Everyone keeps asking about Pi-chan, and since I did mention that a few weeks ago I went out and bought him some toys, I wanted to finally upload some really cute photos.

Minako helped me find a store with some bird toys — it was a department store all the way up in Fukui! It’s pretty ridiculous that I had to travel that far (taking 2 trains and about an hour and a half) to get to a store that actually sells bird toys, and even then it was just a small rack like in a regular pet area of a department store. But his cage was so miserable, so I’m glad I got them. Now he has a ladder, a bell/mirror, a chain of hoops, another bells-and-balls thing, some millet, grass for the bottom of his cage (its actually rabbit bedding, but whatever) and a wooden nesting box. He likes his hoop chain and his mirror toy, and recently he really loves chewing on the box! It’s really cute. He’s only gone inside it once, and I got a photo. Continue reading →

If you’ve been reading my blog a lot you’ll probably notice that I’ve changed it yet again… pity, too; I just made a pretty nice theme to replace that hideous one I had been using for many, many months.

Joomla is a great bit of software, but it’s a bit overkill for a simple blog, especially considering that blogs are the one thing Joomla doesn’t do too well. It was good to have Joomla on my own site while I was developing other sites with Joomla, but at this point WordPress works better — especially because I can blog from my cellphone now (that feature is broken in the Joomla version of WordPress).

I really haven’t written much this month — especially this past week or two — with many things; installing Ubuntu 7.10 (yay!), Aeon work (another teacher quit due to stress, so now we’re down two teachers), artwork, and then regular stuff. More on that later… I have a bunch of posts to write this week, so check back in a day or two and there will definitely be more to read! For now, I’ve got to prepare for my transglobal D&D game.

Just a little shopping tip in case any of you ever move to Japan: milk here isn’t what it is in the US. You can’t find much other than whole milk, and it generally only comes in 1 liter bottles. On top of that, it’s expensive as hell.

That said, there are a number of perfectly drinkable milks here, and if you mix them with cereal the difference doesn’t matter at all. However, one brand has been a thorn in my side and a repeat offender for me: Meiji Milk. This particular brand has a nice looking carton with happy little cows grazing in a field. However, the smell and taste betrays the secret of its name: this milk actually tastes like it was made during the Meiji period.

I bought it the first time because it had enough English on it to convince me that it was actually milk, and not some other strange white liquid (believe me, there is no shortage of that here). It was terrible, but I hadn’t had milk in weeks so I drank it anyway. The second time I bought it, I gave it the benefit of the doubt… boy was I wrong. The last time I drank it was because there are so many milk cartons that look very similar that I accidentally picked it up again while specifically trying to avoid it.

I just went shopping, and I definitely did not buy Meiji Milk. I’m hoping this new brand (all in kanji, so I don’t know what it says) is actually drinkable, and is actually milk for that matter…

Well it finally happened! After years of talking about it, we finally managed to pull of a Kanazawa reunion! Although we:ve kept in touch, and I did see Leo back in Nagoya, there was something special about meeting up again in the city where we first met. It’s been 3 and a half years since we’ve seen eachother, but it didn’t feel like a long time at all. Continue reading →

Really, I need to fix that somehow. I always think of good things to write when I’m eating lunch, or taking a walk, or at work, or falling asleep in bed, or in the shower — basically any time that I’m not in front of my computer… then by the time I get here, I’ve already finished the thought and I no longer feel like writing it all over again.

At the very least I have a couple of things to post when I can — Pi-chan’s new cage full o’ fun, and some amusing typos I found at work — but I’m on break now so I don’t have time to write much.

Tonight starts my weekend, and tomorrow I will be going up to Kanazawa for a mini-reunion of sorts. Leo and Frances will also come up, and we’ll visit Yasuko, have drinks at Famille, visit Apre for karaoke, Kenroku-en, and other places. I’m also going to visit the Yamamiyas for dinner on Sunday night. Leo and I are planning on bringing sketchbooks, but how likely is that to actually happen? At the very least, maybe I’ll be able to sketch on the train ride. I bought a ton of batteries (Batteries here are CHEAP! I got 8 double A’s for about 1 dollar.) so I’m hoping to use them all up taking photos. I’m so lazy when it comes to taking photos, so I’m really trying to make it easy for me to do. Man, and the lack of sketching too… I always want to sketch during the day, and just like blogging I get all these cool ideas whenever it’s not possible to draw, but then when I do have the time I’m either tired or have things like emails or whatever to do. How frustrating.

You probably noticed I finally did something to my website. It’s not much really, but I threw up the new design in January (I think? Or was it last September? I think it was January…) and never ended up making it look decent. Well now it at least looks decent, though I’m not finished with it. Who knows… maybe by next May I’ll have put something else up.

Alright, for now I need to get a few more things done on my break. And I’m resolving to be less lazy about writing and drawing from now on. 頑張ります！