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Another long workday today... I started in the office at 5:40 am... and left at 6:40 pm, working partially through a short lunch period. I did not bring my computer home. (Turns out I also left my cell phone at work. baka!)
Traffic is light at 7 pm, so it didn’t take long to get to Beaverton. A mile from my house I noticed a park sign behind the Rite Aid – and on impulse I turned onto a side street and parked by a second entrance to the park. I had completely forgotten that a park was behind the store, and I’ve never gone into the park. There wasn’t much sunlight left, but I took my purse – with camera – and hiked into the forest.
Roy E. Dancer park is an odd little park hidden in a corner of a subdivision with access limited to two dead-end streets. The park is a mix of mowed grassy field and natural wooded areas. It’s like a large private woodland and sports field for the two dozen homes that surround it. The park is also very eerie at dusk with no one else in earshot.
Although I was in work clothes I wandered through most of the park. It was strange. The light wasn’t very good, and the wooded areas were not photogenic, so the handful of photos I took were quite dull. There was young growth, and there were tall, old evergreens and oaks. The entire park was like a random smorgasbord. The walk was memorable only because it was a new experience exploring a park that is a mere mile from my home yet had never entered. I felt as irregular as the park. Whatever.
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Photographers... Lightroom 4.1 is Now Available. I’ve been waiting for this release as a couple of significant bugs (Point Curve and Clarity bugs) are fixed. Also, Raw support for two cameras I’m interested in (Fuji X-Pro1, Olympus OM-D E-M5) is now provided. One lens profile (Micro-Nikkor AF-S 60mm f/2.8G) relevant to my gear has been added.
I’m old school... I like to have the box and the optical media... so I’ll pay the extra $6 to have that shipped to me rather than just downloading it. They’ll ship me 4.0, so I’ll still have to download 4.1 from the Adobe site. I’ll probably wait until the weekend to order the upgrade.
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I’ve noted this before, but I’m amazed by the connection between the following anime characters:
- Aika in Aria
- Kimi Aoi in Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
- Lavie in Last Exile
- Hitagi Senjougahara in Bakemonogatari/Nisemonogatari
- Becky Miyamoto in Pani Poni Dash!
- Homura Akemi in Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Listen to their voices – very different voices, I should say – in your head. What an amazing voice actress Chiwa Saito is!
Unrelated #1...
I’m thinking about Genki Girls today. In general, my favorite characters in anime series are the dark, serious ones. I don’t normally care about genki girls. But there are a few that I really like...
- Haruhi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. She’s got a tsundere side not normally associated with genki girls. But there’s no question Haruhi’s energy is boundless.
- Miyako in Hidamari Sketch. Miyako isn’t has hyper as some genki girls, but she has an unfailing, positive energy that is infectious.
- Yukino in Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou. Her school persona is very genki.
Most other genki girls such as Miki from Marmalade Boy and Tohru from Fruits Basket I like – but they’re not my favorite characters in their stories.
Unrelated #2...
The hot anime phrase of the day is Zettai Ryouiki (Absolute Territory). (^_^)
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Ash could hear her breath in the dark: quick, frightened, like a rabbit fleeing from hunting hounds. She put her hands out in front of herself and felt only cold air. She took a tentative step toward the door, shuffling forward until the tips of her fingers bumped against the wood. It was slightly wet. She flattened her palms against the door and then pressed her body to the oak. When she closed her eyes the quality of the dark did not change, and for a moment she stopped breathing, afraid that she could not tell if her eyes were open or shut. She touched her face, her eyelids, and the trembling movement of her eyes somehow reassured her: She was still real. Then she slid down to the ground, her face pressed against the door, her boots dragging roughly across the dirt floor. She gathered her knees to her chest to make herself as small as possible, and tried to ignore the weight of the darkness on her.
Ash was one of several cool things that Jan and Ann gave me for Christmas last year. I had started reading the book months ago but had to set it aside as my life turned upside down. And even though I’m having to work this weekend, I made an effort to take a timeout to finish the book. Written for young adults, Ash is fast reading – although it did take a couple of hours of my time today. My mantra for 2012 is to do things differently than I did in 2011. This month I finished two books. I think that’s two more than I did all of last year. (o.O)
Ash is a wonderful fairy tale – sometimes dark, sometimes uplifting. I enjoyed the story a lot. Malinda Lo provided a strong, sympathetic heroine (perhaps INFP?), but I thought the supporting cast was a bit weak. I suppose one shouldn’t expect deep character development in a fairy tale. We were treated to many fairy tales within the story; Lo’s world-building was solid. However, I wished for a little more actual magic. The magic in this world was more often hinted at than shown. And I felt that the ending was rushed, providing a rapid resolution that was perhaps a bit too pat. But, hey, this is a fairy tale we’re talking about.
I’m a sucker for a good romance, though. I was rooting for the romantic leads. This book would make a fine movie or anime. Because of time-stress I zipped through pretty quickly, but I’d like to re-read the book when I have more time. Maybe this is a goal for 2013.
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I dislike dubbed anime... but I’ll put up with it on shows I don’t really care about and am not paying for. The only advantage to dubbed anime is that I can be doing other things (such as housecleaning) and have the shows playing in the background. Each Sunday morning I had been videotaping a two-hour block in Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Bleach and Inuyasha I don’t care about and was watching simply to see what happens. For Durarara and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood I was watching episodes I’d missed that lead up to the finales – which I’ve already seen for both series.
I had heard that Toonami Was Coming Back and would displace the anime in Adult Swim, but I did not get a schedule in advance. I didn’t reprogram my VCR so I ended up taping the wrong shows this morning. Toonami is showing two new to the U.S. series: Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins, the reboot of Casshern from the 70s. Inuyasha and Durarara are gone – doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood continue. (Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd GIG also continue, but I hadn’t been watching those as I have them on DVD.) I’ve reprogrammed my VCR to do midnight to 2 am instead of the 4 am to 6 am block previously assigned.
 Portland Japanese Garden |
I had expected Saturday to be mostly a personal day but partially a work day. However, events conspired to prevent me to do any work for the office. I'll have to be extra diligent and work more on Sunday.
Friday night when I got home from SMYRC I realized I’d left my poetry book and my transition stories in the staff room. Things sometimes disappear or get lost at SMYRC, so I wanted to retrieve my books as soon as possible. I made plans to go to SMYRC when they opened at 4 pm on Saturday.
However, I spent an unplanned 2 1/2 hours with my ex who dropped in to visit. My ex, both kids, and I went out for coffee, picked up a few goods at Trader Joes, and returned home so that I could transfer, adjust, and print photos for my ex. I didn’t get to leave for my own errands until about 4:40 pm. I picked up clothes from the dry cleaners, drove in to Portland, dropped off an assortment of items at my office, went to SMYRC and retrieved my writings, drove back to Beaverton, shopped for groceries at WinCo, and returned home all within 1 hour and 40 minutes – 1 hour and 5 minutes of which was actual driving time, according to Ava’s computer. At 6:20 pm I arrived home to unload groceries, fix dinner, and watch anime.
Running errands was nice, as the temperature was between 65°F and 68°F during that time. With Ava’s windows open and anime music roaring through the speakers, I had a delightful if too brief a time outdoors. And I would not have guessed that the sunny day would turn into torrential downpour that evening.
 Sakamichi no Apollon, Episode 7 |
A very brief note on this week’s episodes...
Mōretsu Pirates Episode 21:
Wheeee! That was a fun ride!
Fate / Zero Episode 20:
Aw, man! I really liked Maiya! The measured pace and seriousness of this episode were outstanding and the direction and art were excellent, as usual. In addition, the special ED scenes were heartbreaking.
I noticed this week that of all the series I’m watching this season, Fate / Zero is the only one whose OP I don’t skip past. But then, I’m a Kalafina fan.
Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope) Episode 7:
A totally awesome episode... and includes the best music so far. The writing is soooo good for this series!
Tsuritama Episode 7:
No questions were answered, and this episode did it's job to draw us deeper into the mystery. This week was simply a stepping stone to the story that continues next week.
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (Dusk Maiden of Amnesia) Episode 7:
Wow. That took an unexpectedly dark turn. This was a much better episode than most in the series. I’m glad I’m following along. Also impressive was the variant of the ED sans Yuuko.
Zetman Episode 8:
The situation continues to be complicated, and everyone is wounded in one way or another. This episode is about family, but all the families involved are dysfunctional. The series remains worth following.
Accel World Episode 8:
An OK episode... starting out slowly but providing a big battle scene in the second half. We were introduced to Scarlet Rain, who has been appearing in the OP and ED.
Poyopoyo Episode 21:
Reasonably cute!
 An Illustration a Day by Matt Kaufenberg |
Now I know that the Avengers do On Their Days Off...
...and also Adobe’s Design Process behind those Horrible CS6 Icons
...and how to make Lightroom tweak my photos so that they look like they were processed by Instagram
...and What Should We Call Me in a large number of situations
The audience was of a nice size, but within a half-hour of the show’s end most youth had left. When staff and volunteers outnumber the youth, there are too many adults. At 9:30 Jess gave me permission to leave early. It was one of the shortest shifts I’ve ever had at SMYRC – but with my long workdays, the chance to go home and get sleep was much appreciated. Even at that, after stopping at my office to fetch my laptop, I didn’t get home until 10:15 pm. And I was pretty exhausted. It had been a long, hard week.
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