Blather, rinse, repeat

Today was a fine, rainy day. I played around with my new video game that I got for my birthday, The Godfather game. It's pretty cool so far; I got a really cute mobster namedSalvatore that I made up (you can pick all the features and the name,) and so farI've extorted a fewbusinesses, taken over some racketsand roughed up a few shop owners. (That kind of makesmefeel bad, though.)

In case you haven't noticed, my spacebar is broken.

Tonight atKung Fu, as I wasdriving up I saw Tracy in the window watching me pull intothe lot and I was like, "Huh?" I went upstairsand,to give you a visual, there aretwo doors tothe school; one that goes right to the mat and one that goesto the office. You always bypass the matone and go to the officeone so you can say hi to everyone andget your belt on etc. Anyway, so as I waspassingby the firstdoorto the mat, all my training brothersand sistersthrewthe door open and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" It was really awesome!

We did some bagwork in basics, my knuckles are raw but I kind of like it.In blackbelt we did our usual warmup and then followed up with partnered stretches, which invariably degenerates into "stupid human tricks" and one-upmanship:who can do the highest, most extreme sidekick (Raq, Chris andme,) the deepeststraddle-split (Raq--who can get to the floor--and me,) and the archiest backbend (me.) Tonight we addedanew one, and we ended up all of us upside down against the wall doing back-kicksand trying to touch the wall. It was crazy. Raq and I managed to do it! Then afterwards we did forms,and I droveRaqhome.

EFFING SPACEBAR!!

Tomorrowis my hugely long day. Well I mean, so is Tuesday,but I don't know, Thursday somehow always seems longer.Weird! But hopefully it will be niceand grey and rainy again. ^_^ The sanctuary was really fun last week. Tuesday I worked with the seagullsin the fountain room, and yesterday Bosslady and I did a lot of maintenancework on the crows.The crows werevery put out by this, of course.

The thing about training so late into the evening is that I'm nevertired enough for bed when I should be. >_>

Before you say, "OMG, how can you even put a video game in the same entry with the departure of a living thing that you loved!" well, try to keep in mind that A) Ariel, for as much as I always called her "my dolphin", was never actually mine and I didn't actually get to interact with her too much, and B) seriously, I've been playing Legend of Zelda sine the first game came out. Dude, that's a LONG time. Twenty years or so. And that this is the game I've been waiting for since they started teasing us with trailers for it back in '01 or maybe even '00, before cheating us with WindWaker and then making us wait all this time. So Twilight Princess has a special place in my blog, and the ending of it is significant for me.

Thoughts: Well, it was a terrific game. For this moment, it doesn't feel as all-encompasing as Ocarina of Time did, but it did fill a void and I guess technically was a superior game. It was really frustrating in some parts, and there are definitely parts I am so NOT looking forward to repeating, like for instance the city in the sky or whatever the hell it was. I loathed that temple-like thing. The runaway cart through Hyrule field early in the game. Ugh. And Dark Horseman Ganon, oh man, that was the hardest boss in the whole thing, harder than the Water Temple boss. The easiest boss battle was actually the last Ganon one. He played just like a Darknut and I took the slightest bit of damage while cheesing him to death with a backslash. Ganon's death always has an odd sort of beauty in all of the games. It's always creepy, subtle and significant. This time was no different.

The ending was decent for a Zelda game, and I specify "for a Zelda game" because they don't go as all-out with their wrap-ups as, like Final Fantasy for instance. It was a 15 or so minute ending, but that was mostly just scenes of fields I spent the last month riding around in, with credits over it. The kids went home and that was nice but totally expected. They didn't wrap up at all about Renado or Telma (an unrealistic part of me wanted her to thwack him in the head or something. He started out as one of my favorites, then became one of my least favorites.) They didn't wrap up about the little detail of Link being a werewolf for godsakes.

Zelda was beautiful, but OMG Link / Midna! :P I loved Link's :-O look when he saw her at the end.

I wonder if I could download all the cut-scenes and do a music video. For that matter, I wonder what people would think if I poked my head back into the fandom for a second to whip out one more LOZ fanfic. I'm not sure I have it in me, (though it looks like Link went back to work, is my guess, and also can no longer change into a werewolf but now knows that animals talk and does he still sort of understand them? Does he want to? Or can he totally not at all? Does he miss Midna, what's Zelda doing at the Castle, are her parents alive? How does she explain this to the Hylians? Does she remember ( cut for spoilers ), does that still keep her awake at night? Does Link visit the group at Telma's bar? Did Zelda thank them? Are they like knights or something now? What's Ashei up to these days? What's Midna up to? This is the first game where it seems everyone pretty much knows that Link saved the world, what must that be like?) but I guess that a handful of people would smile about it if I did it. Ahh, fandom. Ahh, LOZ, how you leave so much open to the players' interpretation. Ahhh, how I do not need distractions from the book I'm supposed to be working on. >_>

Anyway, no less significant today was my last day with Ariel. It was cold, not as cold as last week but oddly it felt colder. It only started to drop below 30 after 5 or so, and then the snow started to come down like mad. Still, I was wearing long-johns under my jeans, two pairs of socks under my boots--with hand-warmers in them--two thermal shirts, two fleece sweaters and a coat, and I was still freezing. Ariel was in a fine mood today, she sped around, breached, leapt, twirled, did head-stands and everything. She spent a lot of time biting her toys, bumping them into each other, diving with them, and generally being a character. I might have mentioned that last week she looked right at me for the first time, and that was weird, because she's never really looked at people around the outside of the tank before. (The girl who was in the tank with her was surprised by it when she saw her do it.) Today she looked at me quite a bit. Then I did two things I wasn't supposed to do, because we were never to interact with her from outside of the tank. (But dude, they were also supposed to let me swim with her--it's why most of us signed on in the first place, not to stand outside in the cold writing everytime she took a crap.) She was hanging around really close to me and just staring, rolling onto her side and really eyeballing me. Then she'd nudge her yellow skip disk a little and still look at me. The first naughty thing I did was to reach in and take the disk to see if she'd take it from me. She didn't seem to be interested in that. Finally, I took off my glove and just reached down and pet her, which is actually the first time I've touched her. (I've touched dolphins before, but never her.) She wiggled like it tickled, then she just went back to playing with her toy. I watched her for a few more minutes, thanked her for teaching me so much about dolphins, then said goodbye and took my leave of her.

I did get a video of her with her eyes open, watching me, and I got some caps from that video. They're small. And although I did take some pictures of her after this, they all came out dark, so for my purposes, these are my last pictures of Ariel:







Now she's off to the Gulfarium, where she will be a show dolphin. It's that or death; people are the only thing she knows, she thrives on the attention, and she'd never survive in the wild. She's going to be a great show-girl. Good luck, Ariel!

This was written during five minute intervals over the last two days, so forgive me if it's disjointed and about eighteen different things at once.

Xin nian kuai le! I wish I was in Chinatown instaad of going ot say goodbye to my dolphin today, but hey. Happy Year of the Boar. :D I'm a water rat, born in the hour of the rat, to boot. What's everyone else?

Moving on. Okay, so first I want to talk about Turandot last night. My friend Nancy and her husband Dan, and Dan's sister Gale, took me out to the opera. (Do I have cool friends, or what?) But first we went to a Turkish restaurant. Holy crap, can I just take a moment to say that Turkish food has a new fan? It's a little like Greek food what-with pita bread and hummus and feta cheese, that kind of thing, but a different selection. The littlest bit was filling. Everything was spicy and weird. I drank a peach drink that was like eating a real peach. And the dessert was like WHOA. This thing called baklava, with the sweet green stuff on it? (Currants or something?) Oh, YUM. Moving on.

( A review of Turandot: )

But technical things like that aside it was truly awesome, and a great experience. I'm glad that Turandot was my first opera and I'm glad that I can finally pronounce it with confidence. ;) Oh, one more thing: I'm going to have to look up when Puccini died. I know it was after Nessun Dorma but before the finale and that someone else finished it, but I'm curious as to where it was. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it was right after Liu's death, because then the poetry seemed to change. It got more florid, I guess. In college I rightly guessed exactly where in the Requiem Mozart had left off, so I wonder if I still have that touch. I'll have to check. ^_^

This is a huge entry, because I'm not nearly done yet. I have some pics to upload and share, too.

Pictures:

( Lookie what I got today! )

Finally, huh? And I am just about to finish Twilight Princess on GC tonight after I come home from my last day of dolphin-sitting. Then, just as soon as I desire, I can hook up Ye Olde Wii and play it again--mirrored. Yes, I am that much of a fangirl! (But I go to the opera. I'm at least a cultured fangirl. ;D ) Two things you can also see in this pic: that I've got a beeotch of a headcold and my eyes are all puffy, and that Sano is pawing at me and trying to bite the Gamecube. LOL Sano.

( Ice storm FTW! )

That first one is the front yard leading to my door. If you look at the garden light, you can get an idea of how thick the ice is. The garden light is about six or seven inches high. That's about 4 inches of ice right there. The second one is the backyard, with my door. The entire yard is like that. It starts to melt around 1-4ish, then as soon as the sun goes down it re-freezes. The dogs aren't liking it too much. Yesterday, Trisky did a Bambi move with all her legs splayed. Sano tried to run, and skidded out for about five feet, taking a header right into the fence. Actually, that was pretty funny. Haku is generally okay on it, with some skidding, but he hasn't done his laps around the yard in about a week. I won't let him, either. That's a busted leg waiting to happen.

Oh, you thought I was done? Hells, no! I have LISTS! Gacked from lovely Sooz, lists! (And, like Sooz, I'll probably add to these daily, too, as I remember more things.) And I tag all of you guys on my f-list, too. All of these are in no particular order.

Stuff I love,: Dinner with family, shopping with Mom and Gran, yardwork with Da, having a movie/video game weekend with SB and Jo-chan (I miss the crap outta you guys, come by, 'kay?!) chatting with cousin Chrissie in the middle of the street, playing with my dogs, watching my dogs sleep, going to Disney with my family who crack me up, the smell of baby birds, living by the ocean, the way the smell of ocean air mingles with flowers, my ever-blooming jasmine, my entire garden, my new living room, slippersocks, green tea, Balsam fur trees, giant hawk feathers, giant hawks!, the sunset out my window, sunrise over rte 105, ocean beaches, Ponquogue Bridge, a movie and a pint of Ben and Jerry's, working with funny, witty, snarky and perverted people, being kama 'aina to ka Mokupuni Lo'ihi nani, being hanai haumana, writing the perfect scene, long talks with my friend Kim, Edge of the Earth, The Mission, The Kill (best music video EVAR!!!11), meeting friends after concerts, the concerts themselves!, the broadsword form, hardcore Kung Fu drills, doing Small Wheel right, bluejays and other corvids, O Keahi A Lonomakua, fire goddess Pele and Kilauea, firedancers, Michael Palin, Monty Python marathons, Cloud Strife, my favorite jeans, listening to Bob Marley by the pool in July, coconut Malibu rum, Disney's Polynesian resort, all my Hula brothers and sisters, my Kung Fu family, tiki torches, summer parties, Makaha Sons, the smell of chlorine, pea soup, smoked Tofurkey sandwiches, pomegranate juice, Legend of Zelda, going to fancy places with my friends, going out dancing, chocolate soy milk, dying my hair, the first time of the year you feel the sun, the first time of the year you feel the chill, my bed, laughing at work on a Friday, Non-Creepy Backrub Day, making videos, Stephen King (Roland of Gilead!), my car (or, ku'u lovely ka'a!), the necklace Kim made me, the sound Gamecube makes when it starts, orchids, "That Place Where We Love Flowers" (:D Jo-chan!), garlic string beans, Hula seminars, my iPod, surfing, hot baths in the winter surrounded by candles with some music playing, Leonard Cohen (the voice, the words, the poetry, the man himself,) my Kung Fu Assassin jacket, Jared's red and black coat that matches his hair (Hello, Lovely Silly!), Engrish.com, OpenCanvas Plus, Tuesday nights, Beatrice the rooster, Fifty Cent the pidge, Ewan McGregor, JOAQUIIIIIN!, Captain Hook, Captain Jack Sparrow, Ariel the dolphin, Chinatown, Alex Krycek, when the sun sets at 3:45, when the sun sets at 9, birds that everyone else hates, Mitsukoshi and all of Epcot Center, hilarious typos, tomb warriors, the perfect witty phrase (especially if I said it :P ,) Quantum phyics, string theory, JW Waterhouse, honey graham crackers...

Stuff I miss: Grampa, Pendragon and everything involved in his life, hanging out regularly with Tricia, when SB and Jo-chan were always over here, when they were small, Cassidy, video games with Jeremy, AIM chats with Min, my Hula love Hini, upstate NY, days off, Gundam Wing, college theater, being a pirate, being 12 years old with The Rockin' Five, waiting for the ice cream man, playing pretend with my cousins until way past bed time, nightswimming, the way things looked when I was small, when fandom was new and exciting to me, writing for days on end and loving every second, Kung Fu with Lao Shir, doing a spell and believing it enough to make it work, Ariel...

Stuff I hate: Cigarette smoke, the aviary on a hot day, mites on birds, ticks, laggy internet sites, the current administration, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, animal cruelty, the neighbors behind me (rednecks in general,) when people I love move away, when I'm driving and some schmuck cuts me off and then drives really slowly to make it worse, whitefly on my houseplants, having to go somewhere when I'd rather stay home and veg, the fact that I can never get an orange tree to grow in the sunroom, when people think they're funny and they're just stupid (though the same could be said of me some of the time, at least,) when people think they're funny and they're just cruel, real person fanfiction, wasps and yellowjackets, people who leave their dogs outside, SUVs and Hummers, Drunken Stupid Fratboys, my own neurotic worry, finding out a product I like is from a company that tests on animals, Alice in Chains without Layne Staley (FAIL!), football, bars, people who drive drunk or even buzzed, that no one can accomodate me with the tattoos I want...

And because I've been reading a book that says you should acknowledge your desires and list them, because you never know what good might come of it, an added section--Stuff I want: To get a magazine interested in an interview with 30 Seconds to Mars, and then get that interview for myself! (no one knows of any good music webzines that might be interested by any chance, do they?), a bigger aviary (perhaps that I could use in the winter), a book deal, for talented people to sketch my characters, a job teaching Hula, a baby (eventually), a baby for Chris and Tim (NOW!), my car reupholstered (the seats are the only thing in my life that are leather, since I bought the car before I went all anti), another Zelda game soon (no one said it had to be realistic!), to go to Chinatown again soon, more time with SB and Jo-chan, some days when I don't have anywhere to be...

I have to leave those off where they are with ellipses, because I can go on forever, especially with stuff I love. I'll probably just keep adding to it.

Currently it is snowing in the backyard--though the sun is out--and not the front. But I'm writing this before I go say goodbye (for three hours) to Ariel, and will probably post this after, so take "currently" to mean "a good number of hours ago."

Work today was a weird, manic fun. There was drama, as there usually is, but mostly everyone was just goofing off and everythign was funny. The hilarity sort of peaked when I told Jen that she should eat a candy cane, and when she refused I told her I would stuff it in her mouth, hold her mouth closed and blow on her nose until she swallowed. Nancy M. suggested that there might be a christmas folk song about Jen someday, and Jen supplied lyrics something to the effect of, "Jen got stabbed in the throat with a peppermint stick." Again, as usual, one of those "had to be there" moments, but it made Nancy F. shoot a small piece of pasta out of her nose. Then one of our reps (or someone ) gave us each a CD of truly bizarre Christmas music, which Casse and I listened to in the back ward towards the end of the day. It was so frigging weird we were just about in tears with laughing. But I think the whole day was like that; every stupid little thing was hilarious. Also, everyone was eating way too much sugar. Work got done quickly, but it was like Kindergarten. Casse gave me some warm fuzzy slipper socks and a gift card to Target, which is the best store ever. :)

After work Brit came over. I downloaded iTunes onto a disk for her and then we watched A Life Less Ordinary and basically chatted about things great and small. I just found out for sure that Brit is moving away, and I honestly don't want anyone in our circle to talk about it or even acknowledge it. We got pretty close pretty fast (for me, anyway,) and I hate when people leave.

Tomorrow I have the whole day to myself. For real, I can seriously just do whatever I want with no time constraints. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had a day where I didn't have to be somewhere at some certain time? It's kind of amazing. I almost don't know what I'll do with myself, but I think I forsee a day of serious indolence. After cleaning the house and scrubbing the tub and finishing my laundry, watering the plants and feeding my snail, I might seriously just set myself down in front of the TV and play Twilight Princess till dinner time. Who the hell knows? After all, I still have that water temple to beat. Holy crap, that's going to be a task. ^_^

I am: Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs) A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Cute quiz!

That said, I honestly didn't think there would ever be another game that even equalled either Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy VII. I was way wrong. Twilight Princess owns. Telma is the biggest whore in Hyrule, triple-goddess bless her, and I *heart* her, even though it was a beeotch getting that stupid cart across Hyrule Field to Kakariko. She shoved her boobs at Link a bunch of times and sashayed off to score with Renado, and already she has completely won me over.

Also, the fact that the opening music is the beginning of the original Zelda theme makes me warm and happy in my video game places. ^_^ Am I fangirling again? Oh, believe it. Link has been my hero since I was a little kid and he was just a pixilated sprite. Now he's this freaky blue-eyed beast, and I love it. :D

Somebody needs to beat Malo, though. That kid keeps sassing me.

So I was in the shower after Kung Fu tonight (forms, jump crescents--I have to stop looking up when I do these--and spinning back hook kicks,) and I started stressing about my stupid novel. Like, why won't it just write itself like all my other stories used to? Time was I could turn out three stories in a year, now I'm lucky if I can manage one in three years, it's ridiculous. I used to either know exactly where I was going at least a quarter of the way into the story, or I wouldn't know and I wouldn't care; I'd be having too much fun with the characters to care where they were going, just as long as I was writing about them. Once I decided I wanted to publish stuff someday, it became work, the joy left. I've been struggling more than I like to talk about, because, well, who the hell cares, really?

So there I was in the shower and all of a sudden I had an image of Leander leaning down with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. Then I "looked" a little closer and I saw that his eyes were scanning the ground, randomly and rapidly and I thought, "shell-shock." Then I thought, "Why?" Then I thought "too much fighting, and he's not good at that to begin with." Then I thought "battles" and from there found out who was in them, what started them, and what led up to them. And there it was: the entire outline of the rest of the novel. I was thrilled to say the least, and I sat down and wrote out my whole outline. (MY OUTLINES LOOK JUST EXACTLY LIKE THIS, THEY ARE ALL IN CAPS SO I CAN DISTINGUISH THEM FROM THE REAL STORY--BROKEN UP BY DASHES--RANDOM WORDS AND IMAGES AND PHRASES... THIS HAPPENS AND THEN BECAUSE OF THAT THAT HAPPENS, AND DON'T FORGET THE ISSUE YOU SET UP FROM THE LAST BOOK, STUPID, ETC.)

I realized after this that I actually write backwards. I find one image, or one phrase, and I build a story backwards off of that. That's the way I used to do it when I enjoyed it. Sometimes an entire story would be a huge vehicle for one tiny moment I had kept vividly in my head. And no matter where the plot went, and no matter the climax and denoument etc, that one image would be the pinnacle for me, even if no one else noticed it. And I think I just found that again!

In other news, I dyed my hair back to its natural black after about four years of having it various reds and browns. I'm happy with it, at least for now. I have some pics, but I just haven't had a chance to post them yet (I'm sure you're all sobbing.) And I still have more to tell about the party the other night. And I did these little quizzicles the other day, before, well, before Twilight Princess.

Twilight Princess is, of course, the reason this entry is so rushed. I've had in on pause since I left the house for Kung Fu this afternoon. And now I'm fiending for it. Later!

Almost Perfect- INFP 26% Extraversion, 86% Intuition, 46% Thinking, 33% Judging

So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it's never gonna happen. Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in. You have a selfless and caring nature. You're a good listener and someone who wants to avoid conflict. You genuinely desire to do good. Of course, these all add up to an incredibly overpowered conscience which makes you feel guilty and responsible when anything goes wrong. Of course, it MUST be your fault EVERYTIME. Though you're constantly on a mission to find the truth, you have no use for hard facts and logic, which is a source of great confusion for those of us with brains. Despite this, in a losing argument, you're not above spouting off inaccurate fact after fact in an effort to protect your precious values. You're most probably a perfectionist, which in this case, is a bad thing. Any group work is destined to fail because of your incredibly high standards. Disregard what I said before. You're just easy to find fault in as everyone else! Luckily, you're generally very hard on yourself, meaning I don't need to waste my precious time insulting you. Instead, just find all your own faults and insult yourself. ***************** If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check out this. *****************

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Extraversion You scored higher than 99% on Intuition You scored higher than 99% on Thinking You scored higher than 99% on Judging

Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Haha, that's great!

And:

Half-Cocked Random Brutal Sex Dreamer (RBSDf) Fiery. Hungry. Blatant. Sexual. Christ. You are Half-Cocked. There's a lot of wild lust inside you, banging around, that much is obvious. There's also a lot of untamed emotion. When either escapes, look out. One minute you're completely together, the next you're a howling gale of hormones and opinions. Outside relationships, your intense, mercurial personality makes you a charmer. You can be fiercely devoted, and it's likely that many of your friends will be friends-for-life. Of course, your enemies are likewise certain and zealous, especially your exes and their therapists. Your exact opposite: The Maid of Honor Deliberate Gentle Love Master You will find the right person. In the short term, he's someone virile who won't sweat your imperfections. In the long term, he will be someone mature and caring who will grow to love them. ALWAYS AVOID: The Slow Dancer CONSIDER: The Playboy, The Billy Goat Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

I seem to remember I was some other thing when I took this a few years ago. O_o



Oh, hehe, stolen from flamingchords, hey, check it out: soy makes men gay! Heeee!




WTF with LJ's new layout? Confuse me, why don't you?!

Before I begin this truly historical fangirl moment, let me just take a moment to address how much I adore the crap out of my fun-loving Kung Fu sisters. We had our Christmas party last night at East Wind and I had no idea there was going to be a dance floor. I never have a problem busting a move even if no one else is; I'll go up there and play the fool by myself if I have to--but everyone else was willing, so we all busted lots of moves and I even made up some new ones while I was at it. ("You're so ... free." And, "You have a lot of, uhh, energy." ;D ) It was awesome to see my very wonderful and inspiring friend who is bouncing back from a really hellacious health crisis (take whatever you're thinking of and multiply that by about a hundred) which was then followed by a less hellacious health crisis, well, bouncing back in a big way. Totally inspiring. Erica gave me a totally cool gift, too, which I'll write about later.

Oh, the fangirl moment? I'm am just about to fire up Twilight Princess on Gamecube. I want to remember this moment because I know I'm going to look back on this and be like, "Wow, that was the day that I began this awesome game." That's today, then, 12/12, a Tuesday, after an OSHA meeting at work. I'll be pausing to watch House later. And I might even pause for dinner. ^_^

So let the game begin!

Can I get a WTF?!

I thought the two hugest cool aspects of the Wii were going to be that it was going to be reasonably priced--at $250, well below the prices of PS3 and XBox--and that they were shipping enough to meet the demand? So then why is it that not a single store either in Florida or out here on the Island has a single one to sell, and all the ones online are going from between $600 and $900?

My Uncle Don actually did manage to find a Twilight Princess. But hey! No Wii on which to play it? So again I say, WTF?

I mentioned this last year but then I blissfully forgot about it. As Beverly so eleoquently put at the time, DO NOT WANT.

What really concerns me now, though, as far as the trailer goes, is why are they using the music from Requiem For A Dream? O_o

ETA: That wasn't Beverly, it was Katie. ^_^

Last night I found out from a Hula sister out west that my favorite Hawaiian band--Makaha Sons--is finally coming out to do a show in NY. I know those gentlemen very well, and I shot off an email to Uncle Moon in hopes that he will be home in time to get it, to let them know that we'll be there. I've got to grab some tickets today if I can. The only downside to this is that it's the same date as the Wong Fei Hung tourney, and I really, really wanted to go to that. Sifu wanted me to compete in it. I told him I didn't think I was ready. But I still really wanted to go. I haven't been to a tournament since last December, and I had a total blast that time.

Today is a fine and lovely thing. Went to Hula early this morning, roads wet and skies grey, listening to songs on my iPod connected to my tapedeck. Hula was a little slow today. After warmups we talked, well, about Hula and the halau, and eventually we did strength excersizes and ran the Wedding Song again. Why, I don't know, since the wedding was two weeks ago.

Then it was off to Kung Fu even though the school is closed. Lee was already there and we had decided the night before to run our sword form, just the two of us, and then go to lunch. It started to rain really hard, so I unlocked and we went inside on the mats and did broadsword for over an hour. I was sweating by the time we were done, and it was pretty chilly, actually. Afterwards, we went to the Chinese place that Sifu and the students always go to when we want to get something to eat after class. There we talked to the manager about hiring the place for a night this month to hold a benefit for our good friend who is in the hospital. The manager was SUPER sweet and helpful (he always appreciates that we're proponents of Kung Fu, which he knows because we usually come in wearing our shirts with the school's kanji on them,) and we got the date, price, and even our menu all figured out. The food there is the absolute BOMB and they gave us free ice cream afterwards, which was seriously some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Came home and took the boydogs out for a romp in this crazy weather. Trisky took one look at the sogginess and went right back to bed, like, "Screw that."

Then I took a shower, and now I am happily and shamelessly already in my pajamas, getting ready to feed the dogs and then fire up PS2 and see if I can't retrace my steps in Dirge of Cerberus and find what I lost. I must have saved wrong at some point, because first I had all 3 G reports, and then one got stolen by the stupid, hateful gargoyles. Then I had two. Then I tried to play again, and they stole the G report again. I figured I'd be down to 2 again, but guess what? Now I am down to ONE. In order to get all three, I would have to go all the way back to the last section. And even though it's the only way to watch the OMG SUPER ULTRA MEGA SECRET EXTRA ENDING!! I might have to forego that. It's too much work. Maybe I'll just download said SUMSE ending. Video games are supposed to be fun, damnit.

Someday, someone has to figure out why people are so hungry an hour after stuffing themselves with Chinese food.