For lack of anything else... Kittens!

I seem to be putting off this blogging thing for lack of anything terribly interesting to say, what with school and all. But, here's some pictures of my cats when they were kittens until I can think of some content :)

Makes a Great Salad

So, I haven't posted in a while. It is exam season, when that is over I'll have more time to post, except, I will be in Japan. My Japan blog is here. I will be posting there during mid-May, I will try to do little bit of updating here too - maybe just post the more interesting tidbits. In the meantime, enjoy this wonderful jar label I found:

New Phone

My contract with verizon finally hit its 2-year end and it was time to renew or switch. And, well, verizon is familiar. And for the first time ever they did something nice for me, they offered to give me a brand-new smartphone for almost free (there was a free one too, but you had to buy a data plan with it, no way).

So in my efforts to catch up on technology I feel like I've actually jumped into the future. Took me a good few hours (that admittedly I should have been doing more productive things) to get used to the darn thing, and it still feels like I'm talking into an awkward rectangle. Can you hear me now? I feel like I'm talking into a big rock. Lost is that natural phone-curve.

(look, I found a way to attach my phone charms!)

Then again. Who needs to talk to people. This baby has wifi, so anywhere there's an unprotected network, I can look at lolcats or other such productive endeavors. I've already used instant messenger with it, and felt a little silly but a lot of awesome.

(check out that slide-out keyboard! )

This is my new Samsung SCH-i760. I have the feeling I can probably make blogposts from it, though I haven't dared go that far yet. With a 1.3 megapixel camera built in I could even do photoposts. We'll see how ambitious I get before being terrified of the fact that I'm talking into a computer. At least I won't lose it, this thing is a beast.

hansel and gretel: The abridged edition

I realize it's been a long time since I've posted. I've gotten many great ideas, but too many time constraints to achieve them.

I rewrote the story of hansel and gretel for my Japanese class. The pictures are AWFUL but i was told they are in fact rather cute.

I absolutely LOVE the font I found. It's an adorable Japanese font, and it's free! What luck! It's the first font on this website.

And here is my story, which I'm sure any 5 year old in Japan could trump:

The Fair

For my birthday Berge and I decided to go to the county fair for some old fashioned cheesy romance.

This was one of the better things happening around my birthday, the other being surprise oral surgery.

The first thing we saw going in was this optimus truck:


And there was much rejoicing.

Berge, being the gentleman he is won me a stuffed animal. More specifically a tiny snake that got him heckled at by other booths. He later won me a plastic flute and soon regretted that. Luckilly for him the snake is very adorable.

Lastly we went on the Ferris wheel where the view was stunning, but I was petrified and clinging to the center pole for dear life the entire way. I did pause long enough to get a couple of pictures, and for Berge to get his revenge for me picking on his reluctance to go on the dangerous (FUN) rides.

Also, there is a picture of me making a ridiculously stupid face on a rollercoaster "action shot" that will never make it's way to the internet if I have anything to do with it. EVER EVER EVER.

The Farm

Berge and I went to New York state around the end of August: A tradition for me, another social occasion to worry about for him. Meeting my extended family? *gasp*. Anyway, everyone seemed to like him well enough, despite his concerns.


I was really excited to meet the new alpacas that my grandmother had adopted.
They were very timid. And still recently sheared. My mother has their fleeces and is going to spin them.



More excitingly I was finally up there when THERE WERE PIGLETS!This one was named mouse. He puts a new meaning to runt and will likely be bottle fed. But he was so cute.
So were all the other babies. Awwwwww.

Japanese Drama: 花より男子 (hana yori dango)

In efforts to not only boost my casual Japanese, but to prevent myself from falling into a slump over the summer I started looking into Japanese dramas. (A bit more realistic language than say, anime)

The first series I tried out is 花より男子 (or, boys over flowers - a play on words from the phrase "food over flowers"). I was hooked instantly (as Berge can attest to,he was much less interested than I was).

First off, yes, it's a drama. There's a moderate amount of action, but mostly it's about a gripping storyline and an unending assortment of complicated love circles and awkward antagonists.

Our hero, Makino, struggles through a pretentious private high school full of arrogant rich kids. Meanwhile her and her family are in poverty. And if this was not enough, she weaves in and out of love with her greatest enemy and her best male friend.

I had a very easy time finding a fan-subbed copy of the first season, but I had a lot of difficulty getting working subs for the second season. I wrestled with vlc for a while, and finally got some of them to work, though the translations seemed to vary a bit.

Reassuringly enough, I understood at least a lot of the basic conversations, and this helped me a lot with casual form, which is not enforced as much as masu form in my Japanese classes.

Be ready to see more drama posts from me!