DS Screen Cleaner Product Review

Originally posted on 10/5/2008
On an impulse buy I bought one of those DS screen cleaners. It was in one of those vending machines that sell those little figures and charms for $1. When I got it home and took it out of the egg I cleaned my DS screen with it. It was horrible. It made my DS screen all linty it looks worse than it did before. Now it's smudgy and linty. Maybe I should just buy a micro fiber cloth to clean the screen.

Here are some pictures of it.

The cleaner:
front:

back:

The little paper that came with it.
Front:
back:

Too bad myspace didn't archive the funny comment my cousin wrote about it screaming quality item because I bought it from a vending machine for a dollar.  

My cool new car

Originally posted on 10/4/2008

Ok I finally did it. I know I said I never would because I was too afraid to, but I made a facebook account. I made it for a very silly reason. I made it to leave inane comments and messages on the official Shirley Manson page. That's all I'll be using it for.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shirley-Manson/27037696386

It kind of reminds me of when John Cena use to have a myspace and I use to leave inane comments and messages on his page before it got shut down.

In other Shirley related news she was recently a guest on Last Call  which sadly I could not attend the taping of.

I bought a used car today. Ok it's not a real car. I got a used car for Barbies for $3.99. I use to have an old Barbie car my cousin gave me, but the wheel kept falling off. I had to get rid of it. I use to have a pink Corvette now I have a pink Mustang. Maybe I'll post a picture of my cool car on facebook. J/K

Birthday shout outs to Demon Slayer, Gwen Stefani and a belated shout out Leslie.

Art Class Memories

Originally posted on 9/29/2008

Recently I found my Art 2 folder and it made me remember how much I hated that class. That class was so cutthroat. I hated all the stress and pressure in that class. It was like we were all competing against each other even if the class was small. Most of the art we made had the same lameass theme "don't judge me cause I'm a teenager". Seriously couldn't we have thought of something else? Anything?

I'm so dissatisfied with most of the work I did in that class I'm going to throw most of it away. It just brings back bad memories anyway. I don't even care if somebody took the bad drawings I threw away and passed them off as their own. Like anybody would; they were so ugly.

One piece of art I liked making in that class was a piece I made that was inspired by the Sailor Moon R movie. I think it is a very beautiful piece of fanart. (sorry to sound a little arrogant) I gotta see if I can scan it and put it up on my deviantart. That account hasn't had much put into it for a while. I thinking about making some more Tokyo Mew Mew and Winx Club fan art. I feel inspired to make fanart again.

I think that class made me realize that I didn't want to go to an art school. When you go to an art school all you do is art. You don't take classes for anything else. At least when you are at a university you can take different classes. If you get frustrated with art and don't like it anymore you can take a different class like accounting or science. That's why I've preferred universities over art schools. Plus back then I was working hard trying to get into Cal State Fullerton. 

Cheesy Tots

Originally posted on 8/14/2008

Yesterday I tried cheesy tots from Burger King's breakfast menu. I think they are a little too salty. I can usually handle salty things. The cheese inside it is like nacho cheese wiz. The appearance of them makes them looked burned because the cheese is mixed with the potatoes. It does not taste burned.

Burger King's Cheesy Bacon Wrap Recipe

Originally posted on 9/21/2008

Hey guess what I'm not blogging about?
I thought it would be a nice and fun change of pace to write a recipe blog.

Here are the ingredients:
1-2 Slices of Bacon
1 egg
Cheese Wiz
A tortilla
Tater tots about 3-5 depending on size and preference

First fry up the bacon

Then scramble the egg

Cook your tater tots to the specifications on the package.

Warm your tortilla on the burner to soften it (this step is not necessary)

Place the egg and the bacon in the tortilla in this order egg on the bottom then the bacon on top.
There are many ways you can add in the Cheese Wiz. You can add it in cold and smear it over the bacon and egg and then place it in the microwave to melt. Or you can heat the Cheese Wiz up and then drizzle it over the bacon and egg. Then add the tots on top of the cheese.

There are of course variations to this, but is the closest thing to the Burger King one. You can substitute things like instead of using tots you can grate your own potatoes. Or you can also put in cheese slices or cubes instead of using Cheese Wiz. You can even use another type of meat besides bacon like ham or turkey bacon.

Take a Leap!

Originally posted on 2/29/2008

I’m going to take a page from Dr. Frasier Crane and take a leap for leap year this year. Taking a leap means to do something you wouldn’t normally do. http://www.tv.com/frasier/look-before-you-leap/episode/17016/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;15
Here is a summary of the episode. Even though the characters in the episode who take a leap end up having disastrous results I still think it’s a good idea. I’ve thought that since 1996 when I first saw the episode. It’s been one of my favorites ever since. It’s on my top 15 list along with Moon Dance which is my favorite episode
http://www.tv.com/frasier/moon-dance/episode/17013/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;12

The Matchmaker is my second favorite.
http://www.tv.com/frasier/the-matchmaker/episode/16979/summary.html

The Ann Who Came to Dinner
http://www.tv.com/frasier/the-ann-who-came-to-dinner/episode/290444/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;12

Cranes Unplugged
http://www.tv.com/frasier/cranes-unplugged/episode/17377/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;9
Are some of my other favorites on my top 15 list.

Don’t worry I won’t sing "Buttons and Bows" on tv. I was thinking about doing something with "me" hair. I’m thinking about growing it out or dying it. The only thing I don’t want to do with my hair is have um… how should I put this "emo bangs". You know those side swept bang over one eye. They are everywhere and I’m sick of seeing them. They are so not 80s revival hair. I don’t like hair in my face anyway. When it’s in or over my eye it annoys me and I can’t see and my eye that is covered gets all watery and I look like I was crying. I don’t have a problem with regular bangs.

I also don’t want really short hair. I mean like Sailor Mercury’s hair or shorter. So short you can’t make a ponytail with it. I remember when I was a kid there was this female scientist who would come on the tv and one day my grandma who was watching tv with me told me not to cut my hair that short. I really have no idea why I listened to her MY GRANDMA HAS SHORT HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She styles her hair in this little puffed fro type thing to hide her baldness and thin over dyed hair.  It’s funny because a few years later my dad told me not to cut my hair short like that same lady. But I am scared/opposed to cutting my hair really short because I’m afraid if I do somebody will mistake me for a guy.

Or maybe I should wear my hair in an old style. I have to admit I really like Amy Winehouse’s hair style. I’d wear my hair like that, but a toned down version. I don’t have that much hair. Plus I feel my hair style is stagnant I’ve been wearing pretty much the same hair style for like 8 years. I did play around with a side part for a while, but I look horrible with one. I can’t pull it off like Gwen can because she has a heart shaped face and I don’t. It just made my face look fatter.

The one thing I am doing is dying my hair. It has never been touched by dye before it’s virgin hair. I got some color mousse according to the package it’s easier to use than traditional at home dye because it’s a mousse. It’s not permanent and washes out in 8-10 shampoos. It adds like a tint to you hair. I’m using a purple one. I think my hair will be in the shade range somewhere between Sailor Mars and Sailor Saturn.

The one thing I don’t want to happen is to end up with a bad hairstyle like Daphne did in the show.

I can’t even remember what my leap was in 1996. I knew I took one because I was inspired by the episode and wished everybody a happy leap year day, and told them to take a leap too. In 2000 I remember my leap was to not ask my art teacher a question for the whole class period. That was a big feat for me back then. I would end up asking the teacher a lot of annoying questions. I just wanted to make sure my projects looked good. I also did the same thing to my ceramics teacher. I didn’t have much confidence in my projects. I also tried a new flavor of Poweraide that year. I neglected to write what flavor it was or what color. I don’t have a really good memory. I just wrote in my journal what I did. In 2004 I didn’t take any kind of leap that year.

I’d like to wish this girl I use to go to school with a happy 6th birthday. She’s really 24. But today is her real birthday. 

How knowledgeable are you about Japan?

Originally posted on 4/5/2007

Ok so I know my week in review for last week is late. I've been really busy this week. So here is an Asiaphile blog to hold you over.

When I was a freshman in high school, my school hosted a foreign exchange program and we received some Japanese student visitors. I forgot how many though. They stayed with American host families of some of the student that went to the school. I was so jealous that some kids at my school got to have a
Real Japanese person living in their house. So one of the girls in my math class brought her exchange student to the class one day. For some reason my school kept the exchange students separate from the regular students. Anyway when I met the exchange student I told her something really stupid like "I like Japan!" or "I think Japan is cool!". I can't remember my exact words but they were somewhere along those lines. I do remember trying to convince the exchange student about how much I love Japan and anime. I showed her my binder that had authentic Pokemon stickers I got from the anime store that even had Japanese writing on them. I really wanted her to translate them for me. I wanted to know what my Japanese stickers said so badly that I kept bothering that student who belonged to that girl in my math class. 

I also tried to impress my cousin's Japanese wife. My mom makes Jell-o for parties and such, but the Jell-o she makes has whipped cream mixed in with it so it has a frothy appearance. I wanted her to try it so I told her it was like pudding, but not the American or British type, the kind they eat in Japan which is more like flan. My dad was talking to her and pretending he knew a lot about Japan, but he just looked foolish. I know for a fact that I know more about Japan than he does.

Week in review- Would I lie to you?

Originally posted on 3/26/2007

TUESDAY:

When I got up in the morning it was all gloomy and I thought it was earlier in the morning. When it started to rain it was raining really hard, but only for a little while. When I saw the rain I yelled the Japanese word for rain, "ame". Which is the only form of weather I know how to say in Japanese. It took me a long time to style my hair because it gets all puffy when it's foggy/gloomy/rainy especially my bangs and side burns. They never stay down. I made half up pigtails and the way I styled it looked really cure and very 80s. It would've looked more 80s if I had achieved the look with combs. I thought I would be "smart" and go and take a later bus which would still get me to school on time, but I was SO wrong. First off it's a driver I don't like because she takes her sweet time driving the route. We're already late to school anyway and then there is an accident and we can't move. I felt optimistic I think "I got 10 minutes. It'll clear up soon." I was so WRONG. The time kept passing, and I was thinking "I can still make it." I sounded like Homer in Lisa the Vegetarian when the pig is flying in the air and Homer says "It's still good! It's still good!". I was waiting for at least a half hour. I listened to all the songs I like off "The Sweet Escape"; "Wind it Up", "The Sweet Escape", "Early Winter", "4 in the Morning", "Fluorescent", "U Started It", and "Wonderful Life". I also listened to "Spiderwebs" to kill time. The bus didn't get moving until about 12:17 PM. I was so late. I'm ashamed of lateness.  I just hope I don't have to stand outside the room with a bucket as punishment for being late. After we got moving it was smooth sailing. I was about 15 minutes late. It was hard for me to cross the street because there was a bus behind the bus I had just got off of and they were blocking the crosswalk. So after I cross the street I start running to the building then my shoelace comes undone. To save time I just stuffed it in my shoe. I run up the stairs and make it to the room panting. The teacher greets me in English.

We learned more borrowing words including how to write "beer" and "steak" in romanji, but she said the proper way to write those borrowing words is in Katakana instead. One of the bad things about being late was that I didn't get there early enough to rearrange the desks. That otaku girl was kicking the desk and me!  I wasn't there early enough to leave space for her because I know kicks the desk. I think I was at a broken desk. When it was break time I asked the teacher what I had missed in the beginning of class, but she didn't understand again. She thought I wanted to know her policy on tardiness. She said 15 minutes didn't matter because the class is 2 hours. I was really about 20 minutes late, but hey who's counting?  I'm not if she's not. I was still a little worried I did miss something important. That otaku girl is still being a show off and showing that she could write "cho" and "sha" in Hiragana. I just looked it up online. When she left the room during break some guys were talking about anime, I'll assume dubs. They were talking about Pokémon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, and Yu-gi-oh! One guy made me feel old because he said that when he was in elementary school Digimon came out. That show came out when I was in 10th grade.  All the "mon" cartoons were popularized in America (dubs) when I was in high school starting with Pokemon in 1998 when I was in 9th grade. I wonder what that otaku girl would said about the "mon" cartoons. When this other girl came back into the room she said it was cold in there. I think she is sick or something, she had been sneezing a lot and had a stuffy nose. She told the teacher to make it warmer in there. The teacher said that she didn't know how to work the thermostat, so that girl helped her. It got really hot and stuffy in the room. I wasn't cold because I was still all hot from running to class. Then the teacher complained it was too hot and turned it down. Which I think is funny because she said she's usually really cold and had super cold hands. That otaku guy said she should be warm because she is a mammal and has warm blood. That made me wonder what blood type she is. Then the class go into talking about last names. Because she used last names in the sentences we were writing. She was saying is a popular/common Japanese "family name" or last name as we call it in the US. She was also saying about how people are addressed by their last name in Japan. We really don't do that in the US except for when we are talking about athletes on teams or even professional wrestlers that have or use a last name. She was asking us if we are familiar with the Suzuki name. We were saying about the car company and Ichiro the MLB player. I forget which team he plays on. I want to say the Mariners or the Yankees. I think it's an AL team. It's hard because my dad doesn't really follow the AL he's more of an NL guy. Then I mentioned another famous Suzuki, Kenzo Suzuki who is a wrestler. How could I forget him? He feuded with Cena for the US title and was tag team champions with Rene Dupree. But nobody in the class knew who he is.

WEDNESDAY:

Nothing really interesting happened in class or anything besides me complaining about doing/working on take home group projects. I always get screwed on those and have to do all the work. Also the teacher caught me not reading the chapters in the book.  

THURSDAY:

I stayed up late and I was watching the video for "The Sweet Escape". I had never seen the whole video before. It's ok I guess. I've seen better. Compared to "What are you Waiting For?" it's not good. I liked that one better. I did like her hair in the video except for the Rapunzel braids that was dumb. I liked when she had the curled bangs and ponytail. It was like her old look (Tragic Kingdom era). I felt inspired to wear my hair like that, but I didn't have enough time to do that. Plus I needed curlers. My bangs don't curl on their own. I woke up late and my shoulder was hurting. I was almost late to school I got into clipping pictures out of magazines and watching the showcases on The Price is Right. I had to run to catch it. To be safe I took the earlier bus this time. That driver that takes her sweet time was driving, but I didn't care I was early. I did manage to get to school early, but that was good. At least I wasn't still on a bus somewhere.

I still haven't gotten better at my Hiragana, we had a practice test  in class. I did badly.  We had to translate Hiragana into romanji. The few that I do know she didn't use. She had us write the answers on the board and I got the one I wrote on the board wrong. I only missed it by one character. Then we had to write romanji back into Hiragana. For some reason I did better on that. One of the words we used was "rin'go" one girl in the class thought that word mean "ring". But it doesn't "ringu" is ring, "rin'go" is apple. The only reason I know that is because there is a character named Ringo in Tokyo Mew Mew and all the Mew Mews are named after food and even some of the aliens. Ringo should not be confused with the other Ringo, Ringo Starr. I'm surprised nobody questioned how or why I know that word.

That otaku girl said that she plays a game online to Hiragana, but that she got it from 4chan. Since she admitted to going there that really says something about her personality. Hmmm...what can I really say about 4chan? I've never been to the site, but there are so many other sites that can really sum up what is there. Let's just say I'm not into memes. But probably after this blog is posted I'll get some meme comments from "the anonymous" for even just saying what I just did.

Other people in the class said they play online games to learn Hiragana too. I do too, but I never told anybody that. Well they aren't working that well for me. On a side not that otaku girl reminds me a little of Phoebe from Friends. She always talks about all these different stated she lived in and how bad they were and why she sometimes talks with different American accents/dialects. I have no idea where she is from.

After class I decided to ask my teacher what her blood type is. She told me it's O. I was surprised because it is really not common A is the most common blood type in Japan, but O is in America. We're both type O. I said we as type O are careless, then she started naming all the good qualities of type O blood.

Here are some of my favorite Sailor Moon characters that have the O Blood type Serena/Usagi, Rini/Chibiusa, and Makoto/Lita. I'm not a really big Michiru/Michelle fan, but she's type O too.  I wish bloody type personality was more popular in the US. I'd love to know John Cena's and Gwen Stefani's blood type. I use to always send the blood type question to 5 Questions when that show was still around.

I asked her if the Chinese horoscopes are popular in Japan. She said they are along with western horoscopes. Then me and her were trying to remember all the different animals in the Chinese zodiac. She mentioned rooster which is her year, tiger, pig which is my year, dragon, and mouse were all the ones we could think of. She was saying the name for them in Japanese.

I thought she was 26 because she said she was born in the year of the rooster because I know somebody who is born in the year of the rooster and is 26. So then I asked her if it was impolite to ask her what her age was. So she told me to guess and I know I'm not really good at that. I'm usually way off either way. I either go too old or too young. I'll either flatter you or offend you. Depends on what you want to hear anyway. I mean there are 14 year olds who look 25 and 25 year olds who look 14. It really depends on the person. Anyway so back to me and the teacher. I say that I think she's 26 and she's so happy I told her that. Let's just say I mostly don't say things without rhyme or reason. She was so happy I told her that she hugged me. It felt a little strange, but not in a bad way. For the record I think she has a youthful looking face, and I was not sucking up. I hope she thinks that what I said was me being naive.

FRIDAY:

I did some research and she is really 38 depending if her birthday has passed or not. The year of the rooster before 1981 would be 1969. Of course there could be a discrepancy if she was born before the Chinese new year of that year and born in 1970.  I don't know her corresponding western horoscope.

Week in Review- Can you say "Suck up" in Japanese?

Originally posted on 3/20/2007

 TuESdaY:

Since I gut my hair short, well short for me I decided to wear my hair in pigtails to disguise the shortness of my hair. I was feeling a little self-conscious about wearing curled pigtails to school since they look a little childish. I think they look totally cute. A lot of my favorite characters wear pigtails; Punky Brewster, Gosylan, Angelica, Stella from the Winx Club, Chatta, and Sailor Moon.

When I got to class there were these 2 guys talking about St. Patrick's day. The one guy tells the other guy that he thinks it's St. Patrick's day because he saw somebody all dressed up. So the other guy replies that it is not and that he is not wearing any green, and that if the other guy pinched him he would kick his ass. Then I chimed in and said it's on Saturday.

I'm upset because that otaku girl was sitting behind me again. It's annoying! She's always boasting about how much she knows, and she kicks the desk a lot. She acts like she's so smart because she "teaches herself" Japanese. I'm not a really big fan of self teaching for complicated subjects like math and foreign languages. I think it's easier for more artsy things like drawing, singing, and music among other things. I taught myself how to draw, but later took classes to get better. She was explaining the difference between Hiragana and Katakana and how and why the languages were developed.

The teacher wanted to know how our Hiragana was going. I said I could recognize like 4 characters, but I can write a lot more than I can recognize. The teacher was wearing a thin grey shirt and you could see she was really wet in the armpits. It looked really gross. I like the way my teacher dresses aside from that armpit thing.

During the break I needed help with the vocabulary words she wrote on the board in Hiragana, but I couldn't read them because she had a broken marker and she wrote them really really small. So I asked her if I wrote the vocabulary words right. But she didn't understand what I was trying to say. She thought I needed help on my Hiragana. Which I do, but I didn't come to her about that.

Towards the end of the class the marker was really dieing, and even she was getting frustrated. From what I've seen of her before she seems like a pretty cool (calm) person. Then she started cursing in Japanese. The whole class thought it was funny. We wanted to know what she said, but she wouldn't tell us. All she said was that is was curse words.

At the end of class that otaku guy said good bye to the teacher in a fancy way, and everybody else was upset. He is such a suck up and he admitted to it. He said he dresses in shirts and slacks to impress people. I really don't think you have to dress nice to impress people. You should impress them with your talent/skills. That just goes back to school uniform mentality.

WeDnEsDaY:

During the break that my class gets. I had to go to the bathroom badly. Since I am new to the school I did not know where the closest one was in relation to my class. I wandered around campus looking for one. As I was doing this I happened to pass by the club rush booths. I wasn't very interested in them since I was more interested in finding a bathroom. After I found one I decided to look at all the flyers and stuff about the clubs. There was this, I guess you could call it a booklet with a list of all the active clubs. I went back to class and read it over. There were a few clubs that interested me. I saw that the anime club was inactive, but I didn't really care.

I was stuck on a super crowded bus coming home. The thing that sucked about that bus ride was that the bus stayed crowded through the whole ride. It never thinned out. While I was riding on the bus I got hit in the arm and side with this lady's overstuffed and hard shopping bags. My arm that got hit was hurting all night.

ThUrsDay:

I woke up late like at 9 something. I forgot that it's March Madness already and that The Price is Right wouldn't be on this morning. When I got out of bed I was still hurting from that overly crowded hellish bus ride. Not only did my arm hurt, but my side did too. I feel like I had just exercised or got in a fight. I really didn't feel like going to school because I was hurting so much. But since it's Japanese I have to got I'll be even more behind than I already am when I'm there. I really wanted a corned beef brisket for St. Patrick's day, but it was hard for my mom to find one.

On the bus ride over there I listened to the No Doubt song "Ache" and it made me think about how prolific Eric was. When I was waiting outside the room for class to start I was worried about having a slip of the tongue and admit that I like anime to some degree. But I'm really hoping that won't happen. Luckily the teacher got new markers, so I can read what she writes! sort of. She was still writing a little small though. That otaku girl was still boasting about her knowledge. She said something so Stupid! She said that because she's so smart all the people are crowing around her. What the Fuck!? She was sitting behind me. I was there first. She use to sit in the seat next to me and the only reason I took the seat I sit at now is because she took my old seat on the 2nd class session and I didn't want to sit by her.

During our break some people came from the Japanese club. I am actually interested in joining this club. I mean I can improve my Japanese. Which I really need help with. Plus I'm interested in Japan, and not just anime and manga. When the recruiters were talking about the club and taking questions that otaku guy asked if the club goes to Anime Expo. Some of the people in class were snickering. I tried to hold it in. The people from the club said they don't focus on anime too much in the group. They want people to know about other cultural aspects of Japan. Somebody mentioned an anime club and I said that the club was defunct, but nobody around me knew what that word meant. I will not start up my own. I mean I did anime club at Fullerton during the spring semester of 03. So I know how it goes down. That otaku girl was saying about talking to her boyfriend who ran an anime club and see if she could restart it.  

When class was over I remembered another English loan word for cake, "keeki" Think that's how you spell it. It's pronounced Kay-kee. I was telling the teacher I remembered that word because I had heard it on an episode of Chibi maruko chan. So then that otaku girl comes and tells the teacher if she knows about Dragon Ball. Then the teacher said the name with a Japanese accent. I liked the way it sounded. Then that otaku girl was expressing her gripes about butchered American dubs. She claims she watched Dragon ball before it was butchered. I didn't want to hear that again @o@ I get enough of that online. I abruptly left the room. I know it was rude not wish my teacher goodbye in Japanese, but I just couldn't deal with that again. I mean we are in a Japanese class not an anime class. I ran down the stairs, because I didn't want to know what happened after I abruptly left the room. But I didn't want to be a "lended ear" for her gripes about butchered/censored anime.

FriDay:
My mom got a corned beef brisket for St. Patrick's Day and I'm so happy.

I went to see My Little Pony Live! With my little cousin. I have to say I think I enjoyed the show more than she did. I wish they would have had a show like this when I was a kid featuring the G1 ponies. They could've even had some people play Molly, Megan and Danny. The show was entraining it did have some very good puppetry.

SaTUrdaY:

It was great that I got to have corned beef. A lot of people have to have their green beer, but I want my corned beef. The good thing was that I didn't have to go to school so I didn't have to worry about getting pinched or wearing a lot of green.

What's the deal with dubbies?

Originally posted on 3/15/2007

After a few things that happened this week I thought about posting this blog. So I'm back with another Asiaphile blog. This one might be considered more of an otaku one.

I don't hate dubs, but I don't love them either. I think they serve a purpose somewhat. They introduce an anime to an audience that for some reason can't get, find, or doesn't know of the original. Sometimes I think the dubs need to edit some stuff out. I know what you are saying or thinking "What the HELL ARE YOU THINKING DUBBIE!!!111111oneoneeleven?????////" Ok let me explain, Japanese tv can show some things that American tv can't mainly broadcast tv or tv aimed at kids. "Why can't the stupid American FCC change it's asshole ways?" I don't know, but you are welcome to try and get into American government and work for the FCC. I know sometimes animes use things that might upset other celebrities and companies. Like in Samurai Pizza Cats the New York Pizza Cats were named Michael, Madonna, and Prince. Of course they had to change the names of those characters.

I really hate digital paint edits. Why do you need to erase all the Japanese writing on the signs and stuff in the background? Why can't there just be a subtitle about the sign/paper? Or just have the characters talk about it so you know what they are talking about. Or even worse is when they edit food and drinks and turn beer into soda or water, and an Onigiri getting turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If they were going to make it into a "Western" type snack food they could've made it something round like a cupcake.

I have a big gripe about my mom she's dare I say it a dubbie. I'm so ashamed. I can believe she supports dubs. I mean she doesn't work for a dub company or anything like that, so I really have no idea why she does. When I asked her about it she told me she likes dubs any kind of dubs because she doesn't like reading subtitles. What the hell!? I just had to call her out as a dubbie a dubbie is a dubbie no matter if it's your mom, grandparent, or a sibling please don't let this disease spread.  

Let's Learn Japanese!-Week in Review

Originally posted 3/6/2007

This week in review blog kind of helped me get out my ideas for my Asiaphile blog. I was going to write a blog about how otakus think the know Japanese from watching a lot of anime, well let's just say this blog killed 2 birds with one stone. So there will be no entry about language.

Tuesday-

I decided to sign up for Japanese for one of the required type of class to finish my general education, yeah I'm still working on general education very slooowly.

In the morning before class I was making breakfast with meat and I thought up this silly phrase "Real breakfasts contain meat.". That should be used in some kind of advertising campaign.

I didn't want to take my Hello Kitty backpack not because it might be considered an Aisaphile item, it was because it has a dark colored trim and I don't know if it's color fast so I did not want to risk it. I took my beat up Powerpuff Girls backpack instead.  

I really didn't know what I expect when I got there, and I don't mean from the class' content I mean the students. I was bracing my self to see a bunch of otakus/Japanophiles/Asiaphiles wearing their InuYasha shirts, or a ninja headband, or loose socks, munching on some kind of Japanese snack food like Pocky. When I finally find the room. I usually get lost on the first day of  class anyway. My dad put that dumb idea in my head. There is this guy looking for anime fans. And so it begins!

I was smart enough not to say anything and just have a clueless look on my face. That guy starts talking to the guy next to me. He asks him if he likes anime. The other guy says that he likes American cartoons better. Then that guy talks about how much he loves anime , how it's superior to American cartoons and the history of it. Not like I've heard that before. -_- Yeah I know I'm using an anime smiley. Then they got into talking about comics. Now since most otakus like to "show off " their knowledge of anything. He starts showing off his knowledge of Batman. Plus I don't know anything about comics. When I was a kid I use to read the Disney comics. I never read the superhero ones.  Then they start talking about Star Wars. That otaku guy was saying that the cannon contradicted the cannon. @-@ x-x He admitted he was a nerd. Yeah, like I didn't see that coming. Then this girl walks by and he asks he if she's an anime fan. She says yeah. They all start debating about Batman movies and which actors portrayed the villains best. I really didn't care, I haven't seen all the Batman movies anyway. That otaku guy who said he knew a lot about Batman didn't know who Harley Quinn was. How could he not know her!? She's a pretty famous character. Even I know who she is. Those two otakus couldn't wait to get into class. They were eager to "show off their skills" as I would call it, to the teacher. I was reluctant. I just don't want to go around saying trite Japanese words and have no idea what I'm saying. I hardly know any Japanese anyway. All the Japanese I've "learned" and I'm using the term loosely here I've learned from watching untranslated and subbed anime and watching the instructional program Let's Learn Japanese which I use to watch during the summer between 1994 and 1995. But since I haven't seen that show in years I don't remember much. I feel what I learned is not comprehensive. The one thing is the desks are too really tiny. I hate tiny desks. The desks have such a small tabletop, and it's cut at a weird angle. Those 2 otakus wouldn't stop talking about anime and they were talking so much the teacher told them to stop. When she did a few guys in the class were snickering. I knew I didn't want to be one of those people who talks about how much they love Japan and anime in class and gets snickered at behind their back. I had enough of that in high school. I can't be a full blown otaku anyway my knowledge of anime and manga is pretty limited. I'm not an otaku more like "otaku lite", I'm less annoying. (I hope). Who wants to talk to people like that besides other otakus? The teacher wanted to know all the "words and phrases" we as the class knew collectively. I pretended I didn't know anything and said nothing. Why should I? Those otakus were showing off their skills. Those otakus were showing off their skills, and that is an important thing for an otaku to do. The teacher is from the northern part of Japan. Which is famous for beer, but you know I sort of knew what she was talking about. I know about the native people of Japan who look different and have their own language. I learned that from Shaman King and the Shaman King uncensored website strangely enough. Those 2 otakus kept talking about anime and the teacher told them to be quiet. Which I thought was hilarious because if they have such a respect for the language. They would pay attention to the teacher, and listen to what she has to say instead of talking about anime. If you want to talk about anime join a club or do it online. A lot of people were still snickering at them. The teacher wanted to know what aspect of Japanese culture we (the class) were interested in. I didn't answer, but if I did I would've said "food, anime and fashion". That otaku guy wanted to know what kind of Japanese accent we were learning. He was also asking all these questions about Japanese history, and she really didn't know. I don't blame her. I mean if I was teaching English as a foreign language in another country and somebody was asking me all the questions about American history I probably wouldn't know. She recommended him to take a history of Japan class. I wondered if they even offered a class like that at this school. The bad thing about my teacher is that she is new to the school like me, so she doesn't know where anything is either. We are learning in Romaji. Well that just means to use the roman alphabet to write Japanese words instead of using Hiragana or Katakana.
Because I didn't want to seem too "otaku-ish" I told myself I would not take or do anything like that including having manga, pictures of anime/manga characters, wear odangos, or draw anime/manga characters, or eat Japanese snack food not all the time just during class.

Wednesday-

I wanted to eat a big breakfast because I knew my class was long, and I thought I might not get a break. I left for school pretty early to secure my place in class. When I got to school I realized I was there too early. I got there an hour early when I was suppose to be 30-45 minutes early. I was wasting time and listening to music I think I listened to "The Sweet Escape" song at least 3 times. It's growing on me a little, and it was really stick in my head. I was trying not to get my new Hello Kitty backpack dirty especially the part that has white faux fur on it. The fur part got a little dirty and I'm sad. I was almost late to class. I could've kicked myself for that. The class was pretty crowded when I got there. The teacher was a little late and she came in all cheerful and perky. Her heels were really noisy. She had a syllabus with a lot of rules in it about 18 to be exact. I'm not counting #19 because it was smile and had a smiley icon next to it. The teacher said we would a break and that was good. She said we should eat. That was good because I like to eat the break if I can. She says she eats during the break too, and gives out healthy food which could be good or a bad thing. Luckily there is a fast food stall like right across from the room. A little up the way there is a food store and a pretzel cart. I bought a jerky slab and a pretzel. I was hungry and the jerky was good and fatty. I couldn't wait for class to be over and we got out early and I was happy.

When I was on the bus I saw this goth looking guy with a puffy shirt. It was so funny looking. It looked like the one Jerry wore in that Seinfeld episode.

Thursday-

I got to sleep in late because I was going to class at the right time and not like a half hour early to secure my place. I was still working on keeping my backpack clean. When I got to school I went to go buy another slab of beef jerky, but the store was crowded when I got there and it took me a long time. Plus it takes me a long time to get to the building from where the store is. Luckily when I got to the building I found a door that was near my class and that my class is on the 2nd floor. When I run up the stairs I see my teacher is pushing a tv cart. So I helped her with the door. I have to make a good impression on her. I didn't want to sit in the same seat I sat in last time because I would have to sit in front of that otaku girl, so I sat next to the seat I sat in. Some people were making fun of the old tv and said it looked like it was 30 years old, but I'd say 20. I'm having hard time with Japanese. I have a bad time with "Shi". I can't make the sound, and my accent is horrible. I use to have a accent problem in French too. When I took French I was told I have a very American accent. The video we watched about the language lab was so lame and looked old, but it was made in 2003. There was a talking ID card and a talking cup. They were computer animated and looked totally lame. The computer animated things were interacting with real people. I was wondering it I looked too "otaku-ish" with my Hello Kitty backpack. I didn't want to be confronted by those 2 otakus. Then I thought it really didn't. I thought "a lot of people like Hello Kitty and that doesn't make you a otaku by default." I got lost on the way to the language lab which was sort of a good thing because I found the library that I was looking for a few days ago. I had to go all the way around and I just snuck in and sat near my class. The only part I was interested in was about the movies they had.

One good thing about The OC ending is that now I can just watch NBC from 9-10 and not worry about The OC is taping. I was watching part of Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader? You know I thought it was a test or something like Test The Nation, but it's a game show. It's sort of like The Weakest Link and Who wants to be a Millionaire?. Scrubs was a bad episode because it was a clip show! I really don't need to see a clip show since I also watch it in syndication.

The Return of an old subject

Originally posted on 2/27/2007

After much consideration and debate, I decided to bring back my Week in Review blogs. They will live again! I got way too much material not to use it. Stop the presses because Week in Review is back!

Things I remembered to post

Originally posted on 2/24/2007

Things I remembered to post. Ok I just want to say that I have a class that will add to my Asiaphile blog. Since I am back in school now I'm debating if I'll bring back my "Week in Review" blogs again. I'll see how the 1st week goes and what kind of "material" I will find. Also I know that the blogs are a bit slow. It's just been taking me a while to post them because I've been getting ready for school.   
 
I made a mistake in my blog about The Marine. Demolition Man was the last action film I saw before The Marine that sucked. Some how I confused that movie with Judge Dredd. Which is a movie I haven't seen.

From India to Japan

Originally posted on 2/22/2007

I was going to write another blog on a different topic, but I wasn't finished writing that one and since this one was almost done last Thursday I thought I'd submit this one.

Back when "Tragic Kingdom" was like the coolest album ever and "Don't Speak" was a new song and virtual pets were still cool. Indian stuff was all over and so popular which was inspired by Gwen Stefani when she use to wear mehndi, bindis and Indian clothes. Just look at an old picture of Gwen between about 1996-1998. Me being between the ages of 12-14 at the time and thinking EVERYTHING Gwen did was like the coolest! Plus it was all over the fashion magazines that wearing Indian inspired stuff was the thing. Gwen could have strapped a toilet brush to her back and I would've done that too.

Then 8 years later Gwen decided to borrow from another Asian culture, the Japanese. This was her objective as mentioned in the song "Rich Girl":
"I'd get me four Harajuku girls to (uh huh)
Inspire me and they'd come to my rescue
I'd dress them wicked, I'd give them names (yeah)
Love, Angel, Music, Baby
Hurry up and come and save me"

These lines are from the song "Harajuku Girls":
"Harajuku Girls you got the wicked style
I like the way that you are, I am your biggest fan"

These lines are from the song "What are you Waiting For?":
"I can't wait to go back and do Japan
Get me lots of brand new fans
Osaka, Tokyo
You Harajuku girls
Damn you've got some wicked style"

I don't really know much about the Harajuku district. But I still wonder what the purpose of the Harajuku girls are? I am still baffled about them to this day.

It's funny that I decided to write about Gwen this week (episode aired on 2-17-07) because MADTV made fun of her liking Asian culture. They made a parody of her video for "The Sweet Escape".

Asian Goodies

Originally posted on 2/12/2007

I like Asian food, ok mostly Chinese food, but I have since I was a little kid. But liking Chinese food doesn't automatically make you an Asiaphile. I've loved Chinese food and Ramen since I was really little and I didn't know what an anime was, but I watched them anyway, Ok I mostly watched Voltron. I mean ramen is so easy to get. People break it up and feed it to toddlers.

There are a lot of Asian goodies I like. Here is a list of the ones that came to mind or that I could think of; Botan Rice Candy, Udon, Ramen, Pocky, seaweed, Chinese candy, Sushi, Koala Yummies, Dried Cuttlefish strips, Shrimp chips, Dried Yakisoba, teriyaki bowl, wontons, Hi-Chew, fortune cookies, almond cookies, yan yan, Mama ramen, Nissin Ramen, Maruchan ramen, Myojo udon, Smack ramen.

I like Chinese candy. My grandma use to get it for me all the time when she use to shop at 99 Price, back when 99 Ranch was called 99 Price. She use to get me this gum and it had fake tattoos on the wrappers, and this other candy it was a bunch of lollypops and they came with a small toy like a hollow plastic Kewpie-looking doll or a fishing game. I liked the lollypops they reminded me of the microphone Bob Barker used on The Price is Right in the late 80s, and they tasted good too.

Hi-Chew is ok, I got some at an anime club booth. The girl manning the both told me that they were the Japanese equivalent to Starburst, but they are not really. The Hi Chew have a less intense flavor and are more rubbery like between the consistency of soft bubble gum and a marshmallow. But they are a pretty good candy.

I love getting teriyaki bowls. I usually get them at mall food courts. I've been eating them since I was about 3 years old. They are so good to eat along with an Orange Bang.

I love Koala Yummies also known as Koala's March. I remember wanting them when I use to see the commercial for them on tv in the early to mid 90s. They are so cute they have little koalas printed on them. My favorite koala picture was that was the back of the koala. These are a great cookie as long as all the kids in your class are not mooching them off you at lunch, or have the inside melt because they were in the hot classroom all day. I tried strawberry, but I love the chocolate ones.

To Pocky or no to Pocky?

Originally posted on 2/6/2007

Pocky, the epitome of American otaku food. I think Pocky is alright, I prefer it over yan yan, but Pocky is highly overrated. If I had to choose between say Pocky and Twix I would go for the Twix.

When I was in an anime club at school the people in that club would consume massive amounts of Pocky. They would just sit there and down like 2 boxes while watching anime because of this the club would sell Pocky. I forgot how much it was, but they must've made a pretty penny selling it. I think one time during a viewing they passed around a box of the chocolate ones. I preferred to take my own western snacks like gummis and Fritos. One time when we (the club) were watching anime I was eating a bag of Fritos, and because Fritos aren't a very quiet food. As I was eating them I was getting dirty looks from other members. I didn't understand were they trying to hear the dialogue? It was subtitled. So I sheepishly put away the Fritos and sunk in the chair. I learned never to eat "noisy" food during an anime viewing again.

Tip of the blog: stick to quiet foods while other people are trying to listen and watch anime.

Do You Like American Music?

Originally posted on 1/31/2007

Ok I try to be open to lots of different kinds of music, but I hate when otakus get on my case about not liking j-pop or j-rock music. I had the same problem with people getting mad at me because I didn't like Spanish music. I have a hard time understanding music in a language I don't understand. Sorry if I sound closed minded but that's what I like. "I like American music, baby!" I like any kind of music that has lyrics as long as it's in English. But a lot of people misunderstand and think when I say "English music" they think I mean music from England, when I really mean music in English.  

I also hate when they get mad because you never heard of their favorite Asian artist, or because I haven't given up on English music. Because to them nothing is worth listening to in English. I see this all the time on message boards I go to, "I CAN'T believe you've never heard of Dir en grey, BoA, Hitomi Shimatani, Flow, Namie Amuro, DBSK, Gackt, Mika Nakashima, Lee Hyori, Ayumi Hamasaki, Miyavi, Jolin Tsai, Rain, Super Junior, TSZX, Sowelu, Crystal Kay,
Nana Kitade, Ai Otsuka, Tomoko Kawase, Mika Nakashima, Do As Infinity, L'Arc~en~Ciel, Stephanie Cheng, MUCC,  X Japan, Malice Mizer, Ali Project, UVERworld, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, YUI, Koda Kumi, alice nine., Nightmare, Nami Tamaki,  Miyavi, WaT, Se7en, or Liu Yifei.

Heard of them?! I don't even know who they are.  


I do like the song "Simple and Clean" by Utada Hikaru That I heard in the Kingdom Hearts commercial. I also like the song "Let's Fighting Love" from South Park.

The one thing I do like about Asian music is when they insert random English words and phrases. For example look at the lyrics of Strawberry SEX by Hirai Ken.

And another thing I forgot or neglected to mention in the other Asiaphile blog I wrote I am not Asian. So I don't want people to assume I am. If you want the real dirt on my ethnicity I'm mixed; White and Hispanic (Mexican)

Are you an Asiaphile too?

Originally posted on 1/27/2007

 First I was going to write a blog making fun of otakus/Japanaphiles/Asiaphiles. But don't flame me and I think I'm not calling the kettle black here. Think of this as more of a "You might be a(n) otaku/Japanaphile/Asiaphile if…"

I am going to share my some of my experiences dealing with otakus/Japanaphiles/Asiaphiles online and some of my silly attempts to "show off" my knowledge of Asia and Asian cultures.

This blog is hard and strange for me to write but I want to get out all my complaints and ideas out.

I think me liking Asian things was inevitable. I grew up in Asian neighborhoods for the first 7 years of my life. You don't know what the smell of cooked garlic has on me. When I was a kid I use to indulge in the Asian snack foods my friends would bring for snack and lunch. I was introduced to shrimp chips, dry seaweed, uncooked ramen and cuttlefish strips at an early age. I also have a love for Asian stationary, but nobody told me to like it I just did as a kid and I still do now. But more on Asian food and stationary in later blogs.

Crappy Birthday?

Originally posted on 1/16/2007

 Me and birthdays really don't get along. After I had chicken pox on my birthday in 1993 and that really really crappy one I refuse to talk about in '96.

Now my main objective is just to get through the day and if I make it and nothing extremely bad happens then it's a good birthday. It's not so much that I dread getting older (yet).
I am happy to say my 23rd went well. I'm still here right?

Golly Gee, I didn't know you liked me that much.

Originally posted on 1/6/2007


When I was 5 I loved the Rescue Rangers (the Disney one not the Lassie one). That was my current obsession back in the day. That was when I was over Whazzat Kangaroo from Zoobilee Zoo, and I stopped drawing pink kangaroos. I was still currently obsessed with Punky Brewster and Muffy from Today's Special.
Gadget has always been my favorite Ranger. When I was a kid I didn't have a crush on her or anything. I looked up to her. I figured that when I grew up I could become a mouse who lived with 3 other male rodents, who wears a purple jump suit, who built inventions, use plungers tied to my feet to walk on walls and make a crossbow-gun-type thing out of junk. I loved to draw pictures of her. I drew so many pictures I mean I have old note books full of Gadget pictures. She was the only Ranger I drew besides Zipper. For some reason I had no desire to draw the other Rangers. I liked to draw Zipper cause he was easy to draw. When I was in first grade I made this really cool picture of Gadget with torn pieces of paper. It was probably one of the few art projects I got an "A" on. I wonder what happened to that picture?
My imagination was so strong back then. I use to believe that the Rescue Rangers use to inhabit the tree in my back yard that was on the property line with the apartments next door. But I was like 5. When I think about it there might have been real rodent's living in that tree, or maybe a possum.
I use to love to collect Ranger merchandise. I remember begging my parents to buy me the Rescue Rangers lunchbox. I think it's my favorite of all the ones I have. I took good care of it. I never put stickers on it or anything. I still have it somewhere in my garage. I also collected all 4 of the Mc Donald's toys and I even bought the Gadget one for show and tell in 1^st grade.
I liked Gadget so much when I was little I wanted to dress up as her for Halloween. But I never did I ended up dressing up as a witch or a rock star. I think in 2008 or later I'll commission myself to make a Gadget costume. Since I already have a costume planned out for this Halloween.
http://www.fortunecity.de/spielberg/waltd/6/bild34_e.html#home">
Pictures of the Gadget character at the Disney parks.


When I has seen a picture of her in an old Disneyland pamphlet, I didn't like how she looked. She looked drowsy, snobby, or high to me. She didn't look cute like her cartoon counterpart. I think her costume is one of the most inaccurate ones Disney has.
But I did go to Disneyland and "meet" Gadget and get my picture taken with her. I also crashed a car at the Rescue Rangers themed Autopia, and got a plush Chip there. I was sad there were no Gadgets. 

So I was so happy when I got the Volume 1 DVD set for Christmas. I know a lot of people were saying it was no good and Disney didn't add all the extra features like the did with their movies. Personally I really don't care I just wanted it on DVD because liked it so much. The only qualm I had with it was that I wouldn't like it anymore since I hadn't seen it in years. Like the way I felt with the Smurfs. I really wanted it for my birthday last year in 2006 but I never got it.