Rearranging the Room / Advent Ah-Don't-Think-So

Yesterday morning I woke up and decided to rearrange my room. Since getting internet, my computer has been pretty much in the exact center of the apartment, hooked to the internet on one end and the power on the other. So I decided to move the power strip to the same outlet that was powering the modem. As a result, I now also get to sit right in front of the heater, saving myself a bit of money on gas (since I can just reach over and turn it off if I'm warm). Yay!

I downloaded Advent Children a couple of days ago. I watched it with subtitles once, and have since then listened to it 1-1.5 times a day behind whatever else I've been doing for the Japanese listening practice. I'm in love with the soundtrack. The rocked-out version of One-Winged Angel is pretty much to die for, as are a couple of the other variant versions of songs on the soundtrack. The story... I like it more as I watch it more, but I don't think it was presented well. Overall, though, it was a fun romp back to the good old days of FFVII. However... we want a remake. This does not count.

I've also decided I need more things to watch. The library has a bunch of DVDs, but I can't check them out to bring home (even if I could use my laptop to watch DVDs from another region) and I can't access the internet from the room the DVDs are in. I'll likely end up spending some kanji practice time there with Mr. Incredible and the Phantom of the Opera.

Yesterday I had an idea for a photoshopped image (which isn't done yet) which required a picture of the Turks from FFVII. Since Advent Children had such nice renders available, I ended up grabbing one of those pictures, and in the process discovering that you can buy a replica of Cloud's earring from the movie. It's a pretty spiffy-looking earring, all told. The price is a bit high (a little over $50), which is a bit much, but I like the look of it, so I was almost willing to buy it (given a time frame in which I had money). However, I then discovered that it's a bloody clip-on. I'll be damned if I'm paying more than $5 for a clip-on earring. If I'm paying more than that, I want assurance that the earring won't come off, and that means that it has a post that goes through an 11-year-old hole in my ear. I mean, sure, selling a clip-on version makes sense, since most of their customers will be cosplaying fanboys who don't want to seem gay in society's eyes (...?), but it also makes sense to sell a posted version, especially at that price. (Note: I was looking for a picture of the clip on to put in here after I finished writing the blog post and found out that some enterprising cosply stuff seller has made a posted version which sells for $20. That's more like it.)

I spent today's early afternoon helping my friend Hiroko look at classes to take at UAF. The schedule for spring semester won't be out until tuesday, so we can't figure out exactly what she's gonna take, but I helped her decipher the silly descriptions in the course catalog, as well as figure out that some of the classes she'll want to take are offered every other spring, with the next offering being the semester after she leaves. I also explained the coolness that is the recreation classes and recommended a couple of other classes I thought she'd like. We also looked up Psychology prefessors at the UAF section of Rate My Professors and determined that it should be easy to find a Psychology class she'd enjoy. ^^ I'm really looking forward to seeing her again when I return to Alaska, to see what she'll have thought of Alaska and exchange by the time I return.

The rest of the afternoon I spent shopping. I got the rest of the Shannon shopping done. (Side note primarily aimed at Ash: At the moment I'm pretty much strapped for cash, so until my bills have stopped piling up so suddenly as a result of the way my scholarship works, I'll be able to get stuff for people who haven't given me money to buy stuff for them with. Patience, yo.) That was fun. I also discovered that in the maze that is Posful I missed a couple of shops the first time around.

I found this one shoe store with the most awesome flip-flops ever. So 4000+ yen awesome that I wasn't about to buy them. If you were to take a piece of white foam, cut it in the shape of a storm trooper's head, paint it like a storm trooper's head, then cut flip-flops out of it, you'd get these. It was a storm trooper's face that you could step on, take apart, and restore. I want it.

Realizations of the Period

1) Eating is expensive.