Or, Part 3 of my catchups: Belated Presents and souvenirs!

Do these count as presents? i mean, i bought them myself.  they were waiting for me when I got back from Japan. 
Yay for new shirts.  Who doesn't love my little ponies? 

Ma lil outlaws

Parable paranoia

In relation to my parable shirt (I think it's misnamed for the sake of alliteration, but really), here's some more presents! Thanks Nick!

Fables Comic Book

Yes, I'm obsessed with stuff like this.  Thankfully, I have friends who support me in my addiction.  I haven't had a chance to read this whole thing yet, but I flipped through and it looks good... going on my list of things to read in '09.  (Oh yeah, I was supposed to post that today too. Or finish it. Or start it.)

What else? Gizmo is a boy, I have discovered.

No, the other Gizmo

I mean, that one's a boy too. Good thing mine doesn't multiply in water.  Otherwise that would have been troublesome when I dropped him into the shower.  But then, he does get really annoyed when you take showers. He cries, until you pick him up and put him under the water. Then he just runs and tracks all over the floor.

TARDIS USB hub

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Don't laugh. You know it's awesome.  Also, that I am a complete and total geek.  But you probably already knew that. Yay! My very own TARDIS USB hub!!  And it makes the NOISE!!!

-pokes around my hard drive for more pix- Hmm... I think the stuff I bought in Japan will have to wait.  Despite that it's 3 am (or maybe because of it) and I really try not to leave my apartment after dark (it's FRIGGIN COLD), I need to take out my trash. and i need caffeine.  or perhaps, to go back to bed. 
I leave you with this comic, which I found awesome and quote-worthy.

Daisyowl - business casual

Ah this takes me back... Good old FBLA days.  Here's the link to the original, cause the comments are worth reading.  Especially the part about the mini purple top hat.  And the halloween costumes. and the - just go read it.

I have spent the evening discovering the wonders of ihasatardis  and found some wonderful stuff which i feel the need to share/re-post for posterity/to look at later when I want to laugh.  A lot of these are NSFW, don't say I didn't warn you. And I've credited the author, but if you want the original post you'll have to find it yourself (it's somewhere in Nov/Dec.2008).

Firstly - A rather tame S3 piece from Jack, Martha, and the Doctor... By Firestorm172001

Firestorm172001 - withgreatpower_macro

Hanuushe - Torchwood semen macro

Unsay - Doing it wrong

And because I love this video, even though I found it a long time ago.  There are others, (including some of my favorite Internet songs), but this one is the best...

Doctor Who Carramelldansen

The best one for last, cause I can't copy the whole thing here.  But here's the link below, and my favorite pic from it.

Special Effects by db_silverdragon @ihasatardis

Special Effects by db_silverdragon@ ihasatardis

That's all folks.  I should go cook now.  Laters...

It's not fair that three such beautiful people should be fiction.  granted, the actors who play them are real, but it's the characters I really love.

I spent the afternoon finishing Season Three, and I really loved it, even though I'm still a Rose/Ten shipper.  But who needed that?  There was enough slash to drown in, what with the Master and dungeon-surviving!Jack and last but not least, "Regenerate!"/angst!Doctor.  Martha was nice too, though I think it would be cool if she hooks up with Dr. Milligan later.  I thought the comment the conversation about the TARDIS key perception field was funny - "Like someone you fancy who doesn't even know you exist!" and Jack's comment, "You too?"  Although, to be fair, it's been mentioned enough times as a joke that it's very clear the Doctor does know.  And Martha's been building her house of cards since the first episode and the genetic transfer, so even though I think she's awesome in her own right, I still don't get the Doctor/Martha shippers.  It's just not there, at least for me. 

Ahh. And now that I have finished that, I will let myself dl the next episode of Psych.  God knows I have so many shows that people have recommended that I will never finish all of them.  Even though it's sad, it's kinda a good thing that Torchwood and Who are taking a break, cause it gives me time to catch up.  I go through spells of TV watching, so it takes me a while. 

Also today I finished my second puzzle!! This one took me the same amount of time as Starry Night, despite that it was 500 pieces, not 300.  But I think it was a bit easier, even though I loved it and had lots of fun.  I'll post of pic of it later. 

While looking for pics of the puzzle on the internet, I discovered the Art Renewal Center.  They seem a bit forceful in their views, but the important thing is that they have high-res  images of lots of pre-Modernism paintings.  And since I love pr-Modernist art, I really loved browsing through their stuff.  I found some awesome stuff, and a new artist to love. 

John William Godward - Dolce far niente

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Heart Of The Andes by Frederic Edwin Church

I'm off to the store for food and then to cook dinner, listen to an audiobook version of Twilight, and knit Tim's scarf.  Fun times. 

Since I needed something to do tonight,  and neechan recommended procrastinating on Cakewrecks, I thought I'd see what they have there.  Unfortunately I couldn't remember the address, so when I googled it, one of their older posts came up.  It is, in fact, a post of horrible, horrible Dalek cakes. 

Now, I think a Dalek cake would be pretty awesome, but these are just sad.

Here's the best one:

Dalek Cake

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Well, after I put together my Starry Night puzzle.  It took me about 5 hours, for 300 pieces.  But then, it's a hard painting to put together. Still, I feel like it shouldn't have taken me that long, though I haven't done a puzzle in forever.  I was going to get a frame for it, still might.  Strangely enough, it actually came with glue to hold it together once it was finished.  I though that was pretty cool.  I have one other one still that I bought when I went to COEX, but there are a few more there that I was looking at that I liked - three of them were from Night of the Milky Way Railway, which I thought was pretty fricking awesome. 

Then I ate the rest of my burrito and watched Human Nature/Family of Blood.  I really liked that episode.  For one thing, Thomas Sangster is so adorable.  (He was the kid in Love Actually, Sam, whose mom died.)  And he's only two years older than my sister, which makes me feel kinda weird, but oh well. I'm sure everyone has their child molestation urges every now and then.  Though he is 18.... as of May. 

I was annoyed with the Doctor for the way he treated Joan, but she was a bit snitty at the end too, though I can sympathize.  I mean, he has Martha - and he'd just heard her say she loved him! And then goes to ask Joan if she wants to come along. -sigh-  Watching this made me realize how amazing David Tennant is, how much I am going to miss him, and think that perhaps I should watch his new show.  Looking it up on Imdb, it doesn't look too amazing, but still... But then, I have a ton of other things to watch.  Psych, Torchwood (when it omg FINALLY AIRS), etc.  Legend of the Seeker, the Sword of Truth miniseries is finally out, and while I kind of cringe, I also want to see it.  And people keep talking about Merlin. 

Ack. Just got lost on IMDB for 30 minutes reading randomness.  Interestingly, they are remaking one of my fave shows from when I was younger, Cupid.  No Jeremy Piven, but alas.  Although, Fantasy Island wasn't as good as I remembered it being when I rewatched it, but it was still pretty damn sweet.  I never did review it, though I meant to.  Oh well. So much to do, so little time.  Did I mention I was thinking of taking up watercolors again?

And lastly, cause I need to go to bed - I saw this and it made me laugh.  Look at it, really. 

'Torchwood' Writing Provides Absolute Confidence

It all changes in 2009 and fans of "Torchwood" have got to be ready.

One thing that won’t change, though, is the high standards and quality of writing the series has displayed from the first season.

I choked when I read that second sentence.... -laughs-

Korean word of the day from Daisy teacher:

grandfather = haramboji

(In case you're wondering, grandmother = halmoni)

I'm very happy with the way today went, not the least of which is my being able to type this while sitting in my comfy bed. 

I woke up this morning and could barely breathe, so I knew the weather was kinda crappy.  Also because the sun hadn't woken me up -when I looked outside, sure enough it was hazy as all get out and the sun was just a glowy-looking circle up above. 

I was actually early getting to Jamsil, and then Sohee got there - Cait and her friend were running a lil bit late, so we waited on them... Unfortunately, when we actually got down to the rink they told us that it was going to be closed in a few mins for a half-hour break, so we went up to Pizza Hut to grab some lunch.  Afterwards we came back down and skated for an hour until a show forced us off the rink.  I only fell once, when I was trying to turn like Jen showed me and there was someone in front of me.  I tried to avoid hitting them and landed on my left side.  It wasn't that bad, just I was a bit wet because of it.  I want to go there more often and practice if I can... I would like to be good at ice skating. 

Ooh! Cait taught me a new word. I have heard it used mostly in the context of drinking, but here.

Mul = Water

Then I met Tim and his friend at COEX, this huge underground mall that was completely awesome.  I bought a nice pair of jeans and a cute lil fleece vest (such a hot salesguy. and he told me I was cute!) on sale.  They're guys, but they fit me not too badly, tho i think i might see if i can do something to me them less loose in my hips.  We wandered around for a bit more - there's a huge bookstore there with lots of English stuff.  I was annoyed at the obviously used books they were attempting to sell for full price, but what the hey. can't do much about that.

I found something that looked really interesting called The Black Hole War.  And I also considered getting Foucalt's Pendulum, but Tim wanted to leave, and I have a ton of books to read already.  I haven't touched anymore of The Fountainhead, but I will get around to it eventually.

After a while the other two got tired, so they left, but I wanted to poke around some more.  They have an entire shop full of puzzles, right behind the aquarium.  They also have a kimchi museum, but by all accounts it's not very interesting.  I found a Nintendo store, quite by accident, and got one of those USB connector thingys for cheap. Now I just need to get Matthew to tell me how to set it up so that I can get my friend code for Pokemon.  I attempted it tonight, and managed to connect, but it keeps telling me I haven't yet.  I might try it with my Animal Crossing, which isn't in Japanese, and might be easier to navigate. I also picked up a longer ethernet cable, hence my happiness at typing from my bed as opposed to having to sit in my chair and slump over. 

In addition, I got a puzzle from that shop - it's that artist that neechan likes, alphonse maria marche, who does the women in art nouveau style.  This one is four women representing times of the day.  They have some other beautiful ones - this artist called Kagaya has some fantasy stuff.  She does a zodiac series, and while I'm not particularly in love with the Leo, some of the other ones are beautiful.  There was also - and this surprised the hell out of me - a series of three puzzles entitled "Railway in the Stars," or something like that. ZOMG!! Miyazawa!!  They were pretty, and I might go back and  get them some other time. 

While I was walking back through one of the places after getting a thing for my mom, I saw a floor cleaner with the name "Tennant" on the front of it, and I laughed.  Also noteworthy, though I didn't get a pic of it, was a store that advertised clothes made by Jesus.  And lastly, some pics from the subway station that I found amusing -

They are adverts for a Chinese beer called Tsingtao.  So of course they use pandas to advertise it.  Pandas drink lots of beer, you know.

Well last night I got that Doctor Who soundtrack, and while I have only listened to it the whole way through, it is very good.  I especially love the vocal pieces - "Love Don't Roam", the song that Rose and Nine dance to after saving Jack/London.  (Bonus points if you get the totally geeky reference there.  Hint: It has nothing to do with the show, but it was so obvious I had to.)  Also, "Song for Ten", the piece that plays when Ten is picking out clothes in Christmas Invasion. Even the non-vocal pieces are beautiful - the piano in "Madame de Pompadour", and "The Daleks" are great.   Here, have a listen.

Really. I don't know why it's taking forever. Maybe cause I'm dling stuf from itunes and dling torrents and doing web thingys at the same time, but that's still no excuse.

I have had a good day today.  Tuesdays are pretty chill cause I have a 3 hour break between my classes, and even though I meant ot come home and work on progress reports today, I took a nap.  I was tired.  I was up late lastn ight cause I was so excited about getting to go back to Japan for New Year's that I couldn't sleep till sometime around 4 am.  Also, there were more mogi in my room.

So class as usual.  No big deal there. I probably should be getting to bed soon cause I have a full day tomorrow, but I remembered that I needed to post.  Ack! I have a video for you today, neechan.  Not edited, but I thought it didn't really need it anyway. 

Today I went to the Center for the Birth of Baha'u'llah.  It's also the anniversary of Matt proposing to Amanda.  I always remember that cause she called me when I was at Freshman Semi-Formal that year and I was standing outside the Fox with a hundred people around me going "He did WHAT!?!?"  This was a perfectly reasonable response on my part, consdering they met in August of that year.  The program tonight was fun... I met and re-met a lot of people and though I'm fairly certain that there are at least 2 names I don't remember, it's okay cause I know their faces at least.  Aruna gave me a ride home, which was good because I'm almost out of money on my subway pass, and I need to put more on. 

And then I came home, and was poking around the Itunes store looking for a John Mayer song that I used to have but for some reason can't find anymore.  There's one torrent of it, but it has no seeds so I just gave up and decided to spend a dollar on the song.  And then then THEN I found the Doctor Who TV OST!! You know me, I love OSTs, if they are good, and the DW one is, and I'd thought about trying to find it before. There aren't any torrents of it that I've been able to find.  And you know I NEVER buy music, or I do so about once every blue moon.  But this is such great stuff that I honestly don't mind paying $10 for the album.  Especially cause I know I will listen to a lot of it.  Some soundtracks are only good with their context, but this one is good enough to just listen to. 

Okay, I really need to get to bed cause I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow - emails and a letter and some other things. Have to transfer that money so that i can finally pay bills.  More scarf.  Etc. Remind me to post those articles about china.  and my laptop dilemma.

I just took a nap in my room, and I am vaguely surprised that I awakened with only one bite on my ear.  You see, earlier in the evening I was so unwary as to leave my windows open, with the result being that my apartment became host to several mogi, the Korean mosquito from Hell. I thought there were only a few.  Then I closed my window, and realized that the number was closer to 5.  I set about killing them, despite Nick's claims of my being a murderer, which I fully accept.  But I make an equal claim that mogi  a) are kin to Daleks, and b) there are probably millions more.  Thusly, I feel justified in killing them when they choose to invade my quarters. 

So now I have to clean the walls again. Le sigh.  From the sound of Gizmo in the bathroom, I also need to sweep the floor again.  She keeps somehow managing to clumsily tip over her litter box. Don't ask me how - she's a cat.  That's the only reason I have.  Well, she's also clumsy.  And not particularly intelligent.  That's another blog post. 

Once I thought I had killed all the mogi, I happily resumed my interneting, but then I realized that there were several more.  At this point I have lost count, but I'm placing the number around 10 total.  There are still one or two more that I have to take care of before I go to bed for the night, or I will have to sleep with blanket covering everything but my nose, lest I be attacked in the night.  Still, I'm convinced that more might possibly appear at any moment, thanks to the dimensional vortez I am sure is manifesting somewhere in my apartment.  I know this because, of the three mouse-toys I have bought for Gizmo, two of them have disappeared.  Literally. They are not in the apartment, and I have no idea where they are, and I have checked under every possible piece of furniture that they could have become trapped under, including the fridge and the washing machine.  Perhaps the mogi are coming through the vortex and stealing my kitten's toys.  Think all those Daleks in that ship at Canary Wharf.  That might explain her reluctance to chase them like the hunter she should be.  

In other news, I found out when my vacation will be! At least, the one for winter.  I have the 27th through the 8th off.  If you look at a calendar, it's a very strange set of dates, but who cares.  I don't get that long for summer, because that would be too much break time, but oh well.  I'm thinking, I could go back to Japan!    I would have to look at tickets and figure out where to stay and such.  It would be fun to do New Year's in Kyoto again.  But maybe I could pull off staying at some of the KCJS apartments, or a hostel.  I could even go see my host family again.  The issue is what to do with Gizzy.  I don't think I could leave her here by herself for a week, and even though I could probably take her with me, it would most likely be very stressful for her, and depending on where I was staying, I don't know if they would allow pets.  I should email Shore-san/Yukie/Mary/Okaasan about this.  It would be so much fun!!  I didn't get to go to the Light-up in Kobe last year, and Gion at New Year's is awesome. I don't know if I want to fly, or if it might be more fun to take the boat to Fukuoka/Sapporo and then the train.   Have to look at budget-y things. 

I had my play practice with Daisy today, and I have to say I'm really proud of them.  They've learned all the songs they have for their show, The Gingerbread Man, and the dances as well.  They only have about 4 songs, but the fact that they can sing and dance to them all makes me happy. Now if I could just get Rose class to be excited as well.  That would be great.  On Friday is our Thanksgiving Festival/Open House, so I get to go to the church and sing and 'be foreign' as Douglas puts it.    I have the progress reports for Daisy/Rose this week, so I'm watching the kids carefully to make sure my comments are helpful - not for the parents so much as for myself, to make sure I'm making a mental note of who needs help with what. 

Finally, I went to edit a picture for today, and was inspired by the strangeness of some of the poses and by this article that Jessica sent me to do a mini-slideshow of Rose Class.  These are from the Kimpo Field Trip, and I tried to make a little story out of them.  These have minimal editing - I might do some artsy versions later.  Sorry for the funky spacing... Pictures away!

******

Kimpo Rose Class - Matthew and James

Kimpo Rose Class - James Dances

"Look everyone," says Matthew, "James can dance!"  James obligingly demonstrates.  To the left, to the right...

Kimpo Rose Class - Wendy, Emily, Lina

Everyone turns to watch.  The girls seem less than impressed. 

Kimpo Rose Class - Thomas

Thomas thinks it's funny.

Kimpo Rose Class - Kevin

Kevin watches.  He wishes he could dance.

Kimpo Rose Class - Angela Origami

Angela is busy with other things.

Kimpo Rose Class - Angela

Kimpo Rose Class - Lown

Lown considers the words of Scar: "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Kimpo Rose Class - Matthew

"Come on guys! It's funny!" Matthew tries to convince the others. 

Kimpo Rose Class - James Dances 2

James continues dancing.  Bust a move, y'all!

Kimpo Rose Class - Thomas2

Thomas tries to be amused this time.

Kimpo Rose Class Thomas3

And fails.  "You can stop now, James."

Kimpo Rose Class - Alex

Alex could cast a Freezing Charm, but he left his wand at home today.  Might lose it on a field trip.  Also, he's not sure even magic could help James.

Kimpo Rose Class - Alex2

He goes back to his lunch.  More interesting, less nausea-inducing.  

Kimpo Rose Class - Douglas and Thomas

Then Douglas-teacher decides to teach Thomas to breakdance.  This is much more entertaining, judging by the people gathered around them.  James is probably crestfallen, but no one cares, so there's not a picture of it.


Finis.

Or so I've been told by my knitting friends.  Sounds like an interesting challenge - post something everyday.  I don't know that I will feel busy enough to make a real post everyday, but this might be a good opportunity to get back to doing a Korean word every day and also to finally do some of those pictures/vids that I have been meaning to get through.  I think one a day shouldn't be that bad.  Of course, I'm going to cheat and back post something for yesterday, since today is the 2nd. 

But for the moment I feel like actually posting, and I can't go to bed this early, so here's a recap of my weekend.  Friday night was Halloween, and I went to Lotte World, the amusement park near my house.  Tim and Kristina came, as well as one of Tim's Korean friends, and I made a new friend too!  Shirin introduced me to her through Facebook; her name is Sohee and she's very sweet.  We had dinner together and then went into the park while the others ate and we had so much fun together.  We're supposed to go ice skating sometime together too - probably after I get paid.  It was so cool to find that there was a skating rink right near me - hopefully I can go fairly often and get better at ice skating. 

Saturday I slept a lot, not really sure why.  I woke up, took a shower and started reading Doctor Who fanfic around 6 pm.  I did make some dinner, but I ended up reading for about... 10 hours or so, I guess.  Give or take time out for aim convos and dinner.  a bit hardcore, I suppose. But i suppose that's a pretty standard reading time for me, be it print or online.  especially if what i'm reading is good.  Still, i imagine i need to pull myself out of my rose/ten ship enough to watch the rest of the actual series.  probably do some more of that this week - i'm right at the beginning of season 3.  But one awesome thing that did come of all that ficbinge - a new phrase, which I find to be downright awesome.  It's an exclamation -

"By all things Ten-shaped and lickable!"

I saw it in a comment thread, and laughed aloud.  It was apparently originally referencing Jack, and coined by a Torchwood comm mod, but someone modified it to fit Ten... and since they are both equally yummy, I think it works rather well. It will be fun to try to find appropriate (or inappropriate) conversations to use that in.

What else new? Oh, I've recently become obsessed with a new album.  Asheqam would be disgusted with my mellow-ness but then, she's listening to Chaka Khan right now, so I dont think she has room to ciriticize my music taste... -smile-  The album is called Dreaming Out Loud, by OneRepublic.  You probably know them from the song "Stop and Stare" from this summer.  It's really odd for me to listen to an entire album, but I really like this one.  It's nice melodic rock, bits and pieces of violin and piano... reminds me a bit of The Fray (and I love them.)  And I can't resist a good violin solo in a song... so sexy. And maybe I'm on DW overdose, but a lot of the lyrics remind me of the show.  So here's my current fave.  Have a listen, and if you like, look up the rest, or comment me and I'll send it to you.

Someone to Save You

Today was my knitting group, which is always lots of fun.  I'm still working on that scarf. When I've got it off the needles and the first gauntlet seamed, i'll post pics.  The problem is that both scarf and gauntlets have eyelets, which aren't showing up well due to the quality of the yarn - apparently cotton doesn't work well for such things.  My knitting group meets in Hyehwa, a nice little college area with lots of cafes and restaurants, as well as several interesting decorative features.  Here's my pic for today. 

Hyehwa - Gandalf