly like Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (not the original THAT was too bloody) and even Berserk. I won't be caught dead watching Ninja Scroll but I adore the Series!. The same could be said for Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex!) So it's shows like AnimeTV that help me sift through the sheer glut of titles out there and know which ones to stay away from. THIS is what I'm hoping stays the same. I don't want them to turn into a show that panders to the region-phobia crowds that are borderline anti-Japan or even anti-change lazy crowd that exists in this generation to permeate into a show that's specifically geared to Japan and Japan Animation and Japan Otaku subculture. That's.. the whole point of the show. So while I don't mind the occasional American production there's no reason to change the format of the show just to accommodate those afraid of Japanese Anime (Anime IS Japanese so I agree.. it's redundant to even say that).

The girls from Lucky Star

It was nice for whoever it was that braved sending me a tweet to know what my opinion was. I was happy to see that people DO read them and genuinely want to know what is on our minds. I was even encouraged to get on the forums. (Yeah.. me.. on forums.. LOL) For those who know me from the Sasuke Maniac Forums I spend more time slapping kids down for idiotic responses LOL So putting me in a group that's half my age and less educated about a subject would be like sending a wolf in a hen house.. I'll take the high road and write this and spare the kids the maniacal tendencies of this RamblingRican :D

Kona-chan from Lucky Star

Edited: I just had to add this:

"Duty Calls" ©xkcd

Haven't posted in a while...

2009-07-17T00:58:00.006-04:00

Been battling a bit of depression lately.. yes.. yes.. again.. I go on this stupid spurts of "what my life would have been like" and "why am I such a failure" and "can't anything go right?" syndrome that goes on to I'm sure everyone on the friggin' planet. I can't even blame it on being couped up in the apartment during winter (because it gets back during winter...).

Still sucks though.. My friend have been really helping me out though. They are always the positive reinforcement I need to keep myself from going insane. Latest thing was to take me to the beach and let me walk around in the sun and sand. (of course I broke out into hives.. I keep forgetting I get a reaction from too much sun.. but I didn't find it until I got home and it's been fine ever since).

Still it bothers me why I keep going into these cycles of depression... Just wish I'd remember what I DO have instead of wallowing in what I don't. I'm tired of feeling that I'm somehow a palm tree out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by snow.. Totally out of place and isolated.. /sigh.. I'll get out of this one way or the other.

When looking at Google images while searching for pics for this blog (you know me.. I have to be OCD about posting pictures with blogs..) I ran into Footprints. I need to read that more often .. Maybe it'll snap me back to reality sooner.

Final Fantasy history and 14 wishlist

2009-06-15T13:19:00.009-04:00

2005 POL Message for the 1 year anniversary of the North American Launch of FFXI

Okay ya'll.. fair warning.. this is about Final Fantasy XIV which comes out next year or so. Just writing this down here since I know no one will read it but do link to it in discussions :p These are not the droids you are looking for.. if this is of no interest to ya :p

My original FFXI character - Rank 10 Sandorian Kitty Paladin (2003-2005)

Okay. For those who know I've been playing FFXI since the beta of the game way back like 6 years ago.. I lost track of time.. (checking wikia.com.. 2003 NA release..) Okay so since Summer of 2003.. In 2004 I even took a small break (for a month) playing Lineage 2 (can't find my friggin' screenshots).. but the chaos PvP drove me up the wall.. Hubby quit since we couldn't separate our accounts (we shared one with the promise that when the PS2 version came out we could pay to separate them.. alas.. it was an empty promise.. ). I tried Wow.. and well.. it didn't WOW me.. so I went back to FFXI. I since took a break in October of 2005 to start playing Everquest 2 (since hubby was playing that one since launch in 2004). We beta tested Lord of the Rings Online as well but I didn't like the feel of the combat in the game (though it was GORGEOUS). I resumed playing FFXI in April, 2008 after an almost 3 year break - THIS time playing alongside my husband. We split time between FFXI and City of Heroes (speaking of which.. I realized I don't think I've taken screenshots of my girls yet :p).

Getting my Rank 10 as a 63 PLD.. whoot! (I've seen gotten Rank 10 on this version of my girl as a WHM this time around)

Reading the different boards and forums and wiki's, etc. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I want to even try FFXIV.. I mean seriously.. if it's 11 redux.. I'm not going. I'll just wait for Star Wars The Old Republic and call it a day. I'm not adverse to starting over (had to start over from FFXI from beta.. then again when they couldn't restore my character and started all over again back in April of last year.. /sigh).. so that's not the issue. Anyway.. the things I really want will most likely NOT happen but here are a few things in no particular order. OH! And for the record I do NOT use a "windower".. I use the Vanadiel 2008 collection that comes windowed. So if anyone gets freaked out over the fact that some options are available through the illegal windower.. Don't bother.. I don't use it. I've had friends banned for using it.. I refuse to get banned for something .. even if it's EXTREMELY HELPFUL.. okay got that out of the way.

LadySpeedster - We MUST have our own chickens.. period..

MOUNTS - When I got back to the game I was Sooooooooo happy to raise my own chocobo. It was a pain in the butt of a quest.. took a very long time (almost 2 full RL months).. but it's a cute way of getting your own chicken er.. mount.. I don't even want to know how much I paid for her but I still get a cute attack when I call her out :) Besides.. it's worth it's weight in gamehours when she saves me from walking in mollasses just getting to my destination... (Outpost warp >> Chicken >> Yay!). EQ2 handled this differently where you could buy different mounts (mostly horses though you did have access to flying carpets, Wargs, etc.) and even quest for certain ones. For those of us who would rather travel faster than snail's pace.. it's a nice way of allowing us to do so. Considering this IS another Final Fantasy game.. I'd be a wee disappointed if we didn't get our own chickens..

Lord of the Rings Online - Beta

BETTER MAPPING - Just put this picture up of LOTRO since they had the same problem (at least on the beta) as they did with FFXI. I don't have EQ's map up.. I should.. seriously.. because THIS one is something I wish EVERY MMO game has. Dangit.. I have to refer to this site but it doesn't give you the same effect. Basically the window pops up (hitting the "M" button.. as opposed to the bass ackwards way you have to do it in FFXI..) and you see where you are IN REAL TIME.. The map makes sense.. and you can see yourself running in there as an arrow. no more "where am I and where is everyone".. with maps that are not topographical (ever try to figure out those stupid maps from Empty areas like Promyvian-Holla? Yeah.. I thought so..) and half the time you are OFF the map listed. The EQ2 maps not only where helpful with their real time tracking of your character on the map.. it showed where the heck the zonelines were.. VERY helpful for someone who hasn't visited the area yet.. Also.. I didn't have to buy the maps in EQ2.. They were native to the game. The worst thing that happened was that some were blacked out like a "fog of war" to show where you have explored and where you didn't. Though half the time I just clicked the option to see the whole map to know where the heck I was going.

Everquest 2 - Raid windows

CLICKABLE CURES - Here is a great example of what I'm talking about. Again.. back to EQ2. (this is my healer btw (you have different characters for different jobs unlike FFXI).. She was a 70 Warden in this picture before the level cap and of course before I quit). Anyway.. In FFXI you have a bear of a time keeping track of people NOT in your group. For EQ2 you had Raids where in FFXI you have Alliances. I'd like to see FFXIV have an option to display your Alliance/Raid and be able to CLICK on their name (rather than tabbing) to facilitate easier curing/healing and buffing. I could simply use my mouse to touch any name on the screen and target THROUGH them to either cure them or even attack through that character. In raids it was ridiculously helpful to be able to do this. You have someone in red in group 4 and you are in group one.. I just hit one button and I have them targeted so I can keep them from dying.. try THAT in if FFXI..

VISUAL CON SYSTEM - This is also from EQ2 and COH - Alongside the FFXI "EP, EM, etc." I'd like to see colors attached to monster's names. This way I can visually see a sea of red going "oh crap.. it's all Incredibly tough".. or worse.. "NM.. oh crap".. I can't count how many times I thought this was a normal monster only find out it was 10 levels above me..

Everquest 2 - Solo mission against a Dragon

MAINTAIN STATUS BARS - So far just about every MMO now has this option. Check out this screenshot from EQ2 - again my healer Aslin (yes it's a little dark.. I was too lazy to change it). The top right icons show buffs that are ON ME with timers telling me how long I have left before I run out. This includes heals (some are 1 minute regens, etc.) to buffs, mount times, temp buffs, permanent buffs.. ALL with timers telling me when they are going to wear on me. The top left is almost identical but it represents timers that I am currently maintaining. Things like buffs on groups and raids. So if I am going "why is his defense low.. " I can tell that some monster stripped my buff off a person (and yes it says who the target is).. I always wished FFXI had this.. here's to hoping FFXIV has something similar. For a healer.. you have NO idea how useful this feature is.

Everquest 2 - Mission log

QUEST JOURNAL THAT MAKES SENSE!! - FFXI was notorious for going "Such and such quest".. and no other information in there.. How did I know that after talking to some chick in Sandoria I had to get a rare/ex of Kirin? I mean.. wtf.. If it wasn't for sites like Mystery Tour in the past and now the ridiculously useful FFXI Wiki.. I'd be loss beyond all possible comprehension in FFXI. In EQ2 they at least gave you the quest, and possible leads. It didn't always tell you exactly what to do.. but when maintaining a lot of quests (or if you just left it for 2 months later) you know what you accomplished and what you need next. I hope FFXIV has a more robust quest log.

Final Fantasy XI - Wedding (after 11 months of /random lottery.. /groan..) I'm sitting on the front row (my sponsor is wearing her wedding gear (and yes she won her lottery almost 5 months before me..) and my friend who stood in for my RL husband is sitting next to me in the Sandorian Aketon). We had an awesome time! I wish it was more readily accessible to everyone. (P.S. This was before there was wedding gear for the guys)

BETTER RUN IN-GAME EVENTS - Okay this only goes for my griping about getting married the first time around.. but lemme explain.. no wait that will take too long.. lemme sum up.. The first time I heard of in-game marriages (save your comments about WHY anyone would get married in game please) I heard it from my Japanese friends who comprised of 90% of my friends list at the time (I had to play during Japanese prime time and I was very fortunate to find really nice people with broken English who didn't mind spending time with me).. they had GM moderated weddings almost 2 full years before the NA's were allowed to have it. Even so.. even with the bitching about the JPN/NA problems with unevenness.. the system itself was warped. Someone who just started the game right now can theoretically get married in the first available over someone who had applied 10 months before.. Trust me.. I saw it happen. If SOE plans to reinstate something like this in the future I ask that they abolish the Lottery System and please go to first come first serve. Even if it's months ahead of time.. I'd rather do that then have my poor sponsor have to play the lottery game for more than 44 weeks in a row.. (this is also why I refused to try to do this again with my RL husband this time around and opted on getting the replica crafted gear instead. Though I would have preferred the whole ceremony again.. I mean.. I am geeky like that.

Present Day - Hubby and me playing game with the tops of our replica wedding gear (Opaline and Argent) to celebrate our 12 year anniversary

DEATH DEBT - I don't have a screenshot for this so bear with me - I HATE deleveling. Having played a few MMO's who handle death very differently here are my options. COH and EQ2 both have a debt system. You don't lose experience like you do in FFXI but you get basically the lost of xp as another bar to add to your upcoming xp. For example. I just leveled 10 and I died. What FFXI would do is to tack on the debt and go BACKWARDS and take it away from what you earned. You could be sitting there naked because the gear you just learned to use is now not equipable because you are back to level 9.. (My original character was 51/52 about 13 times in one month thanks to the problems getting AF keys in Eldieme way back when). I hope with FFXIV they institute a debt system rather than a full delevel. EQ2 added to it by instituting armor degradation where you had to pay to repair your armor. I don't like that part. For someone who doesn't make a lot of money to begin with.. that's a detrimental way of doing things. I'd rather do the COH version and just keep the debt with no fear of going backwards. There is still a penalty of death since GAINING xp from that point on is stunted by having to pay off the debt first rather than gain additional xp to your next level.

Ode to my old character in full Wedding Gear (and sporting the Airship glitch)

STORAGE!! - Again.. another EQ2 thing which has different implications. For those who didn't know - EQ2 allows crafters to create boxes, bags, quivers, etc. that you can sell to allow more storage to your character or ingame bank. For example. When you start you have about 8 slots you can hold things. But.. you can put a bag in one of the slots that is 10 slots and now you have 18 slots to hold crap in. Multiply that with the slots and upgrade to 40 slot bags or boxes and you have several hundred slots. For a crafter. I'd fill EVERY SINGLE ONE with just harvestables.. The bonuses were obvious. To crafters you could make money in just making boxes (Carpenter) or bags (Tailor). This also included Quivers (Tailor) to hold arrows, throwing items, etc.

SE CUSTOMER SERVICE - This is a catch all gripe. For anyone who has had problems with either lack of help with either GM's, Customer Service Reps on the phone.. or even SE announcements themselves.. I'd sum it up with

a) make more official announcements.. even if if they are not showing much information.. take the time to say SOMETHING about what you are working on and don't leave us in the dark.. especially if there are problems.
b) DO NOT NINJA FIX - I don't care what it is.. "NPC was displaying incorrectly a hat instead of a scarf".. TELL us what was changed. We can deduce later our own stuff but the fact of the matter is.. if there is a change.. put patch notes.. Even mondane stuff.. Don't ninja nerf something and ignore the community. If it has to be fixed.. TELL us what it is.. I think a lot of crying by the community will stop in general if we had some acknowledgement.
c) Hire competent GM's.. Don't hire someone without at least a grasp of the game. Even generally. I know it's a pain of an arse job.. but if someone calls for help and they don't know wtf a taru is.. it's just another SEFAIL...
CHOOSE YOUR OWN SERVER - So we don't have a repeat of FFXI's golden years of fail with the stupid World Passes (even Penny Arcade had fun with this).. Let US decide where we want to go. I dont' care if the servers are mixed with all the countries and time zones.. seriously I just want to go to "such and such server" if I know my friends are there. Plain and simple.

CUSTOMIZATION OF WINDOWS - Last but certainly not least - allow customization of our windows. I'd love to put chat and combat in seperate windows (see my EQ2 pics for that example) so I don't miss something. If I'm waiting for a TP call or something I just lost it in the combat (which I do like seeing). Give ME the option to see it or not see it or put it in another place on my screen. Personally EQ2 had this right where they allowed outside UI's to exist on top of their own. If you didn't like the normal UI for the game.. make your own or download one of the dozen versions available. Even if they DIDN'T want someone else to mod UI the game.. allow for players to change positions of windows using the FFXIV engine. Get with the times.. EVERY MMO has this option.

Dealing with Spam with Trial accounts - EQ2 and COH got this right.. Ban new players (specifically the ones on a trial account) from sending tells. That alone will stop a lot of crap.

This to keep - Level Synch..{Yes, Please}.. That is all

12 years and counting...

2009-05-30T08:58:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow is our 12 year wedding anniversary.. wow.. time flies.. I actually sat down and took note of everything we've ever gone through.. from me being sick.. to him being out of work for over a year.. to us losing our place to live.. to gaining another back.. a job promotion.. and most of all.. we are still together and still in love. We still play games and goof around.. and we still look at each other saying "wow.. this is crazy.. you still want to stay with me"..

I think that is what shocks me the most.. someone still wants to stay with me. I think I'll never get used to it. I'm perfectly happy with staying with someone.. especially if it's hubby.. but .. ya'll know me.. I mean.. who would want to stay with me? I can almost hear him say "shuddap..." and go on about some nonsense about how horrible he really is.. and how fat he is.. and who on Earth would marry him.. then I'd have to go over and clobber him.. I mean.. I'd do it anyway.. but why provoke the attack? LOL

It's scary when I come to think that I currently hold the record in my family.. My parents only lasted 17 years and that was just a number.. trust me.. it was over before it started.. the current ongoing record is mine. Mom's still divorced (still crossing fingers on whether this new one is Mister Right..), Dad's still divorced and constantly complaining about his girlfriend.. though.. he never really did married though she's been around for a long time now.. My oldest sister is still divorced, my middle sister is married but got married 3 years after me (though I'm happy to say she is still happily married :D ). And even my nephews - none are married and one has a boy but already broke up with his girlfriend. Not like my husband's family.. in fact my inlaws are over the 40 year mark (yay) and still going strong.

In this day and age I kinda feel sad for those who attack the institution of marriage (trust me this won't get political.. ) because I AM one of the lucky ones that got it right the first time. Lord knows I'm surrounded by the unfortunate ones.. kinda makes me feel guilty.. but happy at least that it DOES work with some people. Even recent friends whom I've met through the internet.. it excites me when I hear of wedding anniversaries and that things are going well with the relationship (even if anything else around isn't going so hot (job, health, finances, etc.)). Lord knows I know a weeee bit about that..

"Duty Calls" ©xkcd

Overall I'm ecstatic. I genuinely feel this guy is staying for me until we both get old and goofy.. wait.. we are already there.. /sigh. I mean for starters we got anniversary presents.. in game.. we got ourselves wedding gear for our in game characters.. you don't get geekier than that.. (LOL I should take a picture of it.. (eta.. I added it below) Anyway.. it's on Sunday.. he doesn't have to work and we aren't doing anything with anyone else so it's our weekend :D Having already spent any money we had on regular life stuff we don't get each other presents. Lord knows we totally spoil each other every other day of the year.. trust me on this.. LOL!! Still.. it's nice to know when I wake up in the morning there is a guy waiting for me to wake up just so he can say he loves me. That still makes me cry thinking of it.. I have done nothing to deserve it and by all rights he should have left me.. but he's still here and I'm ecstatic.

P.S. I took pics - granted they are only the tops of the wedding wear.. but he got me the top when I got him his :D

I love Geek friends :)

2009-04-27T05:07:00.004-04:00

Yes.. we've been there...

During my previous D&D Night I noticed one of our friends with the best T'shirt ever made.. him being in tech and having had the question posed like a thousand times.. a day.. I found it hilarious he had to get a T'shirt :) I totally forgot I had this picture taken and he really was a good sport to just stand there so I can blog about it :D

One of those days..

2009-03-10T04:54:00.003-04:00

Must.. stop.. sneezing..

You know those times where at the time it wasn't funny but when you look back it was? I didn't have one of those.. I had a "omg that was painful" but funny as hell when it happened. Well.. it went like this. I'm sick.. whoopty-do.. I'm always sick.. of something or of it.. so this time my friend from Delaware got hubby sick and he got me sick.. I'm sneezing like crazy.. then today I had a baaaad headache and I crawled .. sorta to bed .. it's like instinct now.. hubby thinks it's funny.. this was not amusing.. Anywho.. he figured with my friggin' fever he should get some Aleve in me to bring that down. Sucker doesn't do anything for my headaches but it does well with fever reduction and general aches and pains. Then.. at the worst possible moment.. while I was drinking water and taking 2 Aleve at the same time.. THIS happened...

Yep.. I sneezed.. not just any sneeze.. one that baptised the bed, my blankets, me and hubby.. it was so explosive I thought my head was going to go with it.. MAN it was painful.. ever sneeze while swallowing 2 solids and a liquid? If you haven't.. that's cool.. it's nothing I'm writing home about.. wait.. oh nvm.. /sigh.. Anyway.. as soon as I did it hubby looked over and had the best W.. T.. F.. look to his face.. it was classic. We both bursted out laughing so hard it was painful at the same time. I can barely see straight.. I'm covered in water.. HE is covered in water.. heck we are not even sure I managed to actually SWALLOW the pills but he didn't see any projectiles embedded into furniture... or worse.. on him.. it wasn't on me.. it wasn't on the bed.. so I guess I did manage to swallows the stupid pills.

All in all I managed to get some sleep after having muscle spasms in my chest from the freaking out laughing and I think the pills lodged in my chest.. /sigh You had to see it though.. it was like one of those oooooold cartoons of a chicken sneezing and all of it's feathers came off leaving them in a poof of feathers on the ground? Yeah.. couldn't find a picture of that so you have to use your imagination..

Movie comparisons.. oh.. the food..

2009-02-16T06:17:00.004-05:00

I got a Netflix account when I found out that I can watch free movies through my Xbox 360 with their new "Instant Watch" service.. omfg.. I have caught up on an insane amount of Anime... okay ehem.. let's get to this post.. LOL Okay.. First thing is first.. I went by the recommendations of people on the Netflix site and round this totally adorable movie called "Tortilla Soup". I watched it around 3 am and was soooooooooo hungry for the food shown.. (you have no idea how much I kept going "oh so that's how they do that..") that I emailed my friend Carol going "you have to watch this movie.. I went on to describe it and she goes.. "uhm.. that's a remake of the movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman that I blogged about!!!".. LOL wow.. sorry.. had a moment. So.. still being a Netflix account I rented the movie (since it was not available through instant watch the way Tortilla Soup was) and it arrived on Friday. Just saw it this morning (also 3 am..) and was dumbstruck as to how different the feel of each movie was!

Both stories have to do with a Widower who is a semi-retired Chef raising 3 grown daughters. Each has their own lives that finally start to branch out into their own leaving their father to deal with the loss. In each film the father continues a tradition of elaborate Sunday meals that would make any restaurant experience seem bland.. Father feels out of touch with his daughter's lives and tries to change his own situation by doing something else. Friend's mother comes back into her life and she goes to try to seduce the widower to unexpected results. Obviously knowing that this was the original movie that Tortilla soup was based on.. and because I saw Tortilla Soup first.. I expected it to be a complete rip of the original. When it first started there were similar things shown. One daughter was an executive with an open relationship with her boyfriend whom she didn't want to commit to, one was a born again Christian who was an old maid and the last was a young college age student who got involved with her friend's ex boyfriend. That's BOTH movies in a nutshell. That's where the similarities end.

I can't believe how different in feel they were. Obviously growing up rowdy Latin I was cackling and crying and laughing in Tortilla Soup because I was going "yep.. that's my Aunt".. "omg.. that's close to my Uncle..".. and "Damn that's my cousin.." and "oh that might be my sister.".. With Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.. I felt so out of place because it wasn't my culture but wow.. what an eye-opener! Granted Tortilla Soup was profoundly Mexican (and I'm Puerto Rican), I still found myself drooling more in Tortilla Soup rather than Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.. because I didn't know what anything tasted like.. in Tortilla Soup I was going "OMFG I WANT THAT".. and half the time in Eat, Drink, Man, Woman I was going "wtf... " Especially the frogs.. omg.. the frogs..

A few of the major differences was how the exact same story was different in each CULTURE.. Chinese.. no one talks to each other and if they do it's like one word answers.. Latin culture.. Dad is domineering and there's an all out drag out shouting match with various household items flying in the air.. NO one keeps opinions to themselves in Latin Culture.. in the Chinese movie.. only the Divorced woman's Mom was the yapper.. I found it interesting that in the Chinese movie the youngest daughter got pregnant.. in the Latin Culture there would have been a homicide by Dad.. trust me on this.. LOL It would have been Eat, Drink, Man.. wtf did you do to my little girl.. BANG.. movie over.. last shot is of either Dad in Jail or his funeral because he shot himself and his family after that.. ehem.. sorry.. see what I mean about different cultures? In Tortilla Soup there was CONSTANT chatter and talking and chatter and talking.. and eating.. and chatter and talking.. Eat Drink Man Woman I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the subtitles because there wasn't much dialogue!

The ending was also decidedly different. The middle girl rejects the job to Barcelona becomes a chef and everyone is all happy and living close to each other like one big happy rowdy family in Tortilla Soup.. In Eat Drink Man Woman.. they all seem to be completely away from each other and it's almost "felt" like a sad ending. The middle girl did go to Amsterdam, came back and bought her father's home and went on with her life basically alone.

The food.. oy the food.. I drooled every 10 seconds in Tortilla Soup.. having had a lot of the dishes or dreamed about having them but didn't have gold bullion lying around.. while in Eat Drink Man Woman I had no clue what anything tasted like.. half the ingredients I was freaking out with and the other half I was bewildered.. I'm sure Carol was having foodgasms in Eat Drink Man Woman while I was having my foodgasms with Tortilla Soup!

All in all both movies were wonderful! I wouldn't consider them chick flicks but they were really cute cultural movies that had a fantastic display of food! If you want my recommendation.. rent them both! Culturally you will enjoy the differences! I plan to own both movies at some point.

Kazuhiko Akiyama blog

2009-01-05T14:43:00.001-05:00

Kazuhiko Akiyama © Kazuhiko Akiyama 2008

There are very few times I am proud of something I do. Last night was one of those rare occasions though. I wrote a blog entry on this guy last night. Not since Michael Milner have I been requested to do a blog about someone. Just never thought I'd be allowed to do it. Granted I didn't get to do the whole question and answer thing but hey it's something he knows I did and others here in the USA are going to be reading it (which of course is the complete intention). I'm at least happy the initial responses have been positive! I had a lot of fun writing it.

Happy Cows come from Japan.. or China.. which is it? LMAO

2009-01-02T01:24:00.010-05:00

Happy Cow!

All ya'll know my fascination with Anime, Japan and all things related in between.. so it was needless to say when I found out this year was the year of the Ox (or Cow) in the Chinese Zodiac.. I started to think of one of my favorite Anime's.. Fruits Basket!

Fruits Basket DVD cover - Hatsaharu Sohma

Immediately I thought of Haru!! Hatsuharu Sohma (草摩溌春, Sōma Hatsuharu) who plays the character cursed by the spirit of the Ox of the Chinese Zodiac.

Haru's usual wear.. black leather chaps.. LOL

Again.. the only reason I knew what year it was .. it was because of learning much from my dear friend in Japan - Carol who blogged about the year of the Ox on her blog :) And.. an awesome blog writer I adore.. wrote a certain piece on cows as well :D (LMAO Ube I'm still laughing on the burger...)

I .. love.. Ube.. that's all I have to say :)

Ehem.. anyway .. there are 12 animals of the zodiac.. and no.. there is no cat in the Chinese Zodiac.. /cries.. I'm such a fan of the cat.. I'm part of the fanclub.. honestly :D

Story of the animals going to the banquet from the Chinese Zodiac

Knowing also that the past year was year or the rat I immediately remembered part of the order of animals because of the beginning of the anime where Tohru's mom in the story recounted the story of the animals.

Hatsuharu Sohma of Fruits Basket

Even if it was part of an anime I thought it was cute I even had some sort of a clue as to animals that are a part of the New Years in East Asia :) I think it started in China and ended up spreading .. but I can't stop thinking of Japanese New Year when I think of Fruits Basket and year of the cow :)

.. shudders.. Elsie.. the cow..

P.S... I probably shouldn't be showing you this... but.. There is an Elsie.. the cow.. Blame Borden's Cheese.. omg.. I hated growing up with my nickname.. I mean I swear.. I didn't look like a cow.. wait.. there was that time when I was 17.. oy.. scrubs brain... I hate my cousins.. I hate my cousins.. okay.. happy thoughts.. happy thoughts..

Happy New Year :)

Christmas time! Finally!

2008-12-16T04:37:00.006-05:00

Tree with flash on

FRIGGIN' FINALLY! Okay.. I got it done.. Phew.. Long story short we have not completely finished unpacking from last year's move to this apartment. So in the living room (where the tree is now) behind the coat closet was a mass of plastic containers and boxes still to be unpacked or sorted.. or chucked.. you know.. the stuff we couldn't find places for without making some headway in another room.. *cough* computer room *cough*

Tree with flash off

Anywho.. Last year at the last second hubby and I got our very first tree together! Friggin' 11 years have passed and a bunch of stuff happened but this is our first tree! We got a good artificial tree with like 1200 lights LMAO!!!!!!! Anyway. It survived the packing back in the box from last year and only 1 broken bulb had to be replaced! Hubby did an excellent job of doing this while I was a sleep with yet another headache.. /sigh..

Close of up tree with flash off

While he was showering I put up our decorations. We can now see it from every angle so we need to go out and get more ornaments for the bare spots on the sides and a tree skirt.. since this year we can actually see the bottom! I don't know about you but I'm totally in the mood now :D

ETA: WE HAVE A SKIRT!

Tree looked so bare so we got a tree skirt to go with it. Oh I feel so domesticated LOL Got it today (12/17/08). Still haven't gotten our 2008 ornament.. groan..

DnD DAY Baby!!

2008-12-16T04:06:00.006-05:00

The start of the D&D DAY!

Okay time to go uber geek on you! Okay.. To be perfectly honest.. I haven't played a full D&D game since like.. oh.. 6th Grade.. I tried a couple years ago over a friends house but they were very advanced in how they played and instead of a group going after monster.. I had a guy role playing his Rogue as a total chaotic evil thief and he kept trying to kill me the whole time.. I.. didn't like playing that way.. so to my surprise my best friend from Delaware says "hey you want to play?".. Hubby wanted to but he's not going to DM.. but she wanted to so we just said oh what the heck LOL.. Besides.. it's been a while since we've seen each other and this is just a good excuse as any to meet! Besides.. she promised Munchies! And hubby promised his homemade pizza!

As you can see the spread got bigger..

I'm cross referencing this blog with the What's cooking blog so I'll go over what we ate there. :) Either way the food was excellent and we munched on it for about.. hm.. 12 hours? LMAO!!!!!! Either way we had a great time! All of us were at least Lawful Neutral or Lawful Good so no more backstabbing thieves to worry about..

I was on the left.. Hubby to my left.. to his left friend fiance and bottom DM position was my friend from Delaware :) Have you see so many die in your life?? That was just her set! (Hubby had his)

Anywho we had a great time.. so much so we are going to make this a habit. We were all trying out Rules version 4.0 for the first time and so far looks like fun! Hubby did 2.5 and friend did 3.5 and there are stark differences but overall we liked it!

We didn't have miniatures for our characters so I cracked out our figurines.. they were collecting dust in our library anyway :p

Since we were just toying with playing we didn't bother going out to get new miniatures of our characters (I wasn't sure what I was going to play yet..) so we just used these things.. aren't they cute?? Hubby was a Paladin (tank) so he played Taz.. Wizzy was Marvin, I was Garfield with the teddy bear (I'm a healer) and friend was the other Garfield with the graduation cap.. We didn't play the 3rd Garfield with the dual forks LOL. If all goes well we should be doing this very often. Maybe even twice a month.

Favorite songs.. lately..

2008-12-01T23:14:00.005-05:00

Always inspired by Mister Mike's blog I've been "researching" more stuff in You Tube. I came across more old favorites. Here's a few :) Note.. as usual.. ignore the videos :p

Chaka Khan - "Ain't Nobody"

Sarah McLachlan - "Possession" (Mirrorball mix)

Roxette - "Do you get excited"

Mister Mister - "Broken Wings"

Insomnia nights

2008-11-22T03:40:00.004-05:00

Sorry.. me again.. Still here.. woke up at 4 pm again.. been going to sleep around 6-7 am.. upshot is that I've been making a full breakfast for hubby before I do go to sleep.. mmmm.. eggs.. bacon.. toast or a bagel.. that sort of thing.. Either way.. today was no different.. body things I should be somewhere in Japan is all.. either way.. around midnight tonight I couldn't keep my eyes open.. went to bed.. and bingo back up in 2 hours.. /sigh.. I'm still sick.. headaches.. I must have had a pretty significant one.. I can't focus all that hot all evening as it is.. and it's still there now.. Dunno how long I'll be up.. stay tuned...

In the meantime.. this week I found this funny funny pictures. I usually go to see if anything is going on in the world of Sasuke. You know.. pictures, events.. that sort of thing and I went to the Muscle Park blog when I saw a maintenance warning.. with .. this.. picture.. LMAO Japanese are funny.. Anyone know what the message says? Who's idea was it to place a cat inside of electrical wires? LOL

Phones.. my rant..

2008-11-13T12:55:00.004-05:00

As many of you know.. I'm am totally NOT adverse to talking on the phone.. but lately.. I've been pretty pissed off.. Ya'll already know I've been having issues sleeping.. so it comes to no surprise why this post was added.

I get phone calls.. all.. day.. long.. and I'm not kidding.. it's never the same place twice. Granted it's gone down since I put this phone on the donotcalllist but it takes a while to go into effect.. but seriously.. I'm used to it interrupting my dinner.. (not that it's any better) so by the time 1-2 pm comes.. I'm downright beligerant.

Because I didn't want to miss my hubby's daily calls (I never want to miss his call during lunch) I put the ringer back on and my phone has a distinctive ring with certain numbers I program in. So if it doesn't do that chime.. I won't even look at the caller ID. I don't care who it is..

Homer from The Simpsons

So please forgive my rant.. I'm friggin' tired and I can't stand having my sleep interrupted. My friends email me to see if I'm awake and want to talk. The rest of the world can bite me..

Bender from Futurama

Friends.. funny email I got today..

2008-11-06T17:28:00.002-05:00

I.. love this.. @unknown (well unknown for the rest of the pics :p )

Inspired by another one of Chaki's posts I have been going through my throng of pictures I find on the internet. The top one I got this afternoon from my friend Bob and I LOVED it.. well... it's true.. and it has cats! Ohhh I'm having such a cute attack it's insane..

Oh yeah.. preach it sista..

The next set were all sent by Panther last week to cheer me up and BOY did they ever :D Some I won't post because of the language (even if it's ridiculously hysterical)...

This one I immediately remembered the movie Clueless where the Dad tells his daughter's date "I have a 45 and a shovel.. no one will miss you"..

Okay I thought of snowy.. pure and simple :) Hi Snowy!

Enjoy the friends you have :) And have fun!

Dinner... Pollo guisado

2008-11-05T22:02:00.005-05:00

My dinner tonight.. Pollo Guisado with White rice and a salad (lettuce and carrots with creamy Italian dressing.. that's all I had in the crisper :p )

I got totally bored and Hubby laughed at me and said "awww honey is doing a food blog.." and just walked away.. Anywho.. he had "customer appreciation day" at work and was fed from the time he got into work to the time he left (he even got an award.. yay go hubby!).. so he was quite full by the time he got home. In the meantime.. I was totally hungry so I decided.. "I'm feeling Rican tonight" .. LOL So I check my freezer and I have a cubic boatload of frozen wings (always have to have it for the hankering of fried wings with Adobo at 2 am... and no I'm not pregnant so shoosh you..). I decide.. hmm.. I have the ingredients for pollo guisado.. so why not? I ask hubby again "you sure you are not hungry.. ".. "no sweetie make whatever you want for dinner.. I'm not going to smell it and get hungry..".. okay.. so since he doesn't particularly like wings (he thinks they are much too much work for the meat involved).. I make a vat of Pollo Guisado. This is a VERY typical Puerto Rican Dish.. the rice can be white or red rice, with beans (I hate beans.. but they usually have red beans with this), with peas.. whatever.. and a variation of this is Chicken and Rice (mixed together but it's a bit tricky and I am missing the banana leaf on top to steam it on.. but I'm digressing aren't I?).. Anywho.. "Pollo" = Chicken.. and "Guisado" means "Stewed".. well... sorta.. it's a style of cooking and the only description I can say is that it's a stew. So Stewed Chicken it is..

Close up of my plate.. and yes I had seconds.. and paid for it.. I'm such a slob..

What's the recipe? Iono.. I do it out of memory and I don't measure crap.. okay okay.. lemme see if I can find a recipe online.. holy crap. how many ways can you do this dish? Okay fine.. here's one Recipe... even has a video.. but WOW do I do it different. First off.. I just throw everything in a pot and walk away for about an hour.. LOL (check out my plate how the meat is falling off the bone.. yeah it's done alright.. no pink meat here..) Heck I even use FROZEN chicken and walk away.. when I buy chicken I break it up into 2 people portions and put them in ziplock bags anyway.. any fat that needs to be cut is done at this stage. This was easy since I was just doing wings so all I did was take it out of the freezer and plop it in the pot. Rice I just used a rice cooker (Long live Bed bath and Beyond.. eville place..).

I've been doing this recipe since I was 4 years old.. seriously.. I don't measure.. the only problem is that I don't have my sister's "sofrito" so I have to use this nasty thing that Goya has (I only use the Recaito).. it's soooo inferior to the real stuff and the balance is all wrong but it's better than using nothing at all.. I totally need to bum some homemade Sofrito from my sister.. As for white rice.. I use medium grain rice (which is typical in a Spanish home.. we don't do long grain or short grain.. it's always medium). Oh and a stupid note.. 80% into the cooking I totally forgot I never added tomato sauce.. what an idiot.. anyway.. tasted fine when I added it back again.. i was wondering why the sauce wasn't "red".. I'm such a dolt sometimes.. well.. all the time.. but I digressing again..

Okay.. end of food blog..

And then there's Osaka and candy..

2008-10-31T12:31:00.005-04:00

Osaka doing the Obstacle Course race in the Second year Sports Fest (Azumanga Daioh Episode 15)

What prompted this? LOL Well I was looking at one of the latests posts by Chaki in Japan. This was great! I didn't know people actually did this! I've only bobbed for apples but I've never done this! And of course.. I had to think of Anime.. and yes.. I'm turning into Osaka.. and that's.. distressing.. And yes.. I'd do that.. even hubby tells me I would.. /sigh.. looks like fun..

How much do you know me?

2008-10-29T13:32:00.004-04:00

Inspired by Jeannie's post.. I decided to do one of my own :)

Take the quiz! How much do you know me?

Yes.. I was being eville with some of the questions.. LOL but hey it's all in good fun :) Only once did I throw a major curveball.. Let me know if you post one of these too!

Doing better.. but why am I awake?

2008-10-28T02:07:00.003-04:00

Doing better healthwise.. but for some reason my body thinks I'm supposed to be in another time zone.. /sigh.. Still have my ringer off during the day since I keep getting telephone calls at all hours of the morning.. Hubby has been nice to do this for me while I try to get some sleep these days.. I'll be okay soon.. I hope.. at least I'm not up too much with headaches.. I seem to get them in the very early morning but by that time I'm sleeping.. I just know when I had them when I wake up.. oh well.. could be a whole lot worse...

I'm not dead.. yet..

2008-10-19T09:36:00.000-04:00

Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail - "Bring out your dead" Sketch

This week has been a wash basically. Some of you know the reasons behind what started my path to doldrums.. but later on in the week I just got plain sick.. In fact I'm counting the sneezing between my typing this out at 9:30 on Sunday morning.. (okay one so far searching for the video).. Totally PMS'ing since Friday I've been basically MIA to everyone.. including my friends.. so this post is to them. I'm still not dead.. not exactly "happy" as the poor bloke in the video.. but still alive and not on the cart (another sneeze.. Sure glad I went and got tissues from BJ's.. I got boxes of this stuff in the closet I might blow through.. er.. no pun intended)..

Genma Sautome (and his alter ego when splashed with water...) from the anime Ranma 1/2

A couple people will know what this is about.. but I'm also grumpy that I missed saying "Safe Trip" to my friend MeriMask who's going to Japan on a business trip. So this picture is for her.. she knows what it's about.. and quite frankly.. it put a smile on my face this morning when I saw it.. brings a whole new meaning to this picture! Knock'em Dead Meri!!

Not bad.. just 2 snee... wait.. 3 sneezes.. ahahahahhahahahah...

Virtual Trip - Iriomote Island

2008-10-08T13:50:00.000-04:00

My inspiration for this trip: Azumanga Daioh - Episode 21

Doing a complete 180° from my last post.. I wanted to share with you a dream trip of mine.. Everyone knows.. I .. love.. cats.. and if you didn't.. you know now :D Mixing Anime and my love for cats.. I refer to one my favorite Episodes in the Anime named Azumanga Daioh.. the episode the girls go to the Okinawa Prefecture and take a side trip to Iriomote Island... where??

Did I explain how much I love Google Maps?

If I was ever to go to Japan (yeah.. right after I rob a bank.. anyone know of a Brinks truck that's dropping their payload and leaving it behind? LOL j/k.. but you know what I mean..) I want to go here.. but.. of course.. It's sssssoooooooo far from the mainland.. I mean.. it's closer to Taiwan and Hong Kong than it is Japan! That big blob of land on the left? That's CHINA!! and that weeeeeeeeeeeee bit of island on the top right? That's Japan.. Look at it.. there's Kagoshima (where Nagano works out of) and Miyazaki City (near his hometown).. it' so far away! No wonder it was a treat for the girls to go there!

Iriomote Island is the Island in the middle of the Yaeyama Island Chain... the southern most islands of Japan (Okinawa Prefecture)

Anyway.. I'm totally getting into this.. Anyway the girls go on a school trip Okinawa and then take a side trip to Iriomote Island. Sakaki in particular is looking forward to maybe catching a glimpse of the rare Iriomote cat the locals call Yamamayaa ("mountain cat") or Yamapikaryaa ("mountain sparkling-eyed") or Pingiimayaa ("escaped cat") (or Osaka screws up and calls it Pikanyaa)...

This is Sakaki (I wish I was that cool.. the only thing I share with her is the love for cats and my long hair.. that's it folks.. /sigh.. Oh.. and maybe boob size.. digressing..)

Anyway the trip (checking YouTube video I made).. Take a walk from Ōhara (大原) Harbor.. go to the Iriomote Wildlife Center.. go all the way around.. Get on a tour boat.. go down the Urauchi River (浦内川 Urauchigawa) and see the Mariyudu Waterfalls (マリユドゥの滝 Mariyudu-no-taki) after that we buy suveniers in Uehara (上原) and go home :D

Have NO idea where I got this from.. but me wants it precious.. I want Sakaki and Yomi dolls :D Getting cute attack from that Neco Coneco doll/thing..

Did I explain how I get distracted so easily? Ehem.. moving along.. nothing to see here.. (cough.. I want one.. cough)..

Anyway that's it :) I want to meet my own cat and go to this totally cool lookin' island :) So.. any takers? Looks like a great way to spend a day in Japan don'tcha think?

In sickness and in health...

2008-10-07T14:25:00.000-04:00

For the life of me I have no idea where I got this from.. might have been an email sent to me by my oldest sister. ©Unknown...

Speaking with friends through emails and phone calls the past couple days everyone knows I'm back in one of those cycles.. Not bad this time around since I tend to sleep this one off these days.. but I was chatting with Chaki the other day through email and she was brave to put a post about health last night.. so I figured I might as well post something. I'm starting to get to know her more these days so this is still new information. Some of you know this so feel free to pass through this if you have read this already... These are not the droids you are looking for.. move along .. move along..

Hmm.. where to start. First and foremost.. this past week or so I'm back to having Cluster headaches. In general.. think of a migraine and multiply that by a factor of 10.. yeah.. they call these suicide headaches for a reason. Most of the time I'm hysterical and delusional when I get them. Only hubby (and a few friends who were unfortunate to witness them..) see them in their full glory. I luckily do not have a recollection of what they are like.. but feel the bruises and rebound headaches when they are over. I WISH these were migraines.. but they are not. At least you can actually medicate Migraines.. you can't with Cluster headaches. I can't take a pill... they don't work. Mine were developed over years of concussions... I won't get into what started that but most of you know how that first set of concussions started.. later in life I developed anemia from my fibroid tumors (6 in uterus, 2 outside) and I kept passing out because of the lack of blood.. usually slamming into something on the way down to the floor. A couple times I hit my spinal cord on the side of my bed (a strong oak bunk bed that I used the bottom portion as my bed until my 20's.. and resides still in my computer room :p ) but luckily nothing was broken.. just severe bruising in X-Rays. Go home, get some rest.. At one point they thought I had epilepsy but after a couple months in 2 hospitals (one time spending 3 days in a ward attached to every machine known to man..) they realized I was not having seizures. Heck .. I even had 2 major cluster headaches during that time and no alarms turned on (apparently if a seizure is detected an alarm as loud and obnoxious as a fire alarm turns on). I even was thought to have Lupus. Some of my friends think I have Fibromyalgia.. but I never got tested for that.. I had my plate filled with other things. Besides.. I didn't want to spend years just to get a diagnosis for this.

I already had headaches by the time I got married in 1997 (already had been hospitalized for a week at a time .. 6 times in the past 3 years..) so my husband was already exposed to "headache Elsie". Always being sick I ignored them for years.. Usually had my middle sister throw me in the hospital whenever she had to deal with my screaming and wanting to kill myself. I had migraines from the age of 11 so this was just "worse" that's all. I had at that point already survived an eating disorder (again saved by my middle sister) and anemia (just took iron pills) and visited a lot of hospitals that just sent me back out to the world with "we can't find anything wrong with you.. just go home and rest"... It wasn't until I passed out in 69th street terminal did I realize SOMETHING was terribly wrong. The good Lord was with me because in the half hour I lost consciousness.. no one mugged me.. and that's rare in Philadelphia.. I got to work (half hour late..) and they knew something was wrong by my eyes.. I can't tell what it is that they see.. they just say that they are off.. and one pupil is actually larger than the other (always the right one). That started 3 years of utter hell.. and I mean hell.. 6 hospitals, 4 states, about 15 or so (lost count honestly) neurologists, cardiologist, psychiatrist, psychologist.. and a few other ologists just to make it even. And most of them were the best of the field.. trust me.. I paid for every one of them.. I was finally diagnosed with Cluster headaches.. but the problem is.. no one can cure them. It's a category.. all kinds of things fall into a cluster headache. My friend (a male) has them and they are totally different than mine in nature. Someone may have one type and I have another. I tried just about every experimental procedure on the planet short of surgery. Well wishing friends all coy about "oh just try such herbal medicine yada yada.. you have your chi clogged up".. I tried it.. tried fasting, overeating, yoga, chiropractic, Chinese massage therapy (mmmm.. loved that..), lost track of the medications.. vegetarian diet, no carb diet, no meat diet, no dairy diet, no food diet.. trust me I've tried everything.. and anything I didn't know about my Doctor's took care of that...

Finally after only remembering 52 days in 3 years.. (you ready right.. 52 days out of 1095 days..) (I was usually suffering from either allergy to the medication, rebound headaches from the controlled substances or delirium from the withdrawal).. Hubby and I had enough. I no longer wanted to be a guinea pig and I gave up. I'd rather be in pain and know WHO I am than be so drugged up or recovering from said medication to be useless to my groom (who was still waiting to have a bride..). Any man (like my Dad) would have walked out on me. But he was there for me the whole time. He's still here now! I walked into my last neurologist's office, Dr. Jannoff and asked him point blank "can we cure this today".. he looked at me and said "no.. maybe in a couple years someone will come up with a promising..." .. I put my hand up and said thank you for trying. I walked out and that was the end. He gave me a big hug, cried and wished he could help but there is nothing you can do for these things. And I wasn't going to sacrifice anymore of my life to try to find out.

Another picture I don't know where I got but the copyright is on the picture :p

It was the year 2000, I lost my job and couldn't keep a 9-5 schedule so I had to come to the realization that my life was changed forever. To this day I have a hard time dealing with it. I'm used to having my hair on fire I'm so busy. Had 2 part time jobs (one in a television station (and then a television corporation), the other at a law firm) and had full time college in Temple University (because I wanted to be George Lucas). Now I was just short of nerfing everything in my apartment because I kept crashing into them.. with no job and no way of getting one anytime soon. In my culture.. you are what you do and your self worth and viewpoints are completely determined by your occupation. I was nothing more than a leech in society.

2003 in the middle of another project that I got myself into (because I get bored very easily).. that I won't post about yet.. but most of you know.. I thought I had appendicitis. I finally got to the hospital after much arguing with hubby who was adamant about me going.. and I found out 2 things.. My anemia was bad (Hemoglobin count for normal is at the lowest 12, they transfuse at 8 and I was at 6).. and I had fibroids which was causing the anemia. I mean.. I'd been bleeding for years (started my period at 9 years old) so this was new to me. They gave me 2 bags of blood (thank you to the 2 kind souls who gave their blood to save my life.. whoever you are) and I immediately started to get my energy back. I also went through another 3 years of trying to find the right birth control to stop the bleeding.. Mental note.. DON'T GET ON DEPO.. I bled for 2 straight years... (off soapbox now..) I finally got one that works .. strongest on the market.. but it works.. I don't have my period every 2 weeks and it only lasts a few days rather than 9...

Railroad scene in Spirited Away

So this takes us back to the present. In a new apartment (lived with in-laws for 7 years when recovering from the financial meltdown of losing my income), hubby is still here and I'm getting stronger every day. Clusters are here to stay unless I get miraculously healed. Even so.. I'm okay. People with worse problems manage to find their inspiration from others and work through life without ever complaining. I should learn from them. Overall I know now who my real friends are. They want nothing by my friendship and are there when I'm in the depths of despair. In reading Chaki's post I was reminded of everyone's struggles in life. In reading Jeannie's blog in general I read of inspiration through turmoil. I have learned a lot through this journey down this road.. even I have no idea where it's leading to. It's not important anymore.. So I'm on that railroad through storms, through beautiful landscapes and scary dark corners. All in the comfort that I am loved by new and old friends. That's my comfort.

Five Of My Current Addictions

2008-09-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

Jeannie, at her blog, "I like to be here when I can", passed the torch along to me and asked me to share five of my current addictions. I'm having a problem ranking them....

I couldn't find one for Perfectionism.. but .. I want a picture for each.. so this will have to do :p

1. Perfectionism.. - I know this sounds strange.. but everything is tied to this OCD problem of mine. If I do anything it has to be correct.. as complete as possible... and as efficient as possible. I fail miserably in all accounts .. but I still do this. Like this blog.. I can't type a page with no pictures or references.. it's.. just.. not.. possible.. I procrastinate like crazy.. but I am still mulling over in my head as to how I can finish something.. and if I got the links to back it up.. seriously.. it's my number one.. which leads me to...

My 3 favorite - Akiyama (#1), Nagano (#2) and Takeda (#3)

2. Sasuke - there's a shock... my first blog turned into an orgy of all things Sasuke.. why? Because I had to verify everything.. and that of course turned into a while rabbit in the hole thing.. I had to keep going deeper and deeper and deeper to get everything I could out of it.. then I felt obligated to keep going since so many people counted on what I wrote...

Tenchi Muyo picture.. but it's a bunch of friends..

3. Friend's blogs and Emailing friends - one MAJOR positive out of all of this perfectionism over Sasuke.. was meeting friends. I live a very sheltered life now here in Jersey. It's just me and hubby and this apartment. Finding people with similar interests only opened the door to finding truly awesome human beings. Being there as much as I can for them as they are for me is extremely important. So important that 99% of the time I check to see if they are awake so we can keep chatting. Lord knows a few of us have stayed up to 4 am talking about anything to keep each other company :) And believe it or not Jeannie.. it has nothing to do with Sasuke :D

Addiction number 4.. Final Fantasy XI (p.s. I raised my riding chocobo from a baby... oh... and yes.. my character is a "Mithra" - Cat girl)

4. Final Fantasy XI - Back in 2003 I beta'd this game with my husband. It was released and 3 years of my life passed away. I quit and came back with hubby 3 years later (back in April this year). It's nice to be back.. learning how to play a game in small doses and not obsessing in my life (remember.. I'm also a game completist... if there is a box with nothing in it.. in a tower really far away and hard to get to.. I .. wants.. it.. precious....) so .. imagine an MMORPG? Oy.. knowing what I'm getting myself into these days.. has helped me out with my perfectionist habit.. and the fact that Hubby has his own account now so I don't feel compelled to get as much done quickly since I had to share computers back then :)

I'm.. Osaka.. as disturbing of a reality as it is.. I'm turning into Osaka.. that's.. distressing..

5. Anime - I may not be the most versed out there.. but I LOVE Anime.. Fruits Basket, Azumanga Daioh, Tenchi, just about anything from Hayao Miyazaki, Witch Hunter Robin, the list goes on and on. I practice Japanese by watching it in Japanese with English subtitles. Much prefer it that way over dub (except for a couple series where the production value was spectacular! Like Kiki's Delivery service - Phil Hartman rocked as Jiji)

Okay the list stops here :D I got more.. but .. well.. you know.. I'm being a OCD again...

Favorite Music

2008-09-26T12:42:00.000-04:00

Always inspired by Mister Mike's blog I've been "researching" stuff in You Tube. Half the time it comes from other people's blogs (there's a bunch of good music I've never heard of!) and I came across my old favorites. Here's a few :) Note.. most of these songs I ignore videos :p

Roxette - "I wish I could fly"

Roxette - "Crash! Boom! Bang!"

Sheena Easton - "Wind beneath my wings" (My favorite version of this song!)

Taylor Dayne - "I'll be your shelter"

Oleta Adams - "Get Here"

And because I actually listen to men sing too :p

Jose Feliciano - "Sunny"

Well.. because if I'm going to blog....

2008-09-25T16:29:00.000-04:00

I am a geek.. I can prove it... that's.. scary..

Well.. this is for my friends who get lost in the chaos of my main blog Rambling Rican! I don't know how it happened.. but yes.. It got commandeered.. I didn't mean to.. it just morphed into a big ball of Sasuke Fandom! Oh well.. people like it so I'm happy. I have no bloody clue how often I'll post here but it's a place where I can post things that don't have a thing to do with Sasuke.. Plenty of Popcorn to go around!