[189] that kind of gaijin

console

< Seraphim >

"Tobacco Control"

Friday - November 2, 2001

I have a new haircut and new glasses. My hair was almost long enough to donate to Locks of Love. They use donated hair to make special wigs for sick children. But I would have had to cut it shorter and I wasn't quite ready to go that short - yet! With grad school I have already had to revert to cutting my own bangs again because I don't have time to get into see Luis. Piro was very hestitant about the new cut but he has grown accustomed to it. I must say I was gratified to find out in a forum thread that I am only 5 years too old for one of the MT readers (Maruader).

All I have to rant about is grad school - because that is all I do anymore. Where shall I begin? [edited for scholastic safety ^_^]

I have to agree with all of you who disapprove of Seraphim smoking in the comics. I don't want to ever encourage anyone to smoke. I beg him to not add it. If I had one wish for anything in the world - money, fame, whatever - I would wish that I had never started smoking. It is a very addictive, nasty habit. MoMo hates smoking. He'll jump off my lap when I light up and give me a very dirty, disdainful look. One of my classes just did a study of the Tobacco Control Archives and trust me - we aren't getting reimbursed by the cigarette companies for brand placement.

Piro brought me flowers when he got back from Alpena. He came home to me typing frantically at the computer on my take home midterm so that I never even turned around when he came in. The next day was even worse I sent him out for paper and while alone the cats were tag teaming me for attention. I was typing over them, around them, under their bellies. I got on the cell and hollered for him to come back immediately. Piro finally hid at the office. And he knows he can't complain since he encouraged/forced me to return to school. I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to go to grad school. I am always tired and my eyes go blurry from reading too much. At least the new laptop will give me more computer time. There are many keyboard skirmishes around here.

Luckily we didn't get any Halloween visitors - we didn't have any candy. I thought we were going to have to lay on the floor with the lights off all night. Everyone knows that apartment dwellers don't give out the good candy. We do have two daily visitors though - two more kitties! They are strays that were abandoned in the complex. I like to feed the birds and walked out of the door one day to an explosion of feathers in our yard. I figure it is more eco sensitive to feed the cats than let them annihilate the local bird population. They are semi feral but oh so cute. I love them like my own.

Piro and I worked really hard on the Beer Stein image. I was just the artistic director of course. I described the traditional German 'Trachten' that my friends wore while I lived there. Piro did a quick sketch of a German biergarten slut and I gave him a big NO. It took hours of searching the web for good examples of Dirndls and Lederhosen to get the right look. I was very pleased to hear people though it was authentic looking. If only I could find a video of a Schuhplattler, I would be happy. Yes, the area I lived in the people danced the Schuhplattler and not for the tourist trade. I drank many a Radler Mass and ate many a Wurst while I lived there. I miss the Semmeln, Butterbrezen, Bratwurst, and Lebkuchen. Hopefully, I'll get back there someday and take Piro with me. I'll make him take me when I finally get my masters.

I was appalled to realize that I can't donate blood anymore because I lived in Germany for a year. I couldn't give blood after the N.Y. disaster because of my surgery and now the rules have changed! I was good at giving blood too. I was ALWAYS the fastest and I am O . I need some kind soul out there to donate a pint for me every once in awhile.

If you have a few extra bucks, remember your local charities. Small charities are really hurting by money being diverted to the N.Y. victims charities. My Mom and Dad have worked many years to feed the hungry and food pantries have a special place in my heart. I've seen my parents go grocery shopping on Christmas Eve with their own money when the pantry ran out of food. My folks aren't rich - never have been - but they have never been hungry and cannot bear the thought that others may have an empty belly. I can promise you that people in your own community are hungry right now. We all have to give EXTRA this year.

I guess I did have more than grad school to rant about.

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< Dom >

"Boogie oogie oogie"

Friday - October 26, 2001

[Dom] - 09:08:00 - [link here]

This past Friday, I went back to my hometown of Redwood City for an annual event I wouldn't miss for the world, the Project Read Trivia Bee. I've always been a lover and collector of esoteric knowledge, so trivia contests always attract me, especially the team-based ones, since I know my knowledge doesn't cover many fields at all. But that's not what keeps bringing me back to Redwood City. As the name suggests, Project Read is a literacy program, and they use the Trivia Bee to raise funds for their programs. I'm a big fan of Project Read. I started volunteering there when I was 14 (which makes my age 28 at most, for those of you who care), and over the years I've developed a close relationship with them. I've helped build and dismantle their float for the 4th of July parade, organized books, worked in their mail room, organized barbecues and other fundraisers... about the only thing I haven't done for them is tutor, which I've unfortunately never had the time to do. Now that I don't live in Redwood City anymore, all I can really do anymore is special events, so the Trivia Bee is always a special treat for me when it rolls around.

Anyway, some of you may have heard that today, October 26th, is my birthday. This is true. Some of you think you know how old I am. If you do, you're one step ahead of me, because I keep forgetting myself. I just don't find it important.

What I find important is that Halloween is coming up, and after walking around my office knocking on pieces of furniture and shouting "Maaaarioooooo", I'm going to be Luigi for the office party. And I find it disturbing that it's easier to get my hands on a backpack vacuum cleaner than it is to find that big green cap Luigi wears... I also find it disturbing that my cosplaying twin Genjitsu, AKA the man in charge of American Cosplay Paradise has decided that he either needs to be Mario to my Luigi, or Kirby to my Yoshi.

All I can say is, I need to practice my devouring things and pooping them out as eggs and powerups.

Let's see, now it's time to link people...

First, in case you didn't notice, my last rant included a link to Ninja Burger, a website which keeps ninja magic alive and well in the fast food industry. Their comic is pretty funny, so check it out if you saw Ninja Burger before it had its own comic. Now, if only Ninja World actually existed outside of The Tick, I'd really be in business. Ah, well.

Second, since I owe her a couple favors, and she has incriminating pictures of me, I'm obliged to plug Chibi-chan's fresh new comic, which I like so far because it involves a goddess having her wings taken away. The less wings in this world, the better.

Speaking of incriminating pictures, Mac Hall continues to amuse and surprise me. I owe Matt Boyd a stick figure strip, and I owe Ian a kick in the teeth.

Emi-chan, who has fled from California and is no longer within strangling distance of me, has taken the opportunity to start updating Strange Candy again. So all those people who stopped paying attention when she moved, well, she's back. And for the last time, the only relationship between Strange Candy and MegaTokyo is that Ed and I know both Piro, Largo, Emi and Tanzy personally. The characters in the two strips are completely, totally, and utterly separate.

Also returning to life is The Jar, which went down due to traffic overload, but is back, and still really weird.

And with winter's chill setting in, I've started to read this little, infrequently updated comic by Lem, who gave me a Winter T-shirt to ward off the chill. Not that I'd whore out his comic just because he gave me a T-shirt, mind you. But this little story is pretty cool, and you can say "I was there back at the beginning".

Oh, and on Wednesday, I went to an Orbital concert with my roommate and Mitsune, a friend of ours who happens to own Hinatasou, one of the best Love Hina sites I've seen. By the way, for the millionth time, Piro is not Keitaro, if you compare Erika to anyone in Love Hina you're looking in the wrong direction, so please, stop posting your "great discovery" in our forums. Dozens of other people have made the comparison, and are wrong--the only thing Fred took from Love Hina was the layout idea, which is a fairly standard comic layout anyway.

But I digress. About Orbital. The show was awesome, but one thing jumped out at me--Mitsune tried to get me to dance. And, as an Asian male, I am genetically incapable of dancing competently. Seriously. Excepting line dances, which are an abomination and must be destroyed, the only dance I've ever really gotten right is the "cross your arms and nod your head arrhythmically while eyeing the refreshment table" dance. But she insisted, and I didn't really want her pulling on my arm anymore, so I tried. And yes, I sucked. But I had fun anyway. Don't ever expect me to dance again, though.

Gotta sleep now. Good night, and see you next SGD.