Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in strangerataru's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 5th, 2006
6:55 pm	And this is why Ataru hates pointless formal occasions For the one or two of you that talk to me, you probably understand that I've had a lot less time to veg out or do my own thing on weekends.  Helping out my mom and my sister is a good thing and does get me out of the house, but sometimes I think some of what I have to go to because of them is a complete and utter waste of time.  Take today for example...actually you may not want to take today because of how utterly long and pointless it was. Things started bright and early as they typically do on Sundays, with mom yelling at us regarding getting her coffee and such.  Because of the long day I mentioned, I had to go out early in order to get some errands done (including her previously mentioned coffee) But of course, trouble had to knock on our door even before the day was too far in: my sis's/mom's car ended up having electrical problems...again.  I really wish I knew what the mechanics at her shop was doing to keep it from running, but this does seem to happen a lot....particularly when the weather starts getting colder like it does here.  After a quick bit of a charge, she was running again and I was off to get the detergent and such for mom.  Its that sort of thing that I was used to, but it was after that where the problems really started.  At about 10:30, myself, my sister and mom all headed off to New Jersey, where we had to drop mom off since she had one of her women's clubs meeting.  I ended up spending a couple hours wandering around a local mall...one that unfortunately isn't as cool as it used to be, but that's the changing face of the world for you. After that whole thing was over, I was drastically hoping to just go home and relax for the rest of my Sunday afternoon.  But there was one thing that I had to go to first...where I didn't have a choice.  One of the friends of my mom has a son who just recently got engaged.  While there's nothing really wrong with that, the problem is that his mother decided to hold a big, all-out reception and invited all of her friends (including her..and my sis and me) for the occasion!  It was as if it was a wedding reception itself: there was oeurderves, a wedding singer singing some...well she had some cheesy electronic-backed old songs on MP3 (it was rather excrutiating) and a full dinner and dessert thing for everyone that showed up!  Personally, I thought the whole thing was a complete and utter waste of time...but mostly because of my feelings regarding this thing.  For starters, why the heck are you going out having this huge reception for an engagement?  Isn't that sort of thing a big waste of money?  Heck, when my sister got engaged (don't want to get into that now), it was just family and friends, but it seemed like this woman invited everyone she knew!  Personally I just thought that she shouldn't have wasted her money..but then again, from what I've seen, I know when a person wastes money for something formal like this.  Secondly, even with the party, I just really didn't fit in with anyone or anything there.  I didn't know anyone there and couldn't hang out with any of them, mom and sis went off with their friends or to shmooze and I...well really couldn't do that.  Sure it may be my own personal flaws, but I just couldn't connect in my mind with anyone there. Even when someone invited me to their table, I couldn't bring myself to join them...mostly because I saw myself as so different in my own mind.  I wasn't like any of them and couldn't really find myself talking to them to fit in or listening in on boring conversation.  Maybe I was just resistant, but its a lot easier for me to talk to people I know both in real life or on the web than with total strangers.  The last straw was probably a combination regarding food and timing: mom said that we were going to stay until dinner was done, then get out.  I did try the lemon chicken hoping that it was going to be good...but sadly it stunk and was too sour.  After I was done them, I decided to head into my car for a bit to take a long-needed nap, hoping mom was going to come out anytime soon to get out and leave.  But when I was done with that (about 3:30), I called her again...and they weren't done. I gave them another half hour before they finally let me go..and so much for the better.  Outside the appetizers (which I now wonder whether or not were kosher), it really wasn't that worth it. So did I learn anything there with this?  I guess while I don't mind doing things to help mom or do things with them, I don't really have anyone in the real world outside my mom and sister and the few outside that..usually connected with them.  That and...if I ever get a girlfriend, I'm just going to elope :p (15 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 29th, 2006
6:52 pm	Accidental Web Celebrity Who Didn't Ask For It The trials and tribulations of an idiot/geek looking for love (in all the wrong places) has many, many bumps and bruises for one to go through.  Unfortunately, in my eternal search for some cute female companionship, something I created two years ago has somehow turned into...well luckily I can't say "internet sensation" (since so many probably think of me as "Mr. Pathetic", but then again this is in a world where everyone wants to be the Numa guy), but it has come back to haunt me. It all started about two years ago, when I was working down in Chester as a clerk in a prison (sort of a first job thing)  I was 23 and probably as lonely and stupid as I am now.  I had tried a couple dating sites, but never really joined them mostly since...well, I doubt getting a paid subscription would lead to much compared to being a lurker that tried and..who knows.  It was around this time that Comcast was starting to experiment further with their new On Demand system by doing a "Dating On Demand", where people would be putting themselves up on the meat hook sacrificing themselves for the sake of trying to find someone.  I fell for it, but mostly because I saw a few advantages to it, such as a free membership to the website HurryDate (don't believe that, they never gave it to me and it was merely the limited one I already had there), a free gift card for food at some designer downtown restaraunt (I never went back there...do you realize how expensive the appetizers are?) and free exposure on that Dating On Demand thing.  So I went in there, did my thing...can't even remember it, but I know I was trying to appeal to..well, someone who look like me for me and my weirdness, and left.  I really didn't expect too much to come of it, mostly since I still needed that subscription (they never gave me) and since I knew no one would really want me. Unfortunately, I didn't realize what was going to happen next.  At first I did get a couple girls that noticed me and somehow were able to IM me.  But most of those we never really had too much in common or we just drifted in and out not really going anywhere.  I even had a guy trying to help me with my problems, but that didn't go anywhere either.  But it gets worse: people outside my area were starting to discover the Dating On Demand video!  I started getting notations from Boston and Chicago at least...but that was about a year after I put it up.  And now comes perhaps the weirdest, and most recent, part of the whole saga.  Today, I got a IM from someone saying "I'm a Celebrity" and to check out http://www.ebaumsworld.com for something.  When I went to the link, in the "Best of the Web" section...there I was.  Apparantly, my video had been found by this website that seems to pick up on the most random, stupid and ridiculous things in the world and puts them up for eveyone else to laugh at...particularly annoying wankers that try to find sex jokes or disgusting stuff in everything and who obsess over every episode of the Simpsons or Family Guy. (personally, I hate the latter and the former used to be good and I wish they would cancel it already, but that's nothing to do with this).  They even have a forum topic (http://forum.ebaumsworld.com/showthread.php?t=163672) for all those that want to talk about how pathetic or stupid I am!  How about that: I make a stupid video two years ago and now I'm a celeb!  How pathetic can you be: I really wish I could use my 15 minutes for something other than this crap? So where does this leave me?  I'm still without a girl, I have my Dating On Demand video on a webpage full of idiots, and I can't really bring myself to do anything about this.  The good thing is that they think I'm so pathetic that I will never be a stupid web phenominon or find myself doing talk shows or parodied on some stupid TV show.  Heck, I doubt anyone will even discover this blog and rip it apart on that thread.  The only thing I can think about doing now is ignoring this like it never existed and just move on with my life.  Just because they are pathetic lunatics doesn't make me one...well OK, I am pathetic in some ways, but not to their extent.  While I am known to laugh at stupidity, I rather laugh at them being stupid than the stupid stuff they laugh at.  And as for my love life...well if anyone wants a nice guy that loves minkgirls and boob and muscle growth, you know where to contact me :p (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 15th, 2006
5:37 pm	Just Let Me Turn My Brain Off a Bit... OK, been a while since I put something on here, but I seriously doubt anyone really missed me.  I have had some things going on in my head, but none of them were really important enough to report.  But this is something I just have to get off my chest here and now: know-it-all web jerks that hate everything.  You know you've probably come across them, particularly if you go on the boards.  There you are, reading comments people make about all sorts of things, when you come across a post by someone.  This "someone" makes a comment about something, particularly something you may like, that they don't.  Sure they've seen it, but they have to flaunt it...especially in a one or two sentence response.  Trying to escape, you go to another thread, and there they are again talking about yet another thing they don't like.  You go to another thread, one for something you may be interested in or might want to check out: there they are, spouting on and on about it being crap.  Sure it may just be crap, but since they are the know-it-all, they explicate it.  Whether you like it or hate it, they probably can't stand it.  And to make matters worse, what they do love is something so obscure and strange that no one has ever heard of it or it can only be downloaded as the latest hot thing.  You can't discover it since they already have! OK, there are people on the web that are obviously wiser than you, but I guess I'm sick of those like that.  There they are, on the board, talking of the topic at hand and their hatred even if you think otherwise.  And what they like is, of course, super-better than any crappy mainstream, normal thing you do.  And the person seems to know about everything to the point that you can't escape posts by this person!  And you can never escape it...sure they may not be on all the boards you are, but there is someone like them on practically all the boards.  I guess I'm just annoyed of it and wonder why I can't escape them.  I've tried to ignore them, but they keep popping up no matter where. Oh, and the so-called crap that they find no redeeming value in...sometimes there is something I may like in it, so I may just stick with it.  And at the same time, good things can be dull and annoying as much as the crap.  Now if it starts crap and remains crap...then you can't say anything. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
6:57 pm	I Heard You on the Wireless Back in '52... OK, I guess you were probably expecting the next chapter of my Canada trip, but I guess its been a while since I posted and I don't know how much I remember now.  (then again, I probably do remember it, but I guess I'm having a tough time trying to recall it due to both the good and bad that happened that week.  Besides, I guess that something came on my mind today and I just realized I had to make a quick comment about such: Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, on August 1, 1981, a new TV channel came on the air on cable systems around the country. (sadly Philly never had cable at the time so we couldn't take part in it)  The purpose of the channel was rather simple: the airing and distribution of "music videos", small clips of a song put to footage of a band used for promotional purposes.  The station, created by the company behind Nickelodeon (who has a long history but that's another story) was, of course: Music Television, or simply "MTV".  Strangely appropriate, the first video was the 1979 Buggles release "Video Killed the Radio Star" (trust me, it was '79...I heard it on a program with "music from '79"...thanks Don Tandler, wherever you are), a song prophetic both in its title but in its line: "And so we meet in an abandoned studio"...which strangely enough sounded just like the initial studio they operated out of.  Aired alongside live-action music "VJ"s, the videos were a very strange, eclectic lot in 1981 and in those early days.  Not too many bands in the beginning really embraced the video format in the mainstream: there was the classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" video done by Queen in '76 and of course a whole backlog of Rod Stewart (don't ask).  David Bowie, the chameleon that he was, did a few classics in these days. (sis would kill me if I left out "Ashes to Ashes")  There was also some kid Motown artist that did some innovative, yet simple videos for his first solo album (long before he got too big..and really white and weird)  But in the beginning, many of the early video makers were outside the mainstream: New Wave, British bands on the edge, and all out eclectic and innovative video makers.  You didn't need too much if anything to make a video: just a few neat effects, a stage, maybe a little bit of live footage and you would have a video. (trust me on this: I rewatched Gary Numan's "Cars" yesterday when my sis left on VH1 Classic...still really cool both for song and footage)  Amazingly, these weird bands that couldn't be heard on the radio were being watched on TV...and the kids that watched them immediately bought the albums!  It was the beginning of a revolution...and it was being televised. Although I'm not that obsessed with either music or video, my first encounter with MTV came when Philadelphia finally got cable and we were on the Comcast system (back when it was a small local company and not the cable monolith of now) back on November 4, 1987.  Sure I had seen music videos by that time...but of course, between '81 and '87, things had gotten rather sophisticated.  As simplistic and cool as videos were then, the whole industry had been revolutionized by MTV by the time we got our MTV six years later.  Before cable came, we saw the videos on a few other shows...I do recall Culture Club, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper (never got into that debate on those two...too young and I never liked either) Beastie Boys....and that Motown kid with his revolutionary video by John Landis.  (you know with the werewolves and the zombies :p)  But in finally having MTV (and as well: VH1, a sort of "MTV lite" for the adult-contemporary set), I finally was able to see a lot of the cool new stuff that was coming out there.  One of the earliest videos I remember was Guns 'n Roses "Welcome to the Jungle", which many called a turning point for rock in that era between hair bands and "Nevermind"...OK, so I was a little kid and probably had no idea what the lyrics meant, but it was still cool hearing that screechy voice of Axle Rose!  I can also recall watching Aerosmith (around the time of their revival after the video with Run-DMC), the Bangles (remember "Walk Like an Egyptian" :p  Heck, I remember a local station parodying it with "Walk Like a Philadelphian"...YO!) and, of course, that Motown guy who was suddenly starting to get all weird by the time "Bad" came out.  (heck, I remember seeing Weird Al's parody of that, "Fat" around that time too...leading to sis and I getting the "Even Worse" album :p)  And does anyone want to hear about my sister's obsession with New Kids on the....(gets smashed on the head), yeah I'll skip that. But it wasn't just the music videos in that era that drew us to MTV.  Seeing how the videos themselves were not going to make up a full day's worth of programming, MTV starting doing something that would eventually lead to the crap we have today: half-hour programs.  But the shows back then still were weird and irrelevant for the era so it wasn't like what they have now.  The one I recall the most (thanks to some old 80s documentaries) was "Remote Control", a game show about TV!  Heck, even though I had to be reminded, I still remember the fear of being an eliminated contestant and having that chair pull back into the abyss....freaky stuff.  Probably wouldn't have watched that if it weren't for my game show phase as a kid (stil have it, but when you're addicted at that time to "Double Dare" and "Finders Keepers" on sister station Nickelodeon, "Remote Control" somehow slipped in as programming.)  Other shows in that era...can't quite really remember the 87-88 stuff, but I think I may recall some of the dance shows and the VJs...(oh, and that you have to remember the difference between "Downtown" Julie Brown, the VJ, and the "Just Say" Julie Brown...whom I remember more for "Earth Girls are Easy"...and some fluffy-tailed thing...) Outside the videos, which dependant on the era went between really great and really crappy, the one thing I remember the most about MTV was its slightly edgy animation.  In the late 80s and early 90s, MTV started with a show called "Liquid Television", which showed all these weird, bizarre shorts.  While I can barely remember any of them too well, I just remember how weird and amazing they were and crazy...well OK, Aeon Flux was crazy in a weird way, not in the comedic way I liked.  As for those of you tthat remember what also came off of Liquid Television...yeah I actualy saw the second Beavis and Butthead toon there, the one with the monster trucks and the hippie.  I don't think I remember seeing the episode with "Frog Baseball".  While we all know the controversy Beavis and Butthead lead to, at least it eventually lead to the vastly underrated "Daria"...which I don't think I want to go into for the moment since I'm mostly talking about MTV. (but some time I wonder what would happen if I turn it on and there's a Mystic Spiral video...yeah, like that will ever happen :p) Unfotunately, the relevance of MTV in the life of me and my household sort of dissipated as we got older.  In the early 90s, the music sort of changed for the worse....sure I would grow to understand the importance and relevance of grunge and alternative in the years to come, but being a kid in a house like mine....not to mention this was around the point rap started to turn into crap.  And don't get me started on the Beavis and Butthead scandals...sure we know it was silly weirdness now, but it was slightly controversial back then and mom and dad didn't want kids like me and sis to watch it.  But I guess what started to kill MTV to the point its at now...is the move away from music videos to...well, the crappy reality-esque programming most of it is now.  It started with Real World...which probably was an interesting concept, but it lead to Road Rules and eventually to the crappy programming that they have now with all the pseudo reality shows about people you don't care about.  Oh sure they try to keep relevant and up to date, but how can they when most of their shows now are reruns of marathons of celebrity reality and more and more Real World stuff!?  Unfortunately, making matters even worse is the loss of the thing that established MTV in the first place: the music videos.  Yeah, MTV still airs music videos, but its always when no one is watching....here we have the station that used to be on the cutting edge of the industry and most of their video blocks are at times no one is watching!  Sure there's always TRL, but they're always pushing a certain demographic and the crap they like.  Of course, even when there is something in their setup that may be, er, interesting (see "Baby One More Time"...I never get sick of Brittany Spears and that catholic school uniform :p), the videos themselves have gotten so polished and so semi-formulaic, nothing like the spontenaity and weirdness of the old days. (a bit of polish doesn't hurt at all, but the system set up since the early days really have made them extremely flashy and less innovative than they used to be in many cases) Yeah, innovative videos are probably still being made and aired elsewhere, but wherever it is, its not on the main MTV channel.  Maybe they're on one of the many other MTVs out there, but whatever they are its probably not on our system.  heh...then again, I don't really watch music videos anymore anyway... As for the big day tomorrow..may tape VH1 classic's reenactment of the first 24 hours of MTV...in this era of gangsters, emo, and pop upon pop diva old and new, a little Buggles or Pat Benetar never hurt no one. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 13th, 2006
9:25 pm	Pause Right There Fer a Moment... Well I wanted to continue tonight...but once again, I got a bit sidetracked.  Not really going to get into it, but I will try...well I will get them done when I do.  Don't blame me...blame my dumb procrastinative nature...not to mention some other stuff I want to get done first. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
9:09 pm	Only a Northern Song (Act 3) Due to an illness I was trying to get over, I was actually hoping to get a bit further and do the writing earlier than expected...but unfortunately, I got sidetracked doing some roleplaying with a friend and his girls. (the one with the really perverted bunny and the slightly paranoid wolf)  But the good news is I finally got all my pics uploaded onto my comp...don't know where and how to upload them, but I have them and will share them...well soon.  And now, on with the show! Day 3: (or "The Day Ataru Got Malled...and Hurt His Nose in a Wave Pool and his Finger from a Ferret!") West Edmonton Mall...at one time, this mall was the biggest mall on Earth.  A perfect shopping haven for a part of the world that is frigid for a good chunk of the year! (well, compared to the even bigger malls in areas that are just doing it for show...something tells me that's what the ones in China and Dubai are for)  Over 600 stores (it keeps using 800, but I read somewhere its a bit less now due to some stuff that happened a while back) filled with anything you probably can imagine...well maybe not everything, but a lot that you can think of.  Amazingly, since its Edmonton's biggest draw and several blocks away from the hotel I was staying at (well, relatively), many would expect me to head there at the beginning instead of all the other places.  But I wanted that to be my big finale to the area...if it was so famous, I wasn't going to squander the surprise so early!  And when I got there about 8 or 9 in the morning...well OK, a lot of it wasn't open yet, but the place mostly did not dissapoint. As I entered the mall, I parked on the top level of a two-tier parking lot: the kind that a huge mall as such would need to hold all its potential customers.  The only store that was really open was a place that I was parking near: Zeller's, which reminded me a bit of the K-Marts around our country.  The place was alright, but it didn't have too much of interest...not to mention I had to really use the bathroom and I had to bolt right to one the moment I had arrived in the area.  To make matters worse, I had arrived at the mall so early that practically every store there outside Zellers was completely closed.  While I doubted at the time to going to the mall so early, I at least was able to beat the rush and get a good parking space as such.  However, being here so early on this day wasn't completely a loss.  As I started wandering around finding something to do, I heard weird noises coming from a bit further from where I was from the inside.  As I headed towards the path, the cheers and such were getting louder.  The sounds lead me to something I didn't expect: a hockey game happening right there and then, early in the morning in the middle of the mall!  I had heard that there was an ice rink here in the mall that was used both by skaters and even by the local Edmonton Oilers for their training practices.  However, it was on this day that it was holding the first day of the Junior World Cup of Hockey, sponsered by one of the local companies which probably explained why it was here every year. (well that and because of the mall skating rink)  As I watched, I took in a rather exciting game between teams from British Columbia and Saskatchewan...a bunch of kids with nothing but fun and glory on their mind without the whole burden of the NHL or any of that stuff.  This actually was one of the first times I've ever seen a hockey game so close and personal, so I really had to take it in bit by bit! In the midst of watching the game, I actually got into the first, true, meaningful conversation of my entire trip.  Considering my problems with talking with people my own age group, especially girls, I didn't expect to really start talking with this old guy as we both stood there.  But he was a nice guy...sort of like the stranger grandpa I never knew.  He actually was formerly a trucker travelling all across Canada doing what truckers do: hauling stuff!  He only ended up in Edmonton because that's where he was when he retired and now here he was standing here taking in the game that...well, he said he used to play it in college, but I think I believe him on that.  The whole scene with the guy sort of showed me the thing I know the most about myself: although I have an extremely hard time relating to people my own age, I have a good time talking with mature people much, much older than me.  A young kid (well, whatever age I am) and an old man chewing the fat on hockey is probably a lot easier for me for some reason than trying to pick up a female. By the time the preliminary game was over (Saskatchewan's team won BTW), the mall had finally found time to open up and all the stores were open for business!  It was here that I finally got in a better look at all the various opportunities that this place held for whomever wanted to purchase whatever!  I first scouted around for some stuff first that I knew I was interested in: I saw an import store filled with all sorts of British goods and made me think of my sis back home (yeah, I'm in Canada and I want to get her British stuff....go figure) while her boyfriend was more interested in the "local choclates"...even if the only place I could find sold chocolate from Vancouver...which isn't Alberta, but at least close enough on the country that he wouldn't mind.  Then I pretty much blundered (luckily I guess) into the local comic shop, which pretty much had all the manga I held off on getting the last month or so! (even though I didn't expect the dollar to be so weak at this time, since I wanted a better bargain)  I got three titles as well as one American one: the Essential Savage Shulkie collection just to support her out! (looking it over later, I did see some of it as interesting and others as a tad...er, melodramatic?) As I furthered my ways around the mall, I soon discovered all the various little niches and such that they put in the place to give certain areas various themes that somehow or another connect to something within the local community or the mall structure.  The first I came across was "Chinatown", which some would probably believe to be a bit out of place, but you do have to realize that both Edmonton and Calgary have significant Chinese populations brought over since the 1800s.  This was shown through an anchoring supermarket selling Chinese and other asian goods within.  Also along this area is an "Asian Goods" store, filled with all sorts of anime merchandise that I really couldn't bring myself towards getting. (mostly since a lot of the merchandise (but not all) is bootlegs like the DVDs that send their profits to Chinese mafia...or so they claim)  Just below that was the "French Quarter", which here turned out to be the restaraunt district for the mall.  I ended up stopping for lunch here, ending up at the local Hooters...mostly due to...well, I wanted to give it another chance.  And while the scenery remains nice, I actually liked the buffalo-sauce-covered wings I got this time around.  For some reason, it makes them less greasy than using merely hot sauce or on their own...either that or I've acquired a taste for them. OK, I don't mean to do this, but I have to cut this short tonight.  Not that I don't want to go on, but I really don't have that much time left before bed and I still have a bit to go on Wednsday.  But...since there isn't too much for me to say about Thursday (even though there's a lot to see since it was a travel day), I will finish that and do Thursday as part of tomorrow's post.  So here's what to expect: FERRET WARFARE!  WAVE POOL MADNESS!  HUSKY MASCOTS!  AND YES....THE CANADIAN ROCKIES THEMSELVES!!!!! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006
8:33 pm	Only a Northern Song (Act 2) OK, forgot to mention this yesterday, but since it was part of that title: basically, between my nap and the Royal Alberta Museum, I decided to call home, since it was about 5 back home and only 3 there.  I tried several times to call using a phone card, but...well, lets just say that mom and I did not realize that the receipt was where the pin number was.  Needless to say, the card was wasted ten bucks of worthlessness and I ended up leaving it behind in Edmonton for someone else...I think.  Oh well, on to the next chapter: Day 2: (or "The Day Ataru was Chewed Alive By Bugs and Saw Modern Safety Features...in Old Fort Edmonton!") With my second day of my vacation underway, it was time for me to get to the first planned destination of the trip: Elk Island National Park.  Located about a half-hour to an hour east of the city, it had been called one of the best places to see wildlife in all of the province, mostly since it stated it was dense with all sorts of animals.  But in order to get there...well, I had to make a few stops and blunders along the way.  First up was Tim Hortons for my morning breakfast...not to mention to pick up one of the local mugs so I could have it when I come home (sadly, I think it vanished somewhere between Calgary and Philly, so don't ask where it is)  Once I hit the Yellowhead Trail (AKA "Canada Route 16", which according to them goes all the way from Winnepeg to the Western Edge of BC as well as has several turn-offs towards Alaska), I embraced the sounds of a local modern rock station...something I haven't gotten a good listen to since Y100 closed up shop due to a managerial decision that believed Philly needed yet another hip-hop station.  Somewhere between here and there, I ended up at a local Esso station (Standard Oil co, sort of like Exxon/Mobil...I never get my gas from them due to their hugeness and their connection to the Exxon-Valdez disaster)  While I didn't need gas, I did get a twelve pack of Nestle water (Nestle is huge up there, particularly in the candy aisle...could you believe I saw a Rolos for the first time in years?  I never see them in the states!) and got some needed bathroom time.  Then I was on my way to....well, this is where it gets a tad stupid on my part.  You see, although I knew I was close to the park, I ended up trying to make a right turn at the first sign I came across saying "Elk Island"!  On one hand, that was stupid because I was far in the left side of the lane and all the local traffic was blaring as I tried to get myself in.  On the other hand, it became stupider as I ended up wandering around on some country road in the middle of nowhere without a clue where I was.  When I saw signs stating for some campground or some other park, I immediately turned around, got back onto the Yellowhead Trail, then bolted my way a few more miles to the real entrance to the park!  Guess I'm not that smart on this, huh? Once inside the park and with a map in hand, the next decision was to figure out what I was going to be doing there.  I knew I really wanted to see some sort of animal life...sure those things too, but all sorts of whatever I could see.  So I headed up the road towards a lake area where I heard there was a bunch of trails I could hike this day.  It was a few minutes between here and there that I actually got my first sighting...and it was a doozy!  There, on the right side of the road in the grass, was a real, live buffalo!  I really had no idea what kind or buffalo it was or how it ended up there, but I had to stop my car in order to get some pictures.  The creature luckily stood there as I got in a few shots before continuing along the way.  The buffalo gave me a good feeling: if this is what I could see heading into the park, then imagine what would be in the park! Eventually, I got to the lake where the trails were.  Parking near some sort of golf course (why the heck would someone want to waste wildlife space for a golf course is beyond me!), I started walking my way trying to figure out where I was going.  It wasn't that long until I found the lake and ended up on a small boardwalk that some considered a trail based on the map.  Various signs pointed out various aspects of lake life, from the microorganisms living beneath us to the various birds that called it home.  I didn't see too many of this wildlife except for the plants and the bugs...mostly dragonflies and such, but you know what kind of bugs they had.  I got in a few pictures but that's about it.  Past that trail, I started making my way up a nearby hill and towards another of the trails in the park.  Accordingly to the map, this trail was one of the shorter ones: a path that would take one to two hours to make my way through and get in a good view of the lake and the local wildlife.  Lets just say....that never really happened.  Oh sure, I did see a few birds on the water like Canada Geese (if I want those, I can just go home to Philly) and such, but I really did not see any real creatures that I could write home about.  There were also two other problems: 1. I happened to make my way through the woods on one of the hottest days of the year.  I believe they said a new record was hit in Edmonton that day as temps went up to 33 degree Celsius.  I had some sunblock for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I got a little tan. 2. The bugs.  Man, oh man there were mosquitoes and such everywhere I went!  The path seemed little used due to the cobwebs everywhere and the debree all over the place, but it was the bugs that really got to me.  Even with my arms being the only part of me exposed and covered in some sort of insect repellant, the mosquitoes did not care as they took out several chunks of flesh within my hike!  The part that really hit me the most was the back knuckle of my left thumb: from where the mosquito bite was, it made the thing feel almost arthritic for a couple days! Needless to say, it was because of the bugs and the sun and such that the short trail turned out to be my first...and last hike of the day.  I knew I was not going to see any more wildlife today and thus I had to get out of there and find something else to do.  Besides...I didn't pack a lunch and knew I would not survive out here without a meal.  Tired, hungry and burnt out and bitten out, I trudged my way from the woods, back to the car and onto the Yellowhead Trail.  As I approached Edmonton limits, I made my lunch stop...at McDonalds, where I got a chicken sandwitch with tea!  While there, I looked over a map to try and figure out where to go next.  For some reason, the thing that called out to me that day was Fort Edmonton, which supposedly was a representation (not even the original, since that was gone long ago) of the original town prior to the modern era.  With my belly full and my mind decided, I made my way out to check out a local piece of history...even if most of it isn't really authentic.  (well OK, its authentic in its style, but most of it outside a few moved buildings is a replica of the original fort)  After the disaster of Elk Island, I really had no idea what to expect of the old fort.  But as I entered, I was amazed before even getting into the meat of the park!  The whole place started with a steam train line, set up similar to the Trans-Canadian lines that existed in the late 1800's to traverse settlers west to the mineral or fur wealths of the area.  After bumping my head, I travelled on the train and "travelled back in time" to an era before that train, during the early/mid 1800s when Edmonton was nothing but a fur-trading outpost connected with the Hudson Bay Company.  Inside, there lay out a small set of buildings and various reinactors of female and male doing what was natural of this time period...while trying to keep themselves tied to this past instead of to our period.  Out in front, there was this woman cooking deer brains (yeah, its gross, but they used everything as part of the process) in order to eventually tan some deer hide that she had nearby.  (yeah, poor deer)  Closer by, houses filled with furs of beaver, bear, wolf and all sorts of things were being used, supposedly by the locals and the natives they intermarried with in order ot survive the cold winters brought about on this part of the world. (yeah, its really sad...but that's a fact of life.  Besides, its not like there were any fluffy tails amidst them)  However, even in this "old-time era", there was still a strange paradox of the modern connections they had to make as sacrifice.  In every building in Fort Edmonton, no matter what the era, a modern day fire extinguisher and lighted electric sign was placed nearby.  Needless to say, it was strange to see something so modern in a replication, but I guess that's modern safety standards for you. Traveling further into the future (and joking with locals about the Delorean I had parked outside), I travelled through the further eras depicted in the park.  Slowly, the town evolved from the trading fort to something resembling an old-fashion Western town like you see in the movies!  Complete with the farm at the end of the street, the horse-driven carriages and even the old-time soda-shop (complete with modern, 21st century devices and with pay in modern Canadian money), I took it all in and made my way from the 1800s into the 1900s until the exhibition found its end in the 1920s.  While I joked about the modern day conveniences and the indoor plumbing in the area, it was a well-made tried in trying to authenticate the time and the era.  It was also here that I got my first few real souveniers of the trip: a mug for mom and a deck of playing cards with "Canadian Animals" on it (including "that thing" on the 4 of Clubs) and, straight from the early 1900s (not literally but from the replica), a bag of Humbugs. (which, as they say, is a lot like old butterscotch...and not too bad)  And so, with a hop on an old '20s streetcar, I reentered the present and made my way to my next destination. Taking a quick time-out back in the hotel, I decided that that night I was going to go into town for dinner.  Looking over some magazines and such of the area, I found something that seemed promising: a bar/pub in town.  After hopelessly getting lost on the streets again, I made it just in time for the parking meters to no longer matter for the day. (after 6, its free parking on the streets!)  My dinner consisted pretty much of a delicious burger (which I accidentally put steak sauce on forgetting that it had mustard already on it)  with a side salad with blue cheese. (well OK, I was sort of expecting the salad to come first since I could eat the cheese, then drown it away before getting to the meat...but when its served as a side, they really mean its a side dish like fries.  It wasn't bad...except for the stupid cucumbers on it.  Can't stand those things, but I love pickles.)  While waiting and eating dinner, Rogers Sportsnet was reairing the World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany, which I found myself intrigued with even though I never saw it when it was airing (thus hoping I would not get the ending spoiled...even though someone did, I did somehow see the end of the game when I got back to the hotel much, much later) After that, I ended up with the last little crisis of the day.  Apparantly, even though I had only been in town for two days, the rechargable batteries I was left with in the camera of dad's were already starting to run out!  Knowing that the batteries I had back at the hotel were not going to work wtih something that high-tech, I needed to make a quick battery run!  Luckily, there was a supermarket nearby in the downtown area, in the midst of this park-like structure with all these various stores.  While watching for the Enegizers, I took in a lot of the various brands and products they sold in Canada...and somehow it made me smile considering how similar, yet different a lot of it is. (both in the different brands and even the various products with "different looks and appeals" up north)  With the batteries gotten and myself out of town, I was eventually back in my hotel, tired yet satisfied by another day of touring... Next Time: HOCKEY!  CHOCOLATE!  WATER SLIDES!  WELCOME TO THE BIGGEST MALL IN THE WORLD NORTH AMERICA...er, or was it Canada!!!! (unless the Mall of America has done more expanding since the last time, its the biggest in NA) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 10th, 2006
8:20 pm	Only a Northern Song (act 1) Canada: a country that has gone through many names and ideas through the American psyche.  "The Great White North".  The cause for all America's problems.  That place with all the hockey and where they say "Eh?" a lot.  (I did hear it quite a few times over the week, but probably not as much as Americans place it in their vocabulary)  I've been there once in my life: it was back in 1997, when I had to travel all the way to Toronto to attend my first anime convention. (though I don't know if I still hold the ticket, I admit to buying the first ever Anime North ticket...)  But now was different.  I'm now practically an adult (well physically, I doubt mentally) and was heading much, much further away than I've ever (I do mean it...the furthest I've ever been was either Toronto or Williamsburg :p)) before.  Now, I finally reveal what happened: the tale of Ataru in Alberta. Day 1 (or "The Day Ataru Went Into the Sky...and Found Out Why He Hates Phone Cards") I woke up at an extremely early time (for me): 3:30, all so I could catch a flight just past 6 in the morning to Toronto.  Groggy and trying to stay as high on caffiene as I could after a strange night sleep, I headed off to the Philly International Airport.  Once there, I had to go through a ton of security just to get on to the plane (trust me, it was nuts, but not as nuts as returning).  Then came the part I was dreading: the flight.  Having never flown before and remembering Sept. 11, I was imagining I was going to be on the flight that the terrorists would hijack and fly into some building somewhere.  But as we flew upwards into the air, heading high into the sky, my nerves started to recede!  I stared down and saw nothing but huge clouds, floating right below me, imagining as if I was floating above the White-White Sea heading towards Skypiea.  As I approached Toronto, my transfer point, I started to see the strange, amazing layout of the land as humans have shifted it as well as how nature intended.  It feels very strange staring down, seeing all these patterns not typically seen unless this high in the sky, imagining the people and the things down towards the ground.  Once in Toronto, I had to go through the difficulties of customs, crossing into the realm of the Canadian govt.  Amazingly, it went well and shows the inherent friendlyness of the natives...   After that, I got some breakfast at a local institution: Tim Hortons!  Those things are a local institution and I went there several times throughout the week, particularly in Edmonton! (and once in Calgary and here)  The amazing thing: as Canadian as this chain is, its actually owned by the same company as Wendy's...though sadly, there aren't but a few of them in the US probably because of Dunkin Donuts.  After breakfast and a little layover, it was straight on to my next flight: Toronto -> Edmonton: the main event was so close!  As I went into the sky this time around, I was sort of used to flying from the first trip, so I really didn't need to look out my window again.  However, since this was a longer journey than the first, there was a lot more on this plane than on the small Air Canada Jazz plane from the first part.  The stewards and stewardess offered us lunch for pay to a captive audience, knowing we would pay for the food (though the drinks are still complimentarly...I ended up eating cup ramen that cost me two bucks for a measily cup)  And since I wasn't really tired, I ended up watching the in-flight entertainment: a news bulletin and a movie: the cheesy teen Shakespeare adaptation "She's the Man". (I only ended up watching because I have this thing about girls that dress up as guys...not a transgender or trans-sexual fan, just the fact of the weird awkwardness and seeing "him" becoming "her" can be cute.  Though as crappy as the film was with all the teen stuff, the "standard teen movie beyond-weird/incompient geek girl" was sort-of cute...) Finally, four hours later and two hours earlier than my internal clock was used to (Mountain is two hrs less than Eastern...and really screwed up TV schedules for me), I finally arrived in my final destination: Edmonton!  From there, I picked up my car from the rental company and hit the road, making my way from the airport to my Howard Johnsons hotel out in the western part of town!  As clean and beautiful as the city was (well from the part I mostly saw), the hotel felt like in a sketchier area filled with older buildings crammed together and porn shops nearby.  Amazingly, the Howard Johnsons was a nice respite from the area: a clean, nice hotel with a cute room and an easy-access air conditioner.  I decided to relax for a bit, crashing in my room and taking at least an hour or two to nap...but relaxation turned into wanderlust.  I was not going to come into town and do nothing the whole week!  Luckily, there was a nice something nearby according to the hotel management and I decided to check it out. The Royal Alberta Museum is a small, two-floored museum just east of my hotel, showing off various exhibitions about the local community and about  other things.  After picking up the obligatory little flags of the province and the nation, I headed first into a wildlife exhibition talking about the native fauna of the province.  Inside, various models of bears, coyotes, buffalo, moose and even wolves stood inside, stuffed and perfectly set up to show the various creatures of the area.  The good news: no fluffy-tails were inside that exhibition...which probably shows a bit on how much they think of there about here.  From there, I headed to a section with two exhibitions in the same hall, but seperated appropriately.  On the left was a history of mail-ordered catalogs in Canada, showing how various companies such as Eatons, Hudson Bay, even Sears and Canadian Tire, influenced the landscape of purchasing in the country.  On the other was a touring exhibit of the kimonos of the famed geisha/artist Ichimaru, each one perfectly aligned (and somehow with instructions not to take pictures.  Upstairs was another exhibit, but a brief study on various flora and fauna, past and present (dinosaur and mammoth skeleton models were inside) of the province.  I got a pic of a model of an ermine...there was even a skull of a mink!  There was also something on the Native American population, but since the museum was about to close, I didn't get the chance to see it. Done at the museum, I took another bit of advice from the local hotel from earlier and headed down to another part of town I heard had some nice eats for dinner.  Its called Old Strathcona, a more "trendy/arty" section of town similar to South Street here in Philly.  There I saw all sorts of people and a lot of cute girls...of course, most of them didn't really want to notice the American and were off having a drink or with their own friends.  For dinner, I ended up at a very nice Mexican restaraunt where I had a soy-crumble taco thing...never got to finish it, but it was rather good and rather spicy like I like it.  (can't remember the name, but I know I have a pic of it)  Unfortunately, it was after dinner that I got into a bit of a thing with these Canadians....two girls and a guy, sitting outside the local Elephant and Castle. (a British-style pub I've also been once in Philly)  I started getting into a conversation, trying to act natural as I'm myself.  But unfortunately, my "natural" made them think I was a weirdo or from Mars!  They ended up calling me "the White Steve Urkel" because of it...which I found rather offensive.  Am I really that stupid or geeky to be compared to Jaleel White...I have my pride!  I left, there and then.  I spent the next few minutes in a local web cafe, trying to ease the pain....not to mention get in contact with sis after the card fiasco.  At least they had one there or else it would have been more difficult later.  After checking a few things, contacting sis and speaking with KK for a moment, I headed out of Strathcona and back to my hotel, where I relaxed and called it a night watching some Canadian channels. (unfortunately, when you live here and all the channels are either Eastern or Pacific...well you get the Eastern stuff earlier than back home, but the Pacific stuff is on past my bedtime :p  Guess you win some and you lose some) Wish I could tell you more, but my fingers are getting tired so I'll save the next part of the tale for next time...probably tomorrow.  But for a sneak preview, three words: BUGS!  A BUFFALO!  AND HUMBUGS! (you'll understand soon enough) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 9th, 2006
9:45 pm	Home, Alive and Pooped Not going to bore you with details tonight (will do a comprehensive post in the next day or so), but I just came home from the Canadian excursion.  And it was...well, interesting.  I would say more, but I need to recooperate.  I'll blog it ASAP...well the next day or two. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 25th, 2006
9:41 pm	Countdown to the (Canadian) Wilderness Its been several weeks since the last time I've used this thing...I guess there are periods there isn't that much to say.  Plenty has happened in a few ways, but I really can't say what they are or if I remember what they were. On another matter, I have something rather fun I may want to do on this blog.  Coming up next week, from July 3-9, I'm finally going away on what perhaps is the first vacation-like trip...well, maybe not ever but in a long, long time.  If every works out as its supposed to and I've planned over the last year (barring some horrific plane crash or terrorist hijacking into some building...yeah, my first time in a plane so its both exciting and nervous), then it will be a great week.  Trying to get a whole week out of it, with several days in Edmonton, complete with a nature walk..hope to see a few buffalo or some northern animals...and if those fluffy tailed things show up, I'll scare them away with my flash camera :p  Also going to what is perhaps one of the biggest shopping complexes in North America, the West Edmonton Mall, where I'll probably get a few souveniers for the folks and do a few things! (wish I could say "biggest in the world", but China has it beat and Dubai is building one even bigger than the one in China...sometimes you just need quality over quantity...that and they really shouldn't obsess over being consumerist or else they'll turn out as crappy as the US :p)  May try to get to a few museums and a Western fort, but I only have a limited amount of time.  Then, after a travel day, I'm heading down to Calgary for the fun of the big Calgary Stampede!  A whole wild west experience that you never could get out here in...well, the East. (our wild wilderness is more about colonialization and destruction...sort of the stuff they never teach you in school...then again, its pretty sad there too with the wars and such)  If all goes accordingly, this week will be a huge blast!  And if it doesn't... Well, the main reason why I told you all this is that I'm thinking of using this blog as maybe a bit of a way to report everything that happened.  While I know I probably won't be able to use the computer in the hotel room too much (not to mention there's that whole "destroyed laptop thing"....), but I think I'll try to get whatever I need to said when I get back.  And pictures...yeah, hopefully there will be pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  One of my big purchases this weekend is a 512MB memory card for a digital camera my dad had before he passed away.  Since its only 2MP, that means it has the capacity to hold 800 pictures when done right!  I don't know if I'll be able to put all of them up, but I really, really want to put what I can up here for those of you that care to see them....then again, with my shutter finger and eye, I highly doubt you do. BTW: Saw X3 today...very schizophrenic movie.  Liked a few scenes and such, but I think they were trying too hard to stuff in too many characters and do something with each of  them.  If Singer or some other director did this, it would have a bit more focus instead of what probably could be fanservice. (nothing wrong with fanservice, but fanservice with plot is a lot more interesting) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 29th, 2006
7:38 am	Emotional problems I really have no idea what I am about to say now, but if I don't say it now then its never going to be said. Have you ever had problems regarding self-doubt on something you know is true.  Sure, we all have problems regarding self-doubt at one time or another, but usually you're able to overcome them and move on to something else in your life.  But there are some things that, even if you know the answer, just keeps coming back over and over again to haunt you. Maybe that's a bit too much of an intro, so lets just get it out bluntly: I'm not gay, but I have serious emotional issues around males.  I have no idea why this happens to me.  I love girls and all, but I feel rather squeamish whenever I'm around someone men about my age.  The thing is, if I know I'm not a homosexual, why is this happening to me?  Is it because of jealousy that they have something I don't?  Is it because they're able to get girlfriends while I'm still single and slightly reclusive?  Does this have something to do with living in an environment with two dominating females and a father that really didn't help me out and is now suddenly gone?  But whenever I think I am over it, something comes up and my mind starts going crazy again.  And I can't find any release to tell these things because no one understands. The thing is this: I love girls, I am attracted to girls, I want to marry a female someday.  I've been working with girls a lot in my writings.  My friends and I drool over girls and talk about female characters.  But at the same time: the only people left in the house that are family: female.  Their friends: female.  All the people that boss me around and tell me what to do: female.  And here I am, the only male in the house left and I'm cracking up due to this conflict of interest.  Maybe it is this confliction of domination and obsession that has finally gotten to me and removed any positive male role models that could have shaped me and helped me along the way.  Thus bringing me to this crossroads where I have problems involving males.  Sure I'm still able to talk to them and such, but without any outlet to ease me and help me realize my interpersonal relation to the same sex as opposed to the opposite sex...well, its come to this.  That's all I got to say about that.  In other news: I sometimes wonder more and more about my chauffer status with my mom and sister.  While I don't mind going all the way to Lancaster yesterday to get some stuff, those two were so obsessed with shopping that I wasn't able to leave when I wanted to.  I guess I don't mind shopping when I need to, but am not obsessed like those two in getting what I don't need. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 21st, 2006
9:31 pm	Once upon a time there was a rabbit... Before I begin this entry, I just want to warn of something.  This is going to be a very strange rambling which probably encompasses me looking into a classic anime too hard and looking for something that probably never existed.  Trust me, you've been warned. ( MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!!! ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 18th, 2006
9:02 pm	Requests, threads and passive existance ( Warning: some of the content is personal and a bit risque...even if not said ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 7th, 2006
8:03 pm	The trials and tribulations of Peter Parker I am a comic fan.  Although I am very well known as a manga and anime fan, I do have to give it up to many of the American comic books for defining and writing the tales of the American youths (and adults that acted like youths) during their heyday.  Although I'm not too much of a fan of the over-soap-opera nature of the mainstream American books, I have the characters I know I love and I can connect with: Shulkie, Tigra (well those two were going to be obvious for those who know me :p), Batman and Spiderman.  In particular, Spiderman had this nature of being a normal kid who was stuck with superpowers and was trying to get by while consistantly being called upon to save the day.  Sure while I never really read the comics, I appreciated him from the other medium I've seen him in such as TV and movies.  But today, the trials and tribulations of everyone's favorite web-slinger may have directed me back to my recently passed father...and perhaps one of the biggest blunders of his life! ( Continue Here, True Believers! ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 1st, 2006
9:42 pm	A silly little story I highly doubt anyone is probably going to care about this, but for some reason I just want to leave it out there in case someone happens upon this: Once upon a time, there was a ninja, a reaper and a pirate. The three of them were invited over to a party where all sorts of people would hang out. There would be food and all sorts of things going on while these three were pretty much the guests of honor. The trio of the ninja, reaper and pirate all arrived at the same time and just went about the party. The ninja was the first one to get notice from everyone in the room. He had many wild antics and powers and abilities unlike anything ever seen. With just a little bit of his power, he could make anything happen. But he was an angsty being, with horrible power locked inside and a whole lot of trouble back home. Seeing this ninja with all these tricks and problems, many of the kids ran off to follow him. They were amazed by a lot of what he could accomplish...and while a couple found a bit of it shallow, he had the attention of over a third, maybe close to a half, of the room. The reaper was not as hyper as the ninja, but he too had strange abilities. But at the same time, there was something much more mature about his nature. He too had a problem regarding his lineage, but really didn't dwell on it. He was a great conversationalist and especially had a vast knowledge of obscure music hardly anyone outside him had heard of. Many of the older teens and young adults who were impressed by the ninja (yet felt him a bit too shallow) followed the reaper around as they got into conversation with him. The pirate was a jolly, fun-loving fellow like the ninja, but was not as destructive or angsty as the other two. All he wanted to do was eat meat, drink grog and tell amazing stories of the sea and all the people he's met along the way. Sure he had his problems and his troubles, but that didn't stop him from having a good time and showing off his weird and wild abilities. Sadly, not too many people noticed the pirate around. With most of the people interested more by the ninja or the reaper, all that remained were a few weirdoes that saw something more to him than merely a pirate. They saw a dreamer and a more complex being that needs to be looked at further even with the weirdness of his life and his world. Maybe one or two of the followers of the ninja and the reaper got a good glance at the pirate as well, but they kept it to themselves in thinking they wouldn't be cool if they hung out over there instead of with everyone else. (OK, maybe this wasn't the best story and maybe I haven't seen too much of two of those series, but I'm trying to create a general picture of the fandom for three of the biggest Shonen Jump manga series as seen in this country. You can probably already tell who I'm talking about through my commentary...but I just wanted to throw this out since its been on my mind and I really didn't want to post it elsewhere without getting the scorns and critisicms from a lot of manga/anime fans.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
7:26 pm	Of course you know, this means Warners! Well I finally made my first pre-order DVD purchase in a while...and while I know I may or may not be rushing it with things as they are, I think its rather worth it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FA57H6/qid=1145314955/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2315746-0964753?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130 ( Some more wacky Warner talk below... ) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
8:40 pm	Mink tracks Found this little thing while surfing the other day: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/journal/Feb2006.html Look at some of the pics...or watch the vid clip in particular: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/journal/minkattackshort.mpg You know, when I started on my trek of making cute little wereminks (er, maybe I should say big wereminks...well if you know me, you know my girls), I never had a realization that real minks were cute as well. Usually, minks are merely seen as fur suppliers for trackers or as some member of the mustelid family that's not as hyped as a ferret or a weasel..or even skunks or wolverines. From what I've read, they have just as bad scents as skunks (but in some ways, its worse...but in a smaller circumference than the more well known stinker), are solitary and anti-social most of the time (outside maybe mating season or when the females take care of their kits), and are even seen as one of the primary imported problems in the British Isles! (I read once that an updated version of "The Wind in the Willows" added minks to the weasel gang in particular due to their wiping out of the native vole population...well they are fluffy tailed weasels but still...). But with all of the ignorance and negatives there are about them, there's just something...I don't know, inherently cute about these things. Maybe it has something to do with their relations to ferrets or how fluffy their fur is, but minks are just one of these misunderstood animals that are both good and evil in their own inherent way. Just like how the wolf is misunderstood as both a threat to ranchers and a key (and cute...yeah, just as bad with the werewolves as I am with wereminks...and don't get me started on weretigers :p) predatorial link in woods and praries throughout North America, minks have their importance within the wetter ecosystems. (this clip being a good example, showing the natural predator/prey relation between a mink and a muskrat...then again, the muskrat gets away and the mink merely gets a good swim :p) I wish there was a way to better understand them, but I guess understanding natural mysteries is the job for someone else, not particularly me. Oh well: though I doubt I'll ever see a real mink, I still have a plush mink doll staring at me and all the wereminks in my imagination... One more quick thought: am I the only person that would love to see a sexy, amazonian proportioned version of Tenjoujin Asuka from Yu-Gi-Oh GX? Someone from one of the boards tried to draw one...but it was just too disproportionate for my liking. Sure I love feminine muscle, but three words come to mind: proportion, proportion, proportion! Sure you can have size, but without proportion it makes them look disgusting and manly. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 8th, 2006
6:42 pm	Thanks and Surrender First of all, I want to thank everyone out there that has contacted me over the last week regarding the tragic passing of my father. When I first put this on my blog, I saw this as a way to hold a small memorial where I couldn't do so anywhere else. I knew he wasn't significant enough to get even a small article in the local paper (outside of his funeral notice). And don't even get me started on the funeral: I started speaking the same things that I said on this blog and never even got to the part where he met mom! (then again, the funeral was only scheduled for an hour and no one really wanted to stand out in the cold that long) There is so much more to him than what I said at the funeral...or even what I said on the blog. But that's part of being human: there's so much to anyone that you can never summerize everything and anything that he or she has done. Its like the end of "Citizen Kane": Rosebud is merely a small, insignificant piece of the whole puzzle that is Charles Foster Kane. (or in this case, Morton Blau) And while it was a vital piece, its just one of many, many perspectives of who he was. In other news...well, I feel really depressed today, but over something a bit less solemn. I had been planning since January of this year to make a trip to Washington, DC to see the sakura and go to the Japanese festival there. I did it a couple times when I was in college and was really hoping to do it for the first time in years. But on Thursday...it finally hit me. I just couldn't go to DC this year. Some would think that it was the death of dad that would have stopped me, but actually that wasn't the cause. I still would have gone due to the symbolsm of his passing being similar to that of the sakura: living life so tenuously until the moment you are blown off by the wind. Actually the reasons were threefold: -I was the only one going. I was hoping my sister and even her B-friend and his sister would go, but they were all busy with a bunch of other stuff. Sis and her b-friend had a movie festival in town and they already volunteered. But this wasn't that strong of an influence: I probably still would have gone. -The cost ratio. If I went to DC, I would not only being alone, but I would be driving my car down there. With recent prices of gas and the factor of being one person, I would pretty much be the whole cost...and it wouldn't feel as efficient. -Finally, and the most influential matter of my not-going, was the forcast. All week it kept saying it was going to rain on the East Coast, both in Philly and in DC. If I wanted to perfectly take part in an outdoor festival or an outdoor sakura viewing, it wouldn't feel right with all the rain. So I suffered and stayed here getting drenched while helping my mom this morning than take my chances for a mostly rainy day down there. I guess what this teaches me is that as great as it would have been to go to DC today, sometimes there are other factors that influence my decisions. It would have been nice to see sakura and eat yakitori and watch performances, but I'm not trying to be foolish...just fun-loving. On a silly note, though, I keep thinking of something involving the three Sound-Nin of Naruto (Zaku, Dosu and Kin) hosting a comedic commentary of that show. Sort of like the IchaParadiseFan Ninja Journals (http://ichaparadisefan.blogspot.com), but more like a running commentary and complaints.  Why not?  (BTW: not that much a Naruto fan, but they do have such a huge cast...) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006
7:25 pm	In memorium Let me talk to you for a moment about a man that I hold near and dear to my heart. Someone that has probably been one of major influences on my life, whether it was in a positive or negative light. We all have one of these whether we want to acknowledge it or not, whether its a good thing or not. And its someone I do want to finally pay my respect to in my own way. His name is Morton Roy Blau. He is my father. He may not have been the greatest father on this planet, but he wasn't the worst one either. But I do share 50% of my genetics with him and have a lot of experiences with what I've been through, so he is a huge influence on the person writing this blog today. ( Read more... ) (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
9:56 pm	Love Stinks Heh...I've had a lot going on in my life as of late, what with my dad having complications from cancer and my mom spending every penny on him when no one wants to help and my sister and her B-friend driving each other nuts every few nights. But I guess I just want to get this personally off my chest. I want to admit that, since the moment I noticed girls back in middle school, I've never had a girlfriend. Never. Not one single moment in my entire life since I discovered girls have I ever dated one or been out with them or had sex or any of it. And its not because I'm in the closet, because I know that's not true. My problem is that I'm never the one they want. I've been trying to get a girl to at least go out or something since high school....maybe not as hard as I concentrated on my studies or obsessed over anime, but I've tried. But it never worked: -In high school, they were all already taken. I even had to almost go to the senior prom dateless and just went with a junior who wanted to hang out with her friends that night anyway. Then there was Homecoming: I helped out getting it together, I won two tickets, and who did I go with...zip! And don't get me started on the night I brought condoms to a dance for some brat that was emotionally manipulating me... -College...I tried to hang out with girls, but there too was nothing. They were all slutty or wanted to hang out with their girl-friends or their boyfriend back home. One thought I wasn't Jewish enough (then again, she thought nothing was Jewish enough and left by the end of the year), others probably just let me in their room as "a friend" knowing they would never stoop to wanting me. I even groped a girl's breast and kissed her when she was drunk..and never really said anything to me again after that! -I tried once to find companionship at a strip club...big mistake. One that cost me $800 of hard earned money! Don't really want to get into that. -I tried to go to some social parties or dance clubs to see if I would strike it up. One was run by this silly radio program from around here that pretty much said they had marriages and babies from them. I came, I saw, I left, I got zip. And going on my own to some clubs got me nowhere either. Sure they thought I was a freak on the dance floor, but they all had their girl-friends with them or their boy friends or whatever excuse they had for that moment. -And don't get me started on internet dating. Many of them are just money-hungry traps that probably don't go anywhere. I joined a few as a temp member...one that didn't require a monetary joining fee. I tried to contact a few girls, but none of them seemed interested. I tried that "on demand" dating thing....got me a few notices, but none of them ever seemed to get anywhere. Sure they IMed me when they found out who I was, but many of them were from elsewhere in the country and either wanted to give me advice or just say hi to the freak show, get into one or two conversations, then never hear from me ever again. I even joined an international one...they start off fine until they start either giving me the "I'm not the one for you" bit or the "wait until you hear about my new boyfriend" thing. Why did I even pay the money for that one? There's probably a lot more I can tell you, but one thing's for certain: at this point I'm ready to give up. Everything I've tried has gotten me nowhere and I don't think I'm really right for anyone. But then after I say this, everyone is going to start with that "don't worry, she's out there somewhere, you haven't found her yet" routine. But I've heard that crap for years now and I'm still looking. Shove that in your face. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment... At least until all this crap is resolved, I'm still going to keep to my porn and perverted stories about girls turning into cute werewolves. (2 Comments |Comment on this)