About time?
It is 15:55pm, 26 Nov 2005, in Humble. I didn't really have any plans to blog 'til I got back to Tokyo, but my dad just commented on the absence of entries, which essentially means he wanted me to blog again, so here I go.
Rather than write anything deep, however, I instead have three main categories that have occupied me since returning to the States: food-related, music-related, moving pictures-related.
Food-related
I've been quite successful in this. The weekend in New York involved Italian Thursday night (in Little Italy of course - and I ended up finishing mine and Brett's meals); Thai Friday night; a Carvel ice cream cake and South Indian (dosa and idli) Saturday; bagels, Gus's pickles, and Lombardi's pizza Sunday; and two trips to Olympic diner with Brett for eggs over-easy. ^_^ My parents keep telling me I've lost weight, but I'm feeling contentedly tubby these days.
Of course at home I'm very well-fed, especially since they think I've lost weight. We had a monstrous dinner Tuesday night when Fuji was over, though I suppose it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for us. There's been bhaja maas, chicken curry, roti, aloo bhaji, and today the plan is kisuri. (A dozen knishes from Brett also arrived Tuesday.)
Thanksgiving, of course, involved *a lot* of food: cranberry sauce (my mother's from scratch is always so yummy), broccoli-rice-cheese casserole, potato salad, cornbread, green beans, stuffing, pecan pie, and umm... oh yeah, turkey. My dad, as expected, explained to Sushma and her brother that we were eating traditional Thanksgiving foods (nevermind that my mother had added jalapenos to just about everything). Unexpectedly, he did not insist that I say "grace" before the meal. (Add that to the list of things for which I'm thankful.)
Now, though I'd be perfectly happy eating casserole and potato salad leftovers, my mother insists on continuing to cook something new for us (i.e. me) each day. Though I find it wasteful (and I feel bad for my dad because I know that, once I leave, he will be stuck eating the leftovers for weeks on end), I can't say anything because I know she's just doing it because she loves me. The thing is, after eating my own boring fare of rice and fish (seasoned with the only two spices I have in my cupboard) for the past three months, even her leftovers are a treat.
Moving on.
Music-related
Last Thursday, in the mood to dance, Brett and I went to Pianos, not quite knowing what to expect. We certainly didn't expect what we got, which included 1) a girl with a wide, shiny belt that kept coming undone as she tried to grind with everyone in the establishment, 2) a girl who was a terrible dancer but probably fancied herself an artist of sorts because she would get down on the floor and wave her feet at the guy who was dancing with her who *could* dance and I felt was making a very valiant effort not to laugh out loud at her, and 3) a couple so intent on each other that Brett and I were forced out of our seats and came dangerously close to throwing the last of our drinks on them (in the end we decided against it because Brett is pretty well-known at Pianos). Turns out that half the aformentioned couple was very very drunk and her friends (who included shiny belt girl) were not doing a very good job of looking out for her. So please, if you're going to drink, drink responsibly with responsible friends. Else, don't drink... or be prepared to be blogged about.
Needless to say Brett and I did no dancing that night.
Sunday night we went back to Pianos to meet Laura and see the Comas and Giant Drag. Well, due to "philosophy mode" and some very satisfying conversation, we missed the Comas completely and most of Giant Drag. What I did see I wasn't incredibly impressed with. Annie's voice (when speaking) annoys me, and the whole playing drums and bass at the same time thing I find too annoyingly gimmicky to be worth the sacrifice in quality. Meh.
The Head Set's new song, on the other hand, rocks. I've only been watching them for a year or so now, but they've grown so much in that time, I'm sure it can only continue to get better, especially as they're all so eager. Unfortuantely I can't rip and post it for you, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.
I met Fuji Tuesday and we drove around Houston, stopping by the Guitar Center on Westheimer where he used to work. Using his employee discount, I purchased an OM2 "all performance dynamic vocal microphone." I don't quite understand the diagrams, but the package insert says it's "designed primarily for live performance" and has "added warmth in the lower mid-bass and a slight boost in the mid-range," and well Fuji said it would be good for my voice... at least what he expects/wants from my voice, which isn't necessarily what Stu, Chris, and Hideto want from my voice, but whatever it does, it has to be better than the crap mics we've been rehearsing with so far.
He also gave me an mp3 cd with the new Depeche Mode album, the new Fiona Apple, Fischerspooner, Tweaker, Lovage, and Gelbison. I love love love the new Depeche Mode Album. I haven't concentrated too much on the Fiona Apple - the first track I like a lot, the rest... sounds like Fiona Apple, I assume it's solid. I'm giving my first listen to the Tweaker right now and liking it. And though I trust Fuji's judgment, I'm not yet convinced by the Gelbison or Fischerspooner. It's *good* yeah, but whether or not it will matter to me is something else. Oh, and the Lovage is funny and a good addition to my collection, but it's one of those things I would never think to buy myself.
Moving pictures-related
Last Friday in New York, I met Darren, Lev, and Julia to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh boy was it fun. It was much better than the third movie, which I found severely disappointing, so already I was happy. But on top of that it was *good.* Though they had to change some things around in order to condense it all into a movie, I thought the choices they made were understandable and quite forgivable. There were some pretty big (in my opinion) details left out about Barty Crouch, which I think are important to the story and character development, but I can understand how the movie would have been less tight for it. The best part of the evening of course was seeing Darren, Julia, and Lev. I'd really missed companionship like theirs in Japan.
For Fuji's birthday I brought him Final Fantasy: Advent Children from Japan. Yes, this means it's in Japanese without subtitles, but he doesn't care. He'd seen it three times already with subtitles (and pretty much had the dialogue memorized), and it's still unclear when a subtitled version will be released in the States. Though I haven't seen the first movie and it had no subtitles, we watched it together on my old Dell laptop Omaris (I'd forgotten how high her resolution is, oh man). I can't tell you much about how it was as a movie. I was concentrating on understanding the Japanese and the plot. As it's an action movie, there wasn't too much dialogue to stress out about, but what little there was, I think I was able to pick up on/understand about half of it. Hooray for me. ^_^ I did notice, however, that computer animation has improved significantly when it comes to people - from the movement of hair and cloth to freckles. With this knowledge, I expect a little better from the next Spiderman movie (I assume there will be one), where they don't even have to deal with a cloak.
The day I bought the mic, I also bought the Fruits Basket set. I know, I know, it's a stupid shoujo anime, but after seeing the first couple episodes with Lisa a year or two ago, I've wanted to finish it, now matter how annoying (sort of like Naruto). Besides, I'm thinking the other shoujo manga I look at for my first paper will be Fruits Basket, so I can justify it by saying it's "research." ^_~ Actually, I'm really really glad I bought this one, because the Japanese in it is so interesting. Minagawa always speaks in tenei-go (polite speech), Honda (Tohru) often uses kei-go (honourific and humble speech), and of course the boys all speak like normal people. *rolls eyes* I wonder if girls who only read the manga (or watch the anime) in English are aware of these obvious "status" differences. If not, would being aware of them change their reception of the manga/anime?
The other night my parents and I watched an old Hindi film called "Guddi," starring Jaya Bhaduri or something like that and some other famous stars whose faces I recognize but names I don't know and could never spell. It was actually a really interesting movie (and more tolerable than most because there were no ridiculous group dance numbers and it wasn't THREE HOURS LONG) because it was about Bollywood movies and how they're pretty meaningless and just a bunch of glamour and glitz that has nothing to do with how life in India really is. I mean, it was nice to see a Bollywood movie trying to convey that message, but it was also kind of amusing because this movie itself was a parade of faces, and I can hardly believe that the main character's family was typical in any way (yeah, every Indian girl has an uncle with the connections to get her access to watch a shoot of her favourite actor, and in the end she'll end up marrying a handsome, successful engineer whom she loves with no worries about a dowry). Well, it was cute enough in any case.
Rather than write anything deep, however, I instead have three main categories that have occupied me since returning to the States: food-related, music-related, moving pictures-related.
Food-related
I've been quite successful in this. The weekend in New York involved Italian Thursday night (in Little Italy of course - and I ended up finishing mine and Brett's meals); Thai Friday night; a Carvel ice cream cake and South Indian (dosa and idli) Saturday; bagels, Gus's pickles, and Lombardi's pizza Sunday; and two trips to Olympic diner with Brett for eggs over-easy. ^_^ My parents keep telling me I've lost weight, but I'm feeling contentedly tubby these days.
Of course at home I'm very well-fed, especially since they think I've lost weight. We had a monstrous dinner Tuesday night when Fuji was over, though I suppose it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for us. There's been bhaja maas, chicken curry, roti, aloo bhaji, and today the plan is kisuri. (A dozen knishes from Brett also arrived Tuesday.)
Thanksgiving, of course, involved *a lot* of food: cranberry sauce (my mother's from scratch is always so yummy), broccoli-rice-cheese casserole, potato salad, cornbread, green beans, stuffing, pecan pie, and umm... oh yeah, turkey. My dad, as expected, explained to Sushma and her brother that we were eating traditional Thanksgiving foods (nevermind that my mother had added jalapenos to just about everything). Unexpectedly, he did not insist that I say "grace" before the meal. (Add that to the list of things for which I'm thankful.)
Now, though I'd be perfectly happy eating casserole and potato salad leftovers, my mother insists on continuing to cook something new for us (i.e. me) each day. Though I find it wasteful (and I feel bad for my dad because I know that, once I leave, he will be stuck eating the leftovers for weeks on end), I can't say anything because I know she's just doing it because she loves me. The thing is, after eating my own boring fare of rice and fish (seasoned with the only two spices I have in my cupboard) for the past three months, even her leftovers are a treat.
Moving on.
Music-related
Last Thursday, in the mood to dance, Brett and I went to Pianos, not quite knowing what to expect. We certainly didn't expect what we got, which included 1) a girl with a wide, shiny belt that kept coming undone as she tried to grind with everyone in the establishment, 2) a girl who was a terrible dancer but probably fancied herself an artist of sorts because she would get down on the floor and wave her feet at the guy who was dancing with her who *could* dance and I felt was making a very valiant effort not to laugh out loud at her, and 3) a couple so intent on each other that Brett and I were forced out of our seats and came dangerously close to throwing the last of our drinks on them (in the end we decided against it because Brett is pretty well-known at Pianos). Turns out that half the aformentioned couple was very very drunk and her friends (who included shiny belt girl) were not doing a very good job of looking out for her. So please, if you're going to drink, drink responsibly with responsible friends. Else, don't drink... or be prepared to be blogged about.
Needless to say Brett and I did no dancing that night.
Sunday night we went back to Pianos to meet Laura and see the Comas and Giant Drag. Well, due to "philosophy mode" and some very satisfying conversation, we missed the Comas completely and most of Giant Drag. What I did see I wasn't incredibly impressed with. Annie's voice (when speaking) annoys me, and the whole playing drums and bass at the same time thing I find too annoyingly gimmicky to be worth the sacrifice in quality. Meh.
The Head Set's new song, on the other hand, rocks. I've only been watching them for a year or so now, but they've grown so much in that time, I'm sure it can only continue to get better, especially as they're all so eager. Unfortuantely I can't rip and post it for you, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.
I met Fuji Tuesday and we drove around Houston, stopping by the Guitar Center on Westheimer where he used to work. Using his employee discount, I purchased an OM2 "all performance dynamic vocal microphone." I don't quite understand the diagrams, but the package insert says it's "designed primarily for live performance" and has "added warmth in the lower mid-bass and a slight boost in the mid-range," and well Fuji said it would be good for my voice... at least what he expects/wants from my voice, which isn't necessarily what Stu, Chris, and Hideto want from my voice, but whatever it does, it has to be better than the crap mics we've been rehearsing with so far.
He also gave me an mp3 cd with the new Depeche Mode album, the new Fiona Apple, Fischerspooner, Tweaker, Lovage, and Gelbison. I love love love the new Depeche Mode Album. I haven't concentrated too much on the Fiona Apple - the first track I like a lot, the rest... sounds like Fiona Apple, I assume it's solid. I'm giving my first listen to the Tweaker right now and liking it. And though I trust Fuji's judgment, I'm not yet convinced by the Gelbison or Fischerspooner. It's *good* yeah, but whether or not it will matter to me is something else. Oh, and the Lovage is funny and a good addition to my collection, but it's one of those things I would never think to buy myself.
Moving pictures-related
Last Friday in New York, I met Darren, Lev, and Julia to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh boy was it fun. It was much better than the third movie, which I found severely disappointing, so already I was happy. But on top of that it was *good.* Though they had to change some things around in order to condense it all into a movie, I thought the choices they made were understandable and quite forgivable. There were some pretty big (in my opinion) details left out about Barty Crouch, which I think are important to the story and character development, but I can understand how the movie would have been less tight for it. The best part of the evening of course was seeing Darren, Julia, and Lev. I'd really missed companionship like theirs in Japan.
For Fuji's birthday I brought him Final Fantasy: Advent Children from Japan. Yes, this means it's in Japanese without subtitles, but he doesn't care. He'd seen it three times already with subtitles (and pretty much had the dialogue memorized), and it's still unclear when a subtitled version will be released in the States. Though I haven't seen the first movie and it had no subtitles, we watched it together on my old Dell laptop Omaris (I'd forgotten how high her resolution is, oh man). I can't tell you much about how it was as a movie. I was concentrating on understanding the Japanese and the plot. As it's an action movie, there wasn't too much dialogue to stress out about, but what little there was, I think I was able to pick up on/understand about half of it. Hooray for me. ^_^ I did notice, however, that computer animation has improved significantly when it comes to people - from the movement of hair and cloth to freckles. With this knowledge, I expect a little better from the next Spiderman movie (I assume there will be one), where they don't even have to deal with a cloak.
The day I bought the mic, I also bought the Fruits Basket set. I know, I know, it's a stupid shoujo anime, but after seeing the first couple episodes with Lisa a year or two ago, I've wanted to finish it, now matter how annoying (sort of like Naruto). Besides, I'm thinking the other shoujo manga I look at for my first paper will be Fruits Basket, so I can justify it by saying it's "research." ^_~ Actually, I'm really really glad I bought this one, because the Japanese in it is so interesting. Minagawa always speaks in tenei-go (polite speech), Honda (Tohru) often uses kei-go (honourific and humble speech), and of course the boys all speak like normal people. *rolls eyes* I wonder if girls who only read the manga (or watch the anime) in English are aware of these obvious "status" differences. If not, would being aware of them change their reception of the manga/anime?
The other night my parents and I watched an old Hindi film called "Guddi," starring Jaya Bhaduri or something like that and some other famous stars whose faces I recognize but names I don't know and could never spell. It was actually a really interesting movie (and more tolerable than most because there were no ridiculous group dance numbers and it wasn't THREE HOURS LONG) because it was about Bollywood movies and how they're pretty meaningless and just a bunch of glamour and glitz that has nothing to do with how life in India really is. I mean, it was nice to see a Bollywood movie trying to convey that message, but it was also kind of amusing because this movie itself was a parade of faces, and I can hardly believe that the main character's family was typical in any way (yeah, every Indian girl has an uncle with the connections to get her access to watch a shoot of her favourite actor, and in the end she'll end up marrying a handsome, successful engineer whom she loves with no worries about a dowry). Well, it was cute enough in any case.
posted by Bibhatsu at 16:55
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