Ruminations on Reality

Shock! An update! Yes, I'm back, and I'm still in Liverpool. Here's the scoop; on my referrals, I passed everything except the 2 core modules, which are basically the Semester 1 and 2 regular Japanese lessons, so the JMU board decided to let me redo those modules over the year, which means instead of Kanazawa, I'm back here.

But it's not bad. Truth be told, the year here so far has been better than the last 2 years combined, despite lack of attendence at the anime society, or indeed my lectures due to timetable troubles (the Group A & B lecture at 11am on Thursday has danced across 3 rooms now), but the latter's sorted out now. As for AS- hmm, after meeting Ste on an out-of-the-blue visit, walking across the park back from ASDA when he was walking back after missing the bus, he gave me the AS updates (Thursday, 7pm, 40+ people, same room, etc) suggested I give it a shot and put up an update on LJ to show I'm still alive.

Bit belated on both, but here it is! :D

I missed the last AS, however, as I had a friend over at the flat- a girl called Leanne from my MSN list, who's also a JMU student. I had her on my contact list for the longest time (she attended the first Advent Children screening at AS), but we didn't really have much conversation until in the recent weeks, where we've been getting to know each other fairly well. It was after I finished a drawing for her ('Sanctuary' on my DA page) that we met up on Thursday. She came up to see the drawing live, so I thought I'd have an evening in with her. She came up again Saturday evening (on my suggestion), where she spent the night before we took a trip around the city the following afternoon. She's a lovely young lady, and she seems to have some interest in me (well, she willingly came over to the flat and spent the night in my room- not exactly a sign of apathy), so we may meet up again later in the week or so.

In turn, I should be up at AS this week to see how things have come along, as well as to see what anime's on. Should be fun :D

Just when things couldn't get worse, they do. I do badly on my exam, my coursework requires 3 more pieces and a re-editing for next Monday, and I'm in new accomodation. I'm grateful for my brief stay with Ben and Bex and for everything they did, and I apologise profusely for any and every misconduct, taking back each snarky and sarky comment, but it's a bit late for apologies now.

After a quick visit to the JMU Accomodation Office though, they helped organise me a place to stay until Friday (I'm transferring my ticket to that date instead)- at Grand Central, the place I initially applied to go to last year. The room is bare- no quilt, no pillow, and only one light works- but I have my own shower room and toilet, and it only cost £80 as opposed to £150 for a hotel room for 3 nights. Looking back, maybe I should've booked an accomodation place to begin with, but it's how things have turned anyway- c'est la vie. Still, I'm lucky to get the place- it's got a mattress at least, and its own lounge and kitchen, as a shop close by for me to get food, so it'll do :)

So, how did the party with Tomoko go last week? I said I'd write about that ages ago, so now's my chance. It was lovely spending time with her again. She has the kind of house in the kind of countryside I wouldn't mind living in when I aim for humbler aspirations- I'm still bound for urban locations at the mo- but it has a great view of the hills, the Welsh mountains, the villages below, it's a landscape artist's dream. She owns stables and a pack of dogs, most of which were enclosed for the party, except one- Cherry, a small, excitable and fairly social black dog. I'm not usually a dog person, but I got used to that little scamp.

I also met Tomoko's new students from the high school from the previous 2 years. They were nice and friendly and funny, but I wish I could've seen some people from my year there, even if only one other person took the course as seriously as I did- they were still friends, y'know. I got to know the new guys well though, and saw a video DVD of their trips to Tokyo, Mt Fuji and Pallet Town (that's a real place?!), as well as a high-larious series of Pocky adverts.

Speaking of Japanese foodstuffs, we all had Japanese-style munchies for dinner- Prawn sushi (delish), edamame (not-so-delish- not big on edamame), soba noodles w/ cabbage and soy sauce (divine), gyouza (rather nice), green tea (okay- strong flavour), yakitori (divine too), a cake made from green tea powder w/ chocolate chips (rather tasty, even if green isn't exactly the best colour for a cake), and a cherry cheesecake (very strong cherry taste). Was a lovely luncheon.

While there, I met Tomoko's husband John, and daughter Mari, who are both nice people. John in particular was interested in my aspirations, as well as offering advice on life in Japan, so I know where to go for cash and whatnot, to take money in my wallet with me while there, etc. Even when Japan's beginning to seem further and further away, it's some key advice to keep hold of.

All in all, it was a nice, happy event, and it was well worth the coach trip. I wish I was back there now. The memories from then are much nicer than the present situation now. You get what you give however, so I just gotta give the going back at whatever universal force that runs this world.

Okay, this isn't the party details I promised in the last journal, but I'm in Aldham Robarts, and they close at 3:45pm today, so I can't exactly fill in this space with a lot today. For Tom- I got the Excel Saga DVDs you wanted, so if we can organise a meet-up, I can hand them over :)

So, yup, more details to come when I have more time on here.

Will put up the full party details a bit later, but first- some surprising (or just random) facts that I've learnt lately.

1) Tomoko has a painting of herself, her husband, and Chiro- her first dog- when they were younger in her house done by some old friends in a fantastic Expressionist-style painting (google Oscar Kokoschka paintings in Images and you'll get an example of what style the painting was done in). She says it's incomplete, but it looks great to me.

2) Gyouza (Japanese pork dumpling-type meal) is better without the vegetable in the middle.

3) Green Teacakes (cakes made w/ makocha - green tea powder) taste surprisingly delicious.

4) Soba noodles are lovely, especially in soy sauce with prawn sushi.

5) Tomoko makes a very cherry-licious cheesecake- very strong flavour.

6) She also has a friend who draws manga and porn (not hentai, apparently, but still porn). She only had examples of her friends' more casual artwork though, which is for the best.

7) She lives in a rather remote part of Shropshire, but come the day the world is flooded, she'll be overlooking a lake rather than a valley.

8) My mom is scared of me living in built-up areas (she described my week in Vegas as 'terrifying'). She also advised me not to go out in Kidderminster past sunset...though living in Liverpool by myself and walking around the city into the sunrise hours doesn't seem to scare her as much.

9) Pocky adverts are as weird as...well...the last thing you saw from Japan lately, and I'll be singing their advert jingle for days (I won't be doing their Riverdance-style jig though).

10) My friend James, now residing in Birmingham, is engaged to his girlfriend! A 2nd friend who's now on the marriage path. Always the party invite, never the groom *sniffle* (kidding!)

Still, will be back in Kent tomorrow, back to the grind of revising and coursework, and preparing for the next coach trip for the exams. Hope things go well- may even catch Tomoko again if I catch her in Tokyo (if I have the cash and a light-enough school schedule to allow such an undertaking from Kanazawa) taking her class on a trip there (if I was just a year younger, I would've been able to go on the first Tokyo trip).

In the coursework break (1 more piece to go!), I've managed to get invited to a party for ex-students of NVQ Japanese of the Stourport High School in Ludlow- where my former Japanese teacher, Tomoko, lives. It takes place tomorrow, hence why I'm now back in my sister's house in Kidderminster, 1 mile away from my old home. The coach journey up here was easy- the coaches weren't cramped, they were right on time- even early in some cases- and I got through it all with light luggage, since I'm only here for tonight and tomorrow.

Surely the Apocalypse is nigh!

My only problem with this is the date. If Tomoko waited until the 8th or 9th, I could've come up here for the celebrations, then jetted up to Liverpool (and thanks to the good graces of Ben and Bex, I have a place to stay for that time :D) for those referral exams, then be back down in as much of a jiffy as a National Express coach could manage. Yet, since it's tomorrow, it means I'll be taking 5 trips across 2 weeks- the one up here, the one back, the one up to Liverpool, the one to London Victoria Coach Station, and a train ride back to Westgate via the Victoria train station. Pretty busy- and in between coming back from here and going up to Liverpool, I gotta finish off that coursework piece, then post it with the rest. After that it depends on the exams.

Will Dave succeed the perils of John Collins and Ken Hada's Examination Execution?

Will he manage to obtain a good enough credit rating to get his CoE?

Will he have enough cash left over to get the Visa and the medical required to go to Japan in the first place?

Will he come back looking like the J-Pop star you wish to forget if he does get there?

Or, will he retake the modules in a worse-case scenario? Will he transfer to a different course? Will it mean you all would have to put up with me again for another 2 years or so?

Alternatively, will I enjoy the party tomorrow?

Only time can tell...

I never played the original Super Mario Bros 1-3 as a kid, and I've never played Super Mario World, period, until yesterday. I never owned a NES, SNES, Master System or Mega Drive as a kid, and my first Nintendo videogame was Super Mario Land on the original Game Boy.

Now, while that isn't exactly causing your world to fall apart, do you really find that to be anything shocking or astounding? I told my friend Cyndie that, and she couldn't believe it! How could a kid not have a NES or SNES in its hottest period? how could a kid have never played a Super Mario game? Is it really earth-shattering that I didn't anyway? My mom had already bought my brother Derek a Commodore 64 in the mid-80s, then a Commodore Amiga when I was 5. Guess after those 2 consoles, Mom didn't see a need for another one in the house, despite my 5-7yr old yearnings and pinings for one. Why have Super Mario World or Sonic The Hedgehog when you have 'Bubble & Squeak', 'Marvin's Marvellous Adventure', a demo of Putty Squad (later ported onto the SNES despite being intended for the Amiga), and a rough version of Mortal Kombat 2?

Nevertheless, I have fond memories of the Amiga. It didn't exactly have big name games beyond old ports of classic games like Space Invaders, awkward ports of MK2 and Street Fighter 2, and Worms- but the obscure games were just as solid as any other game.

Still, from Cyndie's shock I gained a means to play SNES games- namely Super Mario World, Super Mario All-Stars (4 games in one), and Super Mario Kart. Handy! :D

But still, for the gamers- was your gaming childhood brought up via Nintendo/Sega? or were you, like me, fairly oblivious to Mario's charms, and had a C64, Spectrum, Amiga or whatever over a SNES, NES or Mega Drive?

So, it seems my nephew Chris has had a turn for the worse. He's been living in Bewdley with friends, working at a factory or somewhere. It seems on one night out, some berk thought beating him up would make him feel like a man. He must've been pretty strong, as Chris's nose was broken badly, knocking him to the floor where he passed out soon after his mate managed to push the berk away. If he hadn't, I'd imagine Chris would've suffered some injuries to his chest and ribs from an additional kicking. Chris' friend called the police and an ambulance, so Chris managed to get into hospital, and Cockbite McMasculinity Problem got caught by the cops. I was originally going up to Stourport just to catch my former Japanese teacher's party, but with this, I also got to see how he's doing. He's had injuries before, but can't recall an event in the past where he's been knocked unconscious. He should be okay though.

Well, I finally managed it. I got all 26 episodes of Excel Saga today. ADV has released an Classics Collection of Excel Saga, containing all the episodes, all their special features, and a naked Excel on the front of the box for some (marketing) reasons >_O



Looks more loli than I thought, and yes, there are some well-placed puchuu's there.

Will be going through it tonight or so to see what it's like, particularly the fabled final episode of boundary-pushing insanity.

Though this also means I now have some DVDs to sell in the form of my original Excel Saga's Vol. 1 and 2, amongst a few others (a Jack Dee, an American Ring, and maybe a videogame or 2). Will prolly get my mom to sell them on ebay, but if anyone's interested, note me.

Now, in closing, it's time for some random Lovecraft-style videos!


The Terrible Old Man- a short horror story by Lovecraft turned into an animation.


"Ryleh"- or Rl'yeh- the dreaded city of the deeps where Cthulhu resides.


Digimon- 2 Lovecraft creatures for the price of one. The Deep Ones at the beginning, then Cthulhu appears at the end (Digimon has a different name for them, but who cares?)

Well, I got my cameras developed- on one I took pictures of Liverpool, doing my sightseeing bit, and the other was the last AS party and some of the Engagement Party pics.

Unfortunately only one of these cameras turned out good, usable photos. So, despite using the flash function, everything was too dark in the AS room to produce a good photo. Don't think even a brightness and contrast setting will fix it up either. In short, it's buggered up >_<

Still, the Liverpool pics came out alright, so I'll prolly scan them in and see what to do with them from there.

Nicked From Bex:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

Bearing in mind most of my computer tunes are instrumental or game tracks, this may seem vague, so I put up descriptions of the tunes. Anyone curious can ask me for one or 2 of them and I can send them along to you. In any case I flicked on Media Player and got this:

Opening Credits: Garnet Sky - instrumental track (rather upbeat theme with a Mexican rhythm- curious choice)

Waking Up: Prince Fleaswallow's Rap - Parappa The Rapper (well, it's about a shopkeeper, but the groggy reggae theme is pretty much how I feel each morning)

First Day at School: KDD-0075 - KOFXI Soundtrack (again, sounds rather confident for my first day at school- the music would fit a Fast And The Furious-style car chase, so it's funny to imagine that with soccer moms!)

Falling in Love: Spinning Bird - Street Fighter EX theme (hmm, it's fancy enough for a love theme)

Fight Song: Megatona Furioso - heavy metal instrumental track (it fits...ish. Hard guitar chords makes it sound like something giant and intimidating is coming your way)

Prom: I Play Music- Rosie Thomas (soft guitar with a wistful, nostalgic sound- prolly the best fit of the bunch)

Life: Momentary Life - Guilty Gear X OST (well, you've got it in the title!)

Mental Breakdown: Beats In My Head - dance track (considering the lyrics consist of 'beatsabeatsabeatbeatsabeatsabeatbeatsabeatbeats in my hee-ead' throughout the whole song to a funky jungle theme, I'd imagine it's the theme to anyone's mental breakdown)

Driving: Silent Survivor - Hokuto No Ken OST (not so much a high-speed car chase as a moody drive across a desert with the intent to punch someone's face in - like Mad Max)

Breaking Up: Feel A Fear - Guilty Gear X OST (again, the title alone makes it apt)

Flashback: Ibuki's Theme- SF3 Soundtrack (well, if I was having a flashback to Japan...)

Getting Back Together: Child of the Wild - instrumental track (eh, not a very good fit here- doesn't quite fit at all really. Would be better in the Final Battle category)

Wedding: All Masters' Rap- Parappa The Rapper (it's about a bunch of people arguing who gets to use the bathroom in rap form- it's the kind of switch of focus I'd go with if I was making a film on my life- it's all well and good for the bride and groom, but what's happened to the guests who ate the fish?)

Birth of Child: Conclusion- Guilty Gear OST (only if my wife gave birth to Steve Vai or Richie Blackmore...)

Final Battle: In The Arms of Death - instrumental track (another fit, though would've been better in the bottom category)

Death Scene: London Drizzle - McVaffe (it's suitably slow and sad, but it doesn't pile on the tragedy, so a good choice by the shuffle function)

Funeral Song: Cheap Cheap The Cooking Chicken's Rap - Parappa The Rapper (Indeed...don't worry about the funeral, how are we going to make the funeral cake?!)

End Credits: Live Rap With MC King Kong Mushi - Parappa The Rapper (well, it's a finale song, so it fits)