grapeofdeath

OMG! Do you remember the post I made back it April writing to Tsunoda Narumi? She wrote back! She included a letter written in Japanese and a version of it translated by a computer. It's a bit had to understand, so I think I may ask shinjuki71 to help me with it.

She loved the picture I drew of Star Maker and Ijuuin Rei. And while looking at the website I created for her, she was surprised how large the performance section was since she had forgotten all about several of the roles. :)

She says that the fact that some people like the sound of her voice brings her encouragement.

Once I have a better translation, I'll post it here and on the website. She also sent me an autograph and I'll take a picture of that as well. I can only imagine this is the same feeling almost everyone else on my friends list gets about Elijah Wood. ;)



ETA: I have to agree with gallo_de_pelea that Mark Knopfler-voiced Jet Black is now one of my favorite things.

I haven't had nearly as much time on the computer as I once did. Between two job and work, things have been hectic (all except for last Tuesday when I was putting off doing homework...). I might have had some time last Thursday, but while reading the Willamette Weekly I found out a movie that I had been waiting to see was playing at the Portland Art Museum... for one night only. I cleared everything else I might have done that day and went to go see it, along with my younger sister.

Are any of you familiar with Satoshi Kon? He was the director for Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent, and now most recently Paprika. It's an anime movie based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel Paprika, about a female detective who investigates criminal cases by entering the dreams of her subjects. I haven't seen many of his films, but I and my sister had been a fan of Paranoia Agent ever since it came to the USA (except for the ending...). It's the dark and creepy with some comedy that I find most interesting. When I first saw the trailer for Paprika in the theater, the music caught me first and when I saw the main character jumping over a fence only to have it dissolve into reality where she's in actuality about to jump off a balcony from a 10 story building, at that moment I knew I had to see the movie. My sisters reaction was the same. :P

This movie obviously isn't for everyone. Within the first ten minutes of the film someone has used one of the DC-MINIs to get into one of the doctors brains, he hallucinates while he's awake, and runs out of a two story building window to the ground below. It sucked me in the same way the first eerie 5 minutes of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence did. However there is also a lot of humor in the movie, not just the cameos to famous anime that are sprinkled here and there. There are many laugh out loud scenes. I would say anyone who's enjoyed Satoshi Kon's work in the past would enjoy this movie. It won't come out to theaters til June, so you all have time to think on it.

Back to work at the bookstore. I'll try to find time to update on my life later.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. They've kept me at the bookstore, so now my days are quite busy. Between house cleaning, bookstore, school and volunteering at the Red Cross I don't seem to have much time anymore. This weekend was also busy, but in a good way.

( The Weekend )

Thank you so much addie71, aina_baggins, ancalime8301, anwise_gamgee, belleferret, cali_se, carolina30363, changetje, easterlily41482, frolijah_fan_54, gini_baggins, honeyandvinegar, i_o_r_h_a_e_l, keye, lilybaggins, luthien23, melanieathene, melyanna_65, mews1945, mr_utopia_man, nolyana, plastictown, primula_baggins, rabidsamfan, sayhello, shinjuki71, siouxieq, smaugs_mommy, slipperieslope, starlit_woods, starrdust411, summershobbit, terwashere, verangel, and witmanfade for your birthday wishes. :)

I was just getting used to my gmail account when this happened Friday:


502 Server Error

We're sorry, but Gmail is temporarily unavailable. We're currently working to fix the problem -- please try logging in to your account in a few minutes.


It's been 48 hours now. I've tried different computers in different locations with different browsers, but I still get the same problem. So I don't know when I'll get my e-mail back.

Merry Christmas!

Things went well this year. Everyone seemed happy with their gifts. One of my most entertaining ones was from mr_utopia_man: Black Death, Ebola, and E. coli. :)

Stanley and Zena enjoyed their gifts as well. In fact, Stanley got into them early. I bought both kitties cat nip mouses from the Saturday Market at Skidmore Fountain. They said they were guaranteed to get a response out of my cats or my money back. A few days ago I found one of the cat nip mouses in the living room, devoid of it packaging. In the next room I found a shredded grocery bag and the shredded packaging of the cat nip toy. I hid them again, only for Stanley to find them and rip the other cat nip package to shreds. -.-

I gave both kitties their toys lat night. Stanley rapped himself around his, trying to rip it apart, while Zena rolled and rubbed her head on hers. She then lay in a drug induced stupor for some time.


I hope everyone is having a nice time during these holidays.


Thank you siouxieq for your card. I received it on Friday. :)

Anyone in Beaverton take a look outside the last few hours? It's insane!

I heard earlier today that there was going to be a big storm, but that usually means it's bad on the coast and the news channel has nothing better to hype about. It's been dumping buckets of rain for the past week, which is nothing new, but combined with the 50-70mph winds that are happening inland is having an interesting effect on the trees on our street.

We heard the first crash two hours ago. Luckily the tree came down in the middle of the street, the only problem causing a road block. Another came down an hour later much farther up our block, but I didn't bother to look.

About 20 minutes ago we heard a very large crash and what sounded like breaking glass. Three houses up the street two tree had come down in their yard, one taking out there whole deck and smashing in window, while the other is just leaning against the house for now. The roots of one of the trees reached the second story of the house. A fire truck came, but the tree still in the road is blocking them.

Three homes have been evacuated and most have lost power. This has been quite an interesting night.

I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving. I finally finished my paper on Grey Tuesday which made the day that much better. I have to work again tomorrow, so I'm trying to enjoy today as much as I can...

I finished all my Christmas shopping! Everything is bought and wrapped. The last thing I have to finish is Christmas cards. Since I never have much to say in them, I'm taking the time to try and decorate the insides. I'll be sending them out some time after the 1st of December, so if you want one, please e-mail me.

I've decided to try and sell all my doujinshi in one big auction. If that doesn't work, I'll sell them in smaller groups, but I just want to get them out of here...

And last, but not least, we have a new addition to our family. On Saturday we got a seven and a half year old tortishell kitty from the pound. Her name is 'Zena'. Hopefully I'll be able to put pictures of her up here soon.

ETA: Here are some pictures:

( Meet Zena )

For all the math and sudoku lovers on my list, I bring you todays FoxTrot comic:




( If you're having trouble with the math, click here. )

My life has become eventful again! Now that I have more time on my hands, I'm out doing things instead of being glued to the computer. Tonight was a bit more eventful that I had hoped, but oh well.


My sister gazproffesser often babysits up the street for two little kids, three and five years old. Today there parents were going to a concert with some friends and so they had two more kids to add to the mix, two and three years old. Being a bit much for my sister, I offered to go along with her to help.

Things were going along well for most of the night my sister went to go make dinner and I stayed down stairs with a few of the kids. Suddenly my sister calls for me to come up stairs. The two year old had just downed a container of extra strength Tylenol she found in the backpack her parents had sent her over with. We made her spit most of it up and started calling her parents, which could not be reached, our parents and 911. Soon our parents and a squad of eight paramedics were in the house and taking her off to the hospital.

gazproffesser and I spent the next hour or so feeding the kids, watching a movie, one of the three year-olds wetting herself and having to be changed until my parents came back from the hospital. The little girl is fine. She did spit all of them out. It was just an interesting evening.