> recent entries
> calendar
> friends
> profile
> previous 15 entries

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

megchan

1:02a Daily Happiness We went karaoke today! Two hours and I sang most of the time because Bruce doesn't really like singing as much and Mike wasn't really finding a lot of songs he knew. :D Plus! We used the Japanese system! Usually I go with people who don't speak Japanese*, so I sing mostly English songs and the few Japanese songs I sing are from the other system which doesn't have nearly as big a selection. However! The one song I wanted to sing most, they didn't have! I thought GLAY's Run was a new single that came out this summer, but apparently I was confused and it was just a new song that was on their best album that was released this summer, so while it may eventually show up, it wasn't in there yet. Boo! But I did sing a lot of awesome stuff. And I figured since they were all great songs, I'd upload them! :D Bakufuu Slump - Tabibito yo~The Longest Journey~ I have loved this song for years and sang it once ages ago but then never think to sing it. I only happened to see it because I was looking in the "by title" section rather than "by artist" for another song and it was there above it. I am so glad I sang it because it is perfectly in my range and I can really belt it out. I think this will become a standby for me (assuming they still have it in the non-DAM system; they used to, but it's a different system than what they had back when I sang it before). Beat Crusaders - Kibou no Wadachi Yay, they had it! This is a punk cover of a Southern All Stars song and while I like the original, I like the cover a lot better and like with Kokoro no Tabi, it's what I'm used to listening to, so the original sounds too slow to me. Bump of Chicken - Hammer Song to Itami no Tou I love this song so much. The lyrics are awesome and it's such a pretty song. B'z - Wonderful Opportunity There were five columns of B'z songs, which was so overwhelming I didn't know which one to pick! Finally I decided to go with an old favorite. (Well, first I decided on Hometown Boys' March, but then they didn't have it!) GLAY - Regret This is one of my all-time favorite GLAY songs, but it's an album song, so the other system doesn't have it. Go! Go! 7188 - Kokoro no Tabi I try to avoid songs by female vocalists because they're usually too high for me and I strain my voice. This was in a decent range, though. It's a punk cover of an old Tulip song. The version I like best is by Yoshida Eisaku, but they didn't have that one. (I sang the Tulip one a couple times before, but it's so slow compared to what I'm used to, I don't like it.) Kondou Masahiko - Andalucia ni Akogarete This was a fun one, though I forgot how slow it is at the beginning and kept tripping up. I love songs that have a story. (I should translate the lyrics for this some time.) LM.C - Oh My Juliet I've been wanting to sing something by these guys for a while, but keep forgetting to look. Then I was looking for Fujii Fumiya, and instead saw Fujii Takashi, who also has a song (which I also like) called Oh My Juliet and I went "OMG LM.C!" and sure enough, they had it (along with quite a few others, which I could probably sing, but for some reason I never remember the titles of their songs, so I have no idea which ones I really know well). Mr. Children - Anmari Oboetenai ya I love this song so much. The last half always chokes me up. Mr. Children - Tomorrow Never Knows This is actually one Mike chose, but he couldn't really sing it, so I sang along. (It's one of my favorites, too, though!) Mucc - Libra I didn't do that well with this one as it turned out I didn't know the verses as well as the chorus, but it was still fun. My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise) The one English song I sang. I wasn't sure what sort of English selection the DAM system would have, but it did have a handful of My Chem. I usually sing Famous Last Words and Welcome to the Black Parade, so I figured I'd mix it up a bit this time. Nakamura Ataru - Watashi no Naka no "Ii Onna" I thought about singing this once before, but wasn't sure if I really knew it well enough or not, so gave it a miss. But after that, I listened closely next time I played it and realised I really did know it well, so I've been wanting to sing it ever since. She has a fairly low voice, so it was still well within my range. Remioromen - Kasa Kurage This is my favorite Remioromen song ever, so I was thrilled they had it. Spitz - Kaede Bruce's choice, but I like it, too, so I sang with him. Tamaki Kouji - Mr. Lonely Same as Kaede. Tarou - Danjo I picked this knowing I probably would not be able to sing it well. It's super fast and I don't do well with super fast songs in any language, but I didn't do too bad. I think if I practice it more, I might be able to do better. It was still really fun to sing, though. And as a bonus, here's the GLAY song they didn't have, Run. Such a beautiful song. I hope they get it soon! Next time I go, I really need to make a list! I always say that, but never seem to do it. It's especially bad with the DAM system because for popular artists they have so many songs and it's just overwhelming and I can't remember which songs I like best or make a decision. ;_; I should also listen through to my favorites and make a list of artists who are in a good range. I have a mental list of ones I usually go to, but it would be good to know for sure, because I hate ripping up my throat. I managed not to this time, even though I sang for most of the time, but I think that's a first. O_o *Mike doesn't really speak Japanese much, either. He stumbled through a few songs, but can hardly read any kanji and most songs, even the slowest, were too fast for him to read. What makes this really sad is that he teaches high school Japanese! They must be really hard up for Japanese teachers in Indianapolis. While we were at Asahiya, I flipped through some JLPT study guides and I think he might be able to slide through level 4, since it's super easy and seems to have everything in hiragana or furigana, but I bet he couldn't even pass level 3. And he has a horrible accent. Those poor kids... D:

(comment on this)

megchan

12:12a Book 72: Shaman King by Mitsui Hideki Title: Shaman King Author: Mitsui Hideki Number of Pages: 220 pages Book Number/Goal: 72/75 for 2009 My Rating: 1.5/5 Wow, what a waste of time this book was. It is basically a retelling of the early volumes of Shaman King with a tiny bit of new content tacked on at the end. Seriously, while the jacket flap promised a new character exclusive to the novelisation (which is why I bought it, because I only wanted to read it if it was an original story, not a retelling of the manga), it was only about the last twenty pages that contained any new content. I'm not sure who would be a good audience for this book, because it ends with a "to be continued" sort of vibe that means you're going to have to go read the manga to find out what happens to Yoh and Amidamaru and Manta and Anna and Ren and the whole Shaman Fight thing, but when you do, you'll be retreading old ground if you start from the beginning of the manga. And yet as a fan of the manga, it's really redundant. This is the third of these red-spine Jump books that I've read and all of them have been really not that great (though at least the Naruto and One Piece ones were novelisations of movies which I hadn't seen), so even if I see them on the dollar shelf, I think I'll be avoiding them from now on and sticking to the smaller manga-sized novels which seem to be actual original stories and not novelisations of anything (if the D.Gray-man Reverse books are anything to go by).

(comment on this)

jedi_amara

1:10p cut cut cleaned up my list a bit, mostly old/unused journals what happened to soranosaurus btw? she just... disappeared

(3 comments | comment on this)

jedi_amara

2:38a [public] because i'm too lazy to find and fill out the question memes right now the END OF THE YEAR meme that said, if you have a question meme feel free to link me, i may be bored enough before the end of the year

(comment on this)

Monday, December 28th, 2009

megchan

2:02a Daily Happiness We had a nice, if long, trip down to Little Tokyo today. Bruce's friend Mike is staying with us for a few days and he wanted to go, so we took the bus down there. Looked around at way too many shops for way too long and Mike ended up with like eight bags of stuff he had to lug back on the bus (and I'm not sure how he's going to get all of it back home with him, either), but I hadn't been in a while, so it was fun. We also had a super delicious lunch at a Korean BBQ place in the Japanese Village Plaza over by where J-Wave and that little anime shop are. Walked by there a million times before, but never eaten there. It was a really good choice! Tomorrow we're going karaoke, and then on Wednesday (Mike's last day here) we're borrowing my grandparents' car (for unrelated reasons; we need it to pick up my aunt and her husband at the train station the next night and they said we could have it Wednesday, too) and going down to Book Off and the shops in Torrance.

(comment on this)

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

megchan

3:59a Daily Happiness 1. I forgot to mention yesterday in my Christmas post, but one of the highlights of yesterday was watching my mom open her presents from me. She had seven from me to unwrap, all books. They were all books she'd read before, and all of them were used (quite used in many cases), but she was really thrilled with them and it made me glad I'd wrapped them each up separately rather than all in one package. 2. thefourthvine has a hilarious review of a Star Trek: TOS episode. 3. OMG New Super Mario Bros. Wii is so much fun! I wasn't sure how interactive it would be, and it's mostly traditional controls with a few "shake the controller" things here and there. It's a lot like the one for the DS, but with lots of new bits, including the ability to shoot iceballs in addition to fireballs, and a helicopter suit that lets you spin up high. Also there's Yoshi! I'm also enjoying Plants vs. Zombies. :D

(comment on this)

megchan

1:07a Gamers! Hey, all my game-playing friends! I have $31 in Amazon gift certificates, $10 of which can be applied to games only, so I figure might as well get a game. What games do you recommend? I have a Wii, DS, and PS2. Here are games I have on my wishlist: Lego Indiana Jones 2 Final Fantasy IV DS Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks Dragon Quest Swords Super Mario Galaxy I like RPGs (SNES was my favorite era, so rereleases of SNES or early PS1 games are always good, as are newer games done in more that style), action/adventure RPGs (like Zelda of Kingdom Hearts, stuff that is mostly RPG but with some bashing), some strategy RPGs (like Shining Force series for Genesis or FF Tactics), run-and-jump stuff (eh, I was going to say side-scrollers, but most are not 2-D anymore; I do prefer 2-D, but 3-D can be fun, too; Mario-type stuff, basically), and some puzzle games (especially action-y puzzle games like Bomberman, etc., though if it is a port of a PC game (Peggle, Zuma, Luxor, etc.) I'd rather play on the PC than pay console prices). And, I know this may seem strange for someone whose favorite genre is RPGs, but story is really unimportant to me. So like, if you're recommending something for the story or characters, please tell me a bit about the gameplay. One reason I've kind of lost interest in recent (haha, I say recent but I mean the past ten years?) Final Fantasy games is that they seem to more and more focus on story, and are less about exploring and finding hidden stuff and levelling up and getting new armor and all the fun things of older RPGs. Maybe that's a misimpression, but all anyone ever talks about is the stories, and the example graphics are always from cut scenes, which emphasises that impression. The most fun parts of games to me are exploring and bashing (this is why I love the lego games so much!). I like both hands-on bashing, like in Lego games and Mario and Kingdom Hearts-type RPGs, but also turn-based RPG bashing where I'm just giving commands. I am also open to suggestions in other genres, though not stuff that requires a bunch of clutter like Rockband and stuff. Those sound really fun, but I just don't want to have all that extra stuff sitting around. Oh, and I have already: Big Beach Sports Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter Children of Mana Chrono Trigger Dragon Quest VII & VIII Final Fantasy Tactics Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 Lego Batman Lego Indiana Jones 1 Lego Star Wars I & II New Super Mario Bros (DS and Wii) Super Paper Mario Wii Sports Wii Play And a handful of other games that I can't remember and can't go check because Carla's friend is staying with us and he's sleeping in the living room where, of course, the games are. I think I'm only forgetting a few PS1 games and some arcade collections for PS2. (Wow, I can't believe how few games we have anymore. We used to have hundreds and a dozen systems, but those packrat-y days are gone!) So should I get one of the ones on my wishlist (if so, which?) or do you think there's something better out there I should get? I am really just getting back into gaming after a lull of several years, so I don't really know what's out there! Crossposted from http://kanata.dreamwidth.org/148862.html. There are currently comments. You can comment either here or there (anonymously (please sign a name) or using OpenID if you do not have a DW account).

(3 comments | comment on this)

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

megchan

6:42p Book 71: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett Title: Unseen Academicals Author: Terry Pratchett Number of Pages: 400 pages Book Number/Goal: 71/75 for 2009 My Rating: 5/5 Ponder Stibbons discovers that the university will lose a large bequest if they don't have a football team. The wizards are unsurprisingly reluctant, but when he tells them it will affect the food budget, they decide football can't be that bad. In addition to the wizards we all know and love, this introduces several new characters who work at the university, with three of them (Glenda, Trev, and Nutt) being the main POV characters. There are also several other new minor characters and I especially liked Pepe, the dwarf who might not be a dwarf. This was a bit of a slow starter, but once it got going, I found it really hard to put down. I could have wished for a bit more Vetinari, but I loved him when he did show up. I loved the new characters, especially Glenda, who was awesome and a nice surprise, as I was expecting a book about the university to be a mostly male cast. Which it was, but she was the character we spent the most time with. The whole thing with Nutt was kind of awkward. I liked him a lot and the history was neat, but I wish he'd stop the racism metaphors.

(comment on this)

Friday, December 25th, 2009

megchan

11:48p Daily Happiness 1. Well, there weren't supposed to be Jump scans this week because Jump is on holiday for Christmas, but somehow the issue that's supposed to go on sale on the 4th got leaked, so I was busy translating yesterday and today. But now I'm done, yay! And can relax! And I guess this means now no Jump for two weeks? Anyway, Psyren was super awesome, Bleach was cool, Naruto was cliffhanger-y, and One Piece was dragging the arc on forever and ever and really just needs to finish that up and move on! (Not that it was bad, but it feels like this battle has been drawn out for like five years, srsly.) Bakuman was, as usual, irksome (though slightly less so than the last couple chapters). 2. Had a nice dinner today at my grandparents'. Neither of my aunts were down from Oregon this year, so it was just me and Bruce, my grandparents', and my mom and Tom. Bruce made his usual cheesy potatoes, but this time added leeks and bacon omg so good! Best ever potatoes! Why did we not think of this sooner!? There was also delicious ham, baked yams and apples, and pecan pie. Yum! 3. I got neat stuff! My mom got me Lego Batman for the Wii and Children of Mana for the DS (which was a total surprise, as I only expected one game from her) and a gift certificate for See's. Bruce's aunt got me Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii (the first one). Bruce got me New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii plus two PopCap games (original Peggle, which I have played through, but did not own) and Plants vs. Zombies), since PopCap was having a half-off sale before Christmas. We also got another See's gift certificate from my grandparents, along with a check, and some money off the rent from my mom.

(comment on this)

megchan

2:05a Daily Happiness 1. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner with Alexander (though I was busy and couldn't really socialise too much). KFC and Christmas cake. Om nom nom. 2. I'm super excited about yuletide! Still can't get the archive to load and read the story written for me, but I got awesome feedback from both of the people I wrote for and I keep going back and reading their comments over and over.

(comment on this)

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

megchan

6:34a Daily Happiness I remembered to write down things when I thought of them! 1. Even though Bruce and I have been the ones living in this house for eleven years and I have been paying the gas, electric, and water bills that whole time, they've still been in my mom's name because it's a pain in the ass to change. But we have found that some places will not accept anything other than utility bills as proof of residency, so that finally gave me incentive to ask my mom to change them. Though as it turns out, she was only able to change the electricity bill. For the gas, she had to call and stop service and then I had to call and set up a new account. Ridiculous. Also cost $25 to do so (and the electricity cost $15 to change, but both of those she said we could take off the rent). The water, they said I had to go down there in person with six cancelled checks showing I had been paying it. And of course the bank doesn't send back cancelled checks anymore. They don't even send copies of cancelled checks the way they were for a while. So next time we go to the bank, I'll ask what needs to be done to get copies of cancelled checks, and if it's not too big a hassle or cost, I'll get them and go down and change the water bill. But it's not a priority since we do now have the other two in my name. So yay for that. 2. Speaking of bills. A couple months ago we got a notice from Verizon that our internet bill would be going up by $5 a month. That sucks, but at least they weren't just upping the price for nothing. They were also going to be giving us faster upload and download speeds. (If they'd given us a choice, I would not have paid to upgrade as our FiOS is plenty fast, but if they're going to jack up the cost, I'm at least glad we're getting higher speeds in return.) It didn't say when that would kick in, though, so I hadn't really been thinking about it. But then the other day we noticed it was really fast! 3. We had sloppy joes for dinner. Mmm...sloppy joes. I love them so.

(comment on this)

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

megchan

4:46a Daily Happiness 1. We got our money back from the bank from the fraudulent charge! The other day we walked by our bank and saw they got bought out by another bank. O_o So I was kind of worried about the timing. Maybe our claim would get lost in the shuffle or something. But no, everything worked out okay. Yay! 2. They had Peanut Butter Twix at the 99 Cent Store last night, two for $1. I love them so. Aaand once again I forgot a bunch of things I was going to post. ;_; I really need to start writing these down beforehand!

(comment on this)

Monday, December 21st, 2009

megchan

6:08p A Can of Happiness by Kawahara Kazune Title: A Can of Happiness Original Title: 幸せのかんづめ (Shiawase no Kanzume) Author: Kawahara Kazune Publisher: Margaret Comics Genre: Shoujo Status in Japan: 1 volume, complete Scanlator: Occasional Amateur Scanlations & Megchan's Scanlations Scanlation Status: Ongoing Emi wins the special prize in a raffle, which turns out to be a can that supposedly holds happiness. There's even a weird little man who starts following her around, claiming he's the "god of the can" and trying to give her advice. But all she wants is for her relationship with her boyfriend to feel less like a one-sided crush. Will this can really help her be happy? Includes four other short stories: Boys Just Don't Understand, A Million Words, The Opposite of Love Is Hate, and I'll Always Be Here. Story 1: A Can of Happiness I've been working with Occasional Amateur Scanlations to translate some older anthologies by Kawahara Kazune (author of Sensei! and High School Debut). This is the first story in an anthology by the same name. The other four stories in the anthology will follow whenever we get them done.

(comment on this)

megchan

8:48a Daily Happiness Yuletide fic is off to beta! Um...there was totally other stuff I was going to post. Damn it! Yuletide has eaten my brain...

(comment on this)

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

megchan

4:14a Daily Happiness 1. I forgot to mention in yesterday's post, but yesterday when we were out for our walk, we found four dollars! It was very exciting. Today we found no dollars. :( And, in fact, we stopped at the store on our walk and bought some oranges and a Tootie Roll and now have less dollars than before. But I'm still pretty excited about finding those four dollars. :D 2. We got a package today with our presents from Bruce's aunt and uncle. Mine is a suspiciously video-game-shaped package. :D :D :D I had several games (mostly Lego-based) on my wishlist, so I don't know which one it is! I do know it's either Wii or PS2, though, not DS. 3. Despite a little reading slowdown late last month/early this month, I am still on target to meet my goal of 75 books by the end of the year! I just posted the 70th review, but I have actually read 71. I'm just saving that one (The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich) to post together with its sequels. I also have two other books in progress (Unseen Academicals and a Shaman King novel) which will be the final two. 4. Yesterday on Regretsy there was a post about someone selling their bad, bad photoshop skills. They claim to be a professional and a lot of people in comments are skeptical, but having seen professional photoshop work, I totally believe it. Anyway, so then earlier today there was a challenge to create manips and now all the most recent posts are filled with manips. My favorites are the Twilight ones and pretty much anything that includes references to the "say what" guy (especially the one with the squirrel eating the cat). (If you're not a regular reader of Regretsy, some of these are probably not as funny since they're based on Regretsy in-jokes and/or stuff previously features on the site.)

(comment on this)