Monday, December 22, 2008

Did I mention...?

So my B.F.F.L. Jon is giving it all up and moving to Vietnam next month. Apparently, I made the orient cool again. He's volunteering to help save the planet, or at least give us a few more seconds of clean air before it all goes to shit. You can read a much better explanation of why he's going and what he's doing here, on his blog. Before he goes he's coming to Japan for a few days, which is like sticking your toe in the pool to check the temperature before you jump in.

Jon is the biggest eco-freak I've ever met, since high school, before "green" was printed on t-shirts, he was packing me waste free lunches and sighing at me when I didn't recycle properly. And recycling is just the tip of the iceberg for Jon. Like any modern eco-freakian (just coined that, it will catch on soon), he doesn't smell like patchouli or smoke pot (usually), he doesnt own Birkenstocks or have a beard. You could like this guy.

So, go read about Jon's interesting fund raising techniques (waffles and haircuts) and leave a supportive comment (or even more supportive donation) at Chronicles of the Next Floor.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Did It!

The day we've all been waiting for has arrived! Motto and I adopted a bunny! Her name is Raspberry-chan and she's the cutest bunny in this prefecture. She enjoys chewing cords, pooping in her litter box dutifully, and biting feet. She dislikes sudden movements, bananas, and when I hit her in the head with the door. I taught her one trick already, too.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Reading Rainbow

I've self-tagged myself after reading D's book post.

Here are the rules:
Go to your nearest bookshelf. On the top shelf (or highest shelf with books) what book is fifth from the right and why did you love it? Now go to the bottom shelf (or lowest shelf with books). Tell us about the fifth book from the left.

Kanji StarterKanji Starter
by Daiki Kusuya

I think this is the first book I ever bought to help me try and understand Japanese. It's small and easy to understand. Each page has one or two kanji and takes it from the picture the kanji represents to the Chinese character. It's good for visual learners, and flipping through it once or twice helped me recognize a bunch of kanji. The drawback is it doesn't really help you memorize how to say each kanji in Japanese, even though it's written below the English. It's good if you wanna learn 山 equals "mountain" and simple stuff like that.

My Voice Is Sexy When You Close Your Eyes or, Whatever Happened To That Guy Kevin!?
by Kelly Froh

This was a bonus insert in Kelly's mini-comic Slither #5. I've read a bunch of her stuff and I recommend it highly. She's been kind enough to send her comics to me with the promise that one day I'll send her mine(...). This particular story is about this guy she meets on the internet, and I guess in the days before one knew any better, agrees to meet him after only seeing a tiny 72 dpi thumbnail photo. Classic coming-of-age story in the days where social networking was too (you know, 2005).
I found it hilarious and relatable, way too honest and embarrassing, which how I like me comic.

Obviously, as was done before me, I'm not tagging anyone, cause people hate that shit.