kokiden

Haha, I stole this from my pal abscondite

The problem with LJ:
We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you

ASK AWAY

Seriously seriously ask me. This will be fun.

My New Year's Resolutions





What I couldn't do with fifty Alexandraguns in my account! And I would be nicer to weenergord if she'd ever show her face!

That's me. My coworker just got back from Peru and kind of surprised me by pointing out he'd left a gift hanging on my monitor. It's a 2-inch painted ocarina (a small musical instrument; a sort of whistle). I surprised myself by being unusually pleased with it. I wasn't expecting him to bring me anything. I complain about him a lot. So it was kind of sweet he thought of me and others in the department while on his travels. I never bring back things for everyone in the department, only for the guy who takes care of my bird while I'm gone.

Other than getting an unexpected ocarina, I'm in kind of a strange place. I feel a bit suspended between this stage and the next stage. I don't have anything to translate right now, I'm feeling uninspired by the idea of posting yaoi, and I don't have anything new to put in the place of those things.

However, my 11-year-old daughter just got braces and is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of care they require. In particular she feels defeated by the flossing process. My job is to encourage her to floss one or two more teeth at each session as she figures out how to poke the floss underneath the braces to get at her teeth.

She also has some other stuff she needs to do she didn't get to yesterday, so I need to read her packet and get up on it so I can support her.

Work WAS super-busy, but now I'm down to doing some number crunching data entry stuff that just needs to get done. Not exciting, but it's the kind of thing I'm okay with, except for it being a little boring.

I'm planning on taking next week off, but I don't have plans to leave town, and not having any translation to do, I don't particularly have anything I need to spend my time on.

Like I said...I feel kind of suspended.

I also have some emotional stuff going on, but I can't really go into that...

Okay...that's all.

My head is full of things to talk about today. One of them is about translation.

Why is translation so easy sometimes and so hard at other times? I guess if I thought about it, I'd say things like "Different levels of vocabulary, different and specialty terminologies, slang/level of diction" as well as things like handwritten script versus typeset. I guess there are all kinds of things that make translation hard, and they're obvious if you stop to think about them. Oh, and if the piece is obscure in its original language, even to a native speaker, then of course it will still be obscure when read by a foreigner. Even more so.

Three nights ago, I translated five pages. Two nights ago, I translated five pages. Last night, I translate one page.

Oh another thing. Some pages have relatively little text on them. So maybe that's how I got through five two nights in a row. One page had NO dialogue. But I still felt ridiculously victorious about getting through so many pages on a work night. I guess the problem is not in the translation but in me. I have to stop being so ridiculous.

When I get into a rough patch, and page 11 of chapter 4 of Tenshi no Uta seems like a rough patch, then all the self-doubt comes right out. "You'll never get it." "This is going to be a mess." "You'll be revealed to be the fraud that you are." "You should quit as soon as you've finished this volume."

I really am ridiculous. I really do need therapy.

Okay I guess that's it for now.

So if you want to know what I'm doing right this minute, check it out! I'm kokiden there too.

http://twitter.com/kokiden


I might just ignore it, but it might be fun, you know?

So far I'm following yaoi press and Kevin Spacey! LOL

Having started a new scanlation group (moon_inabox I was thinking this morning that it was time to put something up that explained a little bit about who I am and what I do and how I like things to be.

About the title--"I" is how my son refers to the parrot. One day, as I do more often than I'll like to admit, I was pretending to speak for the parrot, who'd just been given a treat, and I said "Thank you for I." From that, Sam started calling him "I." It's perfect, because to that bird, nothing is more important than "I" (even though he does have some behaviors that are obviously dedicated to the survival of the flock). And to some degree I have to admit that I am all about "I" too.

By the way, thank you to low_red_moon for my Shinobu icon, which she very kindly made with me in mind and offered to me! I'm beyond thrilled with it. That's Shinobu from Play Boy Blues, in case you didn't know.

ME IN A NUTSHELL

I'm a 51-year-old wife, mother, and public transit careerist. LOL though I didn't really have what you'd call a career until fairly recently, just a series of jobs that more or less held my attention. I'm really proud to work in the public transit industry and find it a source of interest. My most recent job allows me to get glimpses into such esoteric fields as traffic engineering and pavement construction. I love that stuff.

FAMILY

Up until very recently, I was quite consumed by the duties of raising a family. My children are now 17 and 11 and have become independent in many ways, but one of the challenges of my current life is to make sure I stay connected to them while I delve pretty deeply into my own interests. Lately, havng gotten obsessed with working every day on translation or other scanlation tasks, I found that I was pushing my daughter away, and I find I have to make a conscious effort to make time for her.

I take parenting very seriously. It was the first thing I decided to try hard on that I wasn't already good at, and of course, if you're lousy at it, you have a huge impact on other people that ripples throughout their lives and yours. I'm not a natural parent in many ways and had to try hard to learn the skills I needed to help my kids along. I'm really proud of what I've done, and I'm proud of my kids, but my job isn't done yet. I have to keep reminding myself of that when my mind wanders off to the fields of Yaoiland.

WHY I GOT INTO SCANLATION, AND WHAT I THINK ABOUT IT

There are two things that I love that the scanlation process incorporates: reading in foreign languages and writing in English. So almost from the very start when reading scanlations I felt, "I would really like to do this." Of course not knowing Japanese was a huge obstacle. I'd always heard that learning Japanese was very difficult, and I was quite intimidated by the incomprehensible characters and knowing that there were three different writing systems involved.

I've loved learning foreign languages since I was a teen. The more languages I took classes in, the easier it got, until it felt like something that was almost easy. I majored in French in college, and I even taught French for a year in grad school. More importantly, I took a translation class as part of my French coursework and even did some translating as part of a research job I had as a grad student. Since that time I've wanted to try translating again, but never found any good opportunities.

When you translate, you stand at the intersection of two languages in a way that you don't if you're merely reading for your own understanding. From the middle, you can see the peculiarities of both languages and have the interesting challenge of figuring out how you can align those peculiarities so you can allow your readers to understand the contents of the original in its fullest meaning.

Well, that's what you do if you understand both languages well, and it's quite a fascinating prospect! I think it appeals to the puzzler in me. I've always enjoyed puzzles. I did crossword puzzles when I was young, and always enjoyed the logic questions on the tests you had to take in school. Now I am a fan of both Sudoku and Kakuro, which are logic puzzles that use numbers, and I do them both weekly if not daily. I find a Sudoku break is refreshing for my mind in a way that nothing else is.

In fact one very long part of my quasi-career in transit came about because of my propensity for puzzling! When I was new in the industry and doing a job that gave me great pain many times, I found out that there was a scheduling department in my organization. I used their schedules to plot out my travels on the system (I was doing a passenger survey). Looking at those schedules, figuring out how to get the information I needed to do my job, I came to appreciate them and knew that I would enjoy working on making them. So when a trainee job came open in the scheduling department, I jumped at it and came out on top in the interview and test. I ended up doing scheduling for fourteen years. It was a job that suited my tastes and talents amazingly well, because every day was like working on a puzzle. At least the days that weren't dedicated to paperwork or proofreading (of which there was a lot in those days! Less paper now, but still lots of proofreading).

Anyway, the other half of the equation is the writing. Working with English, making sentences, using words. I've always felt drawn to writing and felt that words were an element I could swim expertly in.

There is a wonderful novel by Iris Murdoch called "A Word Child." When I read that book, I identified strongly with that label. I am indeed a Word Child. Words have always been important to me--excessively so. I've had to learn to place less importance on words and more on actions in order to live a more balanced life. But words will always be something that feel comfortable to me, and I like to spend lots of my time on them. So being the person who renders a translation into English was something I thought I would love to do.

And now I am grappling every day with the challenges of translation on both ends. My Japanese is quite elementary, and like my sempai, lyrebird of Half-baked Scanlations, I rely heavily on electronic dictionaries and slang and sound effects word lists to get the job done. Two or three hours of translating results in my feeling like a wrung-out dishrag, just because of the slowness and the level of research I have to do to understand the language.

And the English end isn't a piece of cake, either. You'd be amazed how even someone who is quite proficient in English can find herself swayed by the language of origin, resulting in awkward phrases never before seen on the printed page!

Translation is much more work than I realized it would be, but I still want to do it. I still have that impulse inside me, and as I go along I find out more and more what that impulse is about. So far, I think it is part my joy in both Japanese in English, but it's also the excitement of producing something that has not yet been seen. Added to that, knowing you are bringing pleasure to people who share your fascination (with yaoi) is very motivating.

As I move onto the next stage of my scanlation experiment, I'm trying to walk a path that incorporates love of language, kindness and consideration of others, reverence toward the mangaka, respect toward publishers, as well as staying firmly anchored in family life and making a contribution at work.

If you want to come along with me for any portion of the journey, I am very happy to welcome you to walk by my side.

Darn, I still didn't make my Shinobu avatar. EDIT: Yay I found one! I've been busy translating. I only have three pages left to fix, and the chapter will be complete. I'll go over it thouroughly and make the earlier pages look a little nicer (didn't know anything about cleaning or editing when I started out. I know a little bit now). And then I'll read it over to make sure it makes sense, and then--SHOW TIME! I might be able to start posting it this weekend. I'm excited!

Read as much into that title as you can.

I really need to make a Shinobu icon to go with posts like this.

Over spring vacation (haruyasumi!), which was the week of April 6 (shigatsu muika), I dived into a new project completely head first. The project is to scanlate the remaining chapters of Volume 2 of Play Boy Blues and all of Volume 3.

Interesting milestones:

Discovering that intstead of starting at the beginning of chapter 3, I had started in the middle of either chapter 3 or chapter 4.

Realizing two weeks in that I should write in all caps.

Leveling? What's that?

And all of the times where one speech bubble totally defeated me: WHAT IN HELL IS HE SAYING???? Some of those speech bubbles seem to be about 50 percent particles to me. Can you make a sentence up just of particles? Mo to sa de ii da!!!!

It's an absorbing experience. I'm obsessed. I love it, but sometimes I also hate it. I struggle (of course) with my highly developed inner critic (inner sadist? inner brute?). I die daily thinking about what truly picky people will say about my translating and editing skills (graphic editing. I'm quite confident of my English editing skills).

But still I can't stop doing it, because I'm learning so much it makes my head spin, and there's nothing quite so satisfying as learning new things.

The fact is, I started learning Japanese so I could do this. No way did I think I'd be ready after two semesters of Japanese, but since this was my whole goal in doing this, I can't hold back.

As far as the work itself goes, I grow to love Shiuko Kano, Shinobu, and Junsuke more with every page. I'm sure it's true to some extent that just by paying such close attention and committing so much time to this work it's inevitable that I would come to love it more. Since love and appreciation of the work of others are nothing but good, I guess I'd have to say that if that was the only thing I got out of this experience, it would be worth it.

But of course, that's not the only thing I'm getting out of it. I'm having the time of my life.

Title: Hidoku Shinaide (Don't Be Cruel, Please)
Artist: Nekota Yonezou
Scanlation or Raw: scanlation
Warnings: Junior High School Boys



( Houkago no Himitsu )

Title: Fuyu no Hana (Winter Flower)
Mangaka: Sumomo YUMEKA
Genre: Yaoi
Scanlation or raw: Scanlation
WARNINGS: ~ None ~

Previous posts: Click on tags

( New Sumomo Yumeka )

Happy Birthday, ai! Sorry I missed it!

Seems you share a birthday with Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin, which makes perfect sense, given your pragmatic and detached sense of humor!

I hope you had a wonderful day! <3

So much has been going on. Seriously. There's too much to talk about, and I've been too silent!

My family and I were on vacation for around ten days. We left home December 27 and drove down to San Diego. Originally we'd planned to head out to the Grand Canyon, but they had a snowstorm, and Jonathan didn't want to drive in the snow. I don't blame him.

We spent December 28, a Sunday, at the San Diego Zoo. This is a huge, beautiful zoo that is considered to be a model in terms of design and animal husbandry. Tickets are quite expensive, but the zoo is worth the price.

I was really worried, because my knees had suddenly become painful, and I didn't know if I'd do well, but in the end, I lasted the whole day. I felt some pain, but the one who pooped out earliest was Francine. It's funny how those things work; everyone's energy levels are different.

The zoo has lots and lots of birds. We went into as many aviaries as we could find and saw lots of beautiful birds. There were two African Gray parrots perched high in one aviary, and we got to look eye to eye at them from outside on some stairs. They seemed interested in our whistling and antics.

We saw some of the birds that Jonathan and I had seen in Africa in 1990--a lilac-breasted roller, turacos, and hamerkops! Also open-billed storks. And hornbills! Different kinds of hornbills. They're some of my favorites. They always look so intelligent.

I think the favorite animals of all were the gorillas and the orangutans. They were both sitting out in family groupings, and in each case young apes were trying to get food from the dominant male. The gorilla silverback would not let the little guys have any celery, but finally one of the little guys snatched some and ran. His sibling ran up to him and pushed him with his body, but the little guy wouldn't give up his celery.

The dad Orang was much more laid back and let his child have some of the greens he was eating. There was a female orang sitting next to the glass showing a pea in her lower lip to the little boy looking at her. His mom got photos of him and the orang appearing to kiss through the glass. It was just precious!

We also saw bonobos. Man--bonobos are better than chimps, but I don't really like either of 'em.

Oh! there are pandas at the zoo, and when we took a bus tour, I saw two of them in trees! We never got to visit their enclosure, though, because there was a big long line that nobody wanted to stand in. Sorry Hiro-san! I know you'll be disappointed in me! But if you ever come to the US I promised to stand in line with you.

From San Diego, we headed out toward Tucson. We stayed a night in Gila Bend, AZ, a small town that smelled like cow poop. OH GOD! So sad. Then on to Tucson the next day; we got there in the evening, adn Jonathan's step-mom was disappointed because they had ordered pizza earlier, and it was now cold. this was at something like 4:45. Who on earth eats dinner that early (or expects out of towners to arrive just in time for an early dinner hour?). We went over and ate reheated pizza and salad, which was just fine.

The next day we hung out at their house. Jonathan meant to take us out to do something, but Francine got started making a globe puzzle that Gerri (Jonathan's step-mom and my step-MIL) had given her to work on. She was struggling, and I sat down to help and got sucked in. Eventually Jonathan and Sam joined us, and it turned into a cool family project! It got finished by Sam around 4:00pm, and we all went to the park and walked around.

The kids threw stones into the pond, and teh ducks came swimming over thinking it was food. The ducks never did figure out that there was no food. JOnathan and I walked all around the pond and saw a hawk. And more ducks. Then we all went to dinner at teh Chinese buffet that Francine loves.

The next day, Jonathan took the kids skiing on Mt Lemmon (7000 feet) and I stayed at the hotel and caught up with yaoi posting and reading. I also read "Far from the Madding Crowd." I'm having a little Thomas Hardy festival. I read "The Mayor of Casterbridge" adn then "Far from teh Madding Crowd," and now I'm reading "Jude the Obscure." WHy do I always read that book when I'm depressed? I'm afraid to finish. But these are the first novels I've read in months, so high five me. Yay.

I forget if we spent one more day in Tucson. We headed toward teh Grand Canyon, having decided to give it a go. We went by way of Sedona and got really excited to see the beautiful red rock formations there. There is a tour company called the Pink Jeep, which I rather admired, but the boys scoffed at.

We spent the night in Williams, AZ, a beautiful little town where everyone was kind to us. They have a cafe called JD cafe (I think?) that sells these delicious small donuts. Try them if you go there!

On to Grand Canyon the next morning. The highway was partially covered in snow, and more snow started coming down. Visibility was partial. Jonathan was concerned; he wondered if we got tehre, how much we could see, and I was quite worried about the road conditions. So we stopped and turned around.

On the way west back toward Williams, we saw a bald eagle! I got so excited, I shouted "BALD EAGLE BALD EAGLE," and Francine laughed t me, and Sam defended me. I said it was okay, I knew I sounded dorky. We explained to Francine how unusual it is to see a bald eagle. IT's been over 20 years for me! Jonathan pointed out that if we went to Alaska, we'd see plenty. We do plan on going to Alaska at some point, but it keeps getting put off.

Anyway, the snow slowed down, and the snow on the road melted, and Jonatahn thought we should turn around. I said fine; if when we get to the place we turned around it's bad again, we'll turn around again. The kids groaned. They didn't want to go to the Grand Canyon in the first place.

Well we passed the turnaround spot. The road had been plowed, and it was pretty easy going. We got into the park. The ranger said it was zero visiblity, but we could clearly see it was NOT zero visibility, so we went on. We went straight to the out look, and man it was gorgeous! there was snow on some of the plateaux, and there were mists hanging amid teh canyon. It was just so beautiful. The crowd was in a very merry mood, walking around in the snow and trying not to slip. A group of Indian men played in the snow and made me laugh. Francine made snowballs, but I begged her not to throw them at me, as my footing felt very insecure! My legs ached by the end from trying not to fall in the snow. I never did.

Sam was entranced adn snapped tons of photos. Our camera acted up, and we all agreed that the batteries did not like the cold. Jonathan recalled articles by nature photographers talking about what they had to do to keep their batteries warm.

It was very rewarding to see how much Sam enjoyed the canyon after having been so skeptical about our visit. Francine loved the snow. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

At that point, we headed home. We stayed a night in Bakersfield (getting there via Barstow), and then on home the next day.

It wasn't the most exciting vacation ever, but we had lots of good times and memories. we teased each other adn joked around a lot. It was nice being with teh family for days in a row.

Oh lookie! Something I can actually write about!

National Bird Day. So awesome. If you know me well, you know I love birds! This is something I'm always rediscovering about myself. My family and I just made a trip to the San Diego Zoo, and more than anything I wanted to make sure we visited all the aviaries. We were unable to find the Hawk-headed Parrot, though, who had so amused us on our previous visit eleven years ago.

I have a pet parrot; well, he's actually my husband's pet. I tried to force Jonathan to get rid of him at one point, when my allergist was pressuring me to remove the bird from our home because of my feather allergy. Yep. I tested positive for allergy to parakeet feathers, and I assume by extension, to parrot feathers.

In the end, we compromised and moved the little dude downstairs in our then new home. We moved him back upstairs three years ago (?) when Jonathan fixed up that downstairs room for teenager Sam, who had been sharing a room with his younger sister till then.

Yes! We're horrible parents and pet owners, exiling our parrot to no-man's land and making our son share a room with his sister. That's just the tip of the iceberg, folks. We seem to be losing it on many fronts in the parenting department. My aspirations toward perfection are constantly frustrated.

Anyway...during the period when our pet parrot, Parry, came of age and started acting aggressive, I decided that keeping parrots as pets was a bad idea. Clearly THIS parrot would have done better in the wild. It's not nice getting bitten by a parrot, and it's hard to enjoy a pet who is likely to bite you!

Then, after we brought the little guy back upstairs, a full decade and more after his entry into adulthood, we began to figure out how to manage his aggressive side, and he became a delightful pet again. He still bites me, but it's usually a case of my not taking his behavior properly into account.

So, in the end, in my eyes, parrots are once more reasonable pets.

Do I think it's cruel to cage them and keep them as pets? Not necessarily. Every parrot is different, and some are very happy as pets. Unfortunately, you can't tell which ones can be happy until you've kept them as a pet for a while, and by then it's too late for them. It does seem like an iffy practice, this whole pet-owning business when it comes to parrots.

Still, they can be very charming pets, and I can't blame those who want to keep one. Being a responsible pet owner requires a lot of work and devotion, though, whether it's a cat, dog, bird, or snake, and if you're not prepared to do the work, you should just have kids!

JUST KIDDING! If you're not prepared to do the work of properly taking care of a pet, it's best not to have one.

Heh that title gives you a clue as to how I mispronounce my own nickname. I told everyone at yaoicon that it's pronounced KOH-kee-den, but I think of it as koh KYE d'n. Because I'm an American dork. But I do my best to pronounce it correctly out loud. Because I have pride. Maybe too much pride.

Today, what kind of day is it? It's rainy, and I'm a little gloomy, despite having been rather cheerful since my therapy session this week. That tells me it's a hormonal kind of gloomy. Plus I cried to my son last night. I never cry to him, it's just silly. The whole time I was thinking "What am I, crazy?" I was mad that he stood me up for his eye appointment. But I was really crying because the parrot bit me, and it hurt like hell. One of those, damn this hurts so much I'm crying!

So my mother-in-law went in for hip surgery yesterday, adn apparently it all went fine. The surgeon said it was a good thing they did it, because her hip was seriously degenerated. And she seemed to be recovering okay, except that she was experiencing sleep apnea. We don't know if that is normal for her or not, but I guess they pu t her on an apnea machine that makes her breathe or forces oxygen into her nose or something like that. I'm pretty suer I have sleep apnea too, because I snore,a nd I have these dreams where I'm dying, and I panick, and then I wake up. I'm pretty sure the dream happens because I stop breathing.

Anyway. So Jonathan told me that his sister told him she's going to take the dining room table, a big oak table that she's had for decades, and around which many family meals were eaten. I've had my share of them, too. And that she wanted to buy MIL's car. Jonathan was a bit bothered by that, because he wanted to make sure she really paid for the car and didn't just take it. He also feels she should pay for the table. He doesn't like the feeling that she can just take this opportunity to walk off with goodies without any kind of payment.

I don't know if is concern is really money-related or emotional. I sympathized with him. We went through some similar stuff when my mom was ill and had dementia, with two of my sisters milking her for money, and one sister who just took her car, supposedly having paid for it. But there is miles of difference between MY younger sister and HIS younger sister, even there does seem to be a common thread with the car and the apparent desire to get hands on the good stuff at the earliest convenient moment.

I seriously think his sister is way more ethical than that. Maybe she feels a little entitled, and I think that's his problem. I also think there is a confusion of love and money here. I'm not sure, but that happens.

I told him that he just needs to state it flat out that everything taken from MIL's home in the process of moving her to assisted living after her recovery should be accounted for in terms of cash. I took a car that's worth $10,000, I took a table that's worth $2000. Of course, there cuold be disputes over values adn understandable reluctance to having to put lots of effort into establshing values. But I think just stating what you need is the way to go and leaving all the negative emotions out of it. Just say you want things to be clear and to avoid bad feelings.

The truth is, he and I don't need any of her stuff. We don't need ANYTHING. But I think that he feels just because we don't NEED doesn't mean we shouldn't GET, and that's where I think the emotional stuff is.

There are a couple of paintings of hers I'd like to have, and if her coffee table were up for grabs, I'd take it. Maybe I should jsut tell him that...figure out what you want, and if she isn't using it in her new apartment at the assisted living place, tell the sisters "I want that if that's okay with you, and I value it at x dollars." Heh that's the pain in the ass part. Who the hell knows what those things are worth. I'm really lazy, even though I'm curious.

The things of MIL's I'd really like are all small things that I've enjoyed seeing in her house. I bet she'll be able to keep all those things, though, and I also bet if I todl her I wanted one or two of them, she'd give them to me straight out. But I find that painful. I don't want to make it look like it's the end, so I wont' ask.

I just realized today that with yesterday's surgery, that whole era of our life is over. She will no longer live in that apartment. That's the only place she has lived since I've known her. It has that same cachet as my family home did when I left it--the painful memories are there, I want to run away from them, I resent the familiarity in many ways, but it's also very, very sad to think that this place is gone. The minute she left, never to return, that was the minute that it disappeared.

And everyone will think, "The important thing is to take care of your mother-in-law and make sure that her last years are as happy as they can be," and I absolutely agree with that. The stuff is only important because of the relationships it represents.

I really enjoyed this. Here are my results.


My personalDNA Report

Here's where you can go to do it yourself:



The test

At long last, I'll make my Yaoicon post.

The first three photos are of my friend rae_vynn I loved meeting her. She's absolutely adorable and fun to talk to. Her mom wanted pictures of her smiling. I'm sorry the pictures are so bad! I'd make excuses, but it would be pointless. I tried!









On Thursday, I picked my friends animemetoo and yes_rhade (also known as CJ and Shelley) up at the San Francisco airport. We dropped off their books and luggage and headed to Golden Gate Park. Here is Shelleey on the arching bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden.






Here's a picture of me, Sandyroo, and CJ in the courtyard of the DeYoung museum (still in Golden Gate Park). Sandyroo is the translator of most or all of the Miyamoto Kano material that Liquid Passion Scanlations puts out. She came along with us because her friend Ashley was busy doing something else. We also brought Zanetta, a woman from Houston whom CJ met at the Houston airport! CJ is a friend magnet.

Try to ignore the really dumb fake smile on my face, please.




Here's a corner of the new DeYoung. It's covered with copper sheeting.



Shots from the DeYoung's sculpture garden:








On Friday night, after the opening ceremonies, we lined up for Bishie Bingo. To get upstairs I rode in the elevator with these three guys and a handsome dude in black leather (I have a picture of him, but it didn't come out well). I was in there with them and one other woman. The black leather guy announced, "Once upon a time there were six people in an elevator, and they had sex!" I was so happy.

I really wanted to bid on these guys at the auction (Snow White was my favorite), but they weren't in it!!!!! Oh my God...



On Saturday, all of went to hear Yamato Nase speak. She spoke in Japanese and used a translator. She was funny and humble, and I think everyone loved her. Several of us got to ask questions. My question was "Which is your favorite work of your own?" I shouted with joy when she said "Chintsubu."

When she spoke she showed us examples of various stages of her work on an overhead projector. This is one of them.



A series of pictures of Sensei signing the chinko (penis) pillows that Shelley made and dressed. Sensei kept one as a gift (the one in the bee costume), and Shelley was so worried about the fact that he was coming apart at the seams. I'm really happy that a few of my pictures came out. I'm including a slightly blurry one, because it shows Sensei's beautiful smile. She was TRULY DELIGHTED to see the chinkos.

I brought a book for her to sign for the lovely warui_futago. Mackie, honey, she looked very pleased to receive your gift. I told her in Japanese that it was from a friend of mine :)













Snow (snowcleo and Eva (hahapages) wore Kimono on Sunday. They were lovely!







I also met Mattie (right), the owner and mod of yamete_uzai, right, and her friend, Deb. yamete_uzai is where I spend a lot of time reading and posting yaoi manga.





On Sunday night, we attended the closing ceremonies. I got to pay for my raffle tickets by stuffing my money down Kakashi's pants, so I couldn't resist having my picture taken with him afterward. I thought I had the goofiest look on my face, but I guess it came out okay. I wasn't thinking about how I looked, but how good Kakashi felt!



This was absolutely my biggest thrill of the whole con...Kakashi-san, you made my weekend!

After the closing ceremonies, CJ, Shelley, Eva, Snow, Ashley, Sandy, and I all went to downtown San Mateo to Aquapazza, and Italian restaurant. They just happened to have a band that night, and we watched some older folks dancing. Aqua Pazza They were fantastic. Here's us:











Well, that'll have to be it for now. Someone wants to hang out with me! :) The rest are of the girls in Japan Town (Nihonmachi)!

It's really a bit late to do this, but it just occurred to me...some of my LJ acquaintances might be attending yaoicon, and I wouldn't know it. (Some definitely are, and I already have plans on meeting them!)

So if you are coming to yaoicon, please comment, and maybe we can meet up! I've had my entry fee paid up for months, and I am SO READY for it!

This is a quote from Alexandragun, my friend and beta. I thought it was an awesome set of guidelines for critiquing writing. I want to make an entry of it so I can refer people to it.

I go to a UT sponsored writing workshop every couple of months, since fluid and fictional writing is not my forte. You see, I'm a biology researcher. Very cut and dry and unsocial.

Anyways, that workshop, it has some very intelligent--not to mention sheer common sense-- rules for critique. Writing this right off a handout, by F.J. Schaack, mind you.

#1) Be positive, even if you think the writing is garbage. Give an encouraging comment, or tell them something you liked about the piece.
#2) Keep criticisms constructive, not overtly critical, and no personal attacks. Make it a suggestion, not a demand. Be kind, writing is personal.
#3) Try not to say something that would cause the writer to go on the defensive. If you upset them, you've failed. They won't listen to what you've got to say, even if your comment has merit.
#4) If one person has given critique over a certain point, find something else to critique, unless you have something Earth-shatteringly new to add.
#5) Don't just critique, give think about and discuss an adequate way to fix the issue.
#6) If you notice any grammatical errors, misspellings, difficult sentences, go ahead and mention them. Makes the author's job a lot easier!
#7) Don't give unsolicited advice. No one will thank you for it.

Oh for crying out loud. I can't make the LJ cut work anymore, and I can't post at YU if I can't make it work, and I'm fit to burst! My heart is full of porny manga that wants to come out!

OK mattie offered to help, only I'd deleted the post already, so I'm gonna do a little experimental one where the cut will fail and I'll send it to her for her to diagnose my idiocy.

 

( Excerpt )

Heheh I found this on a brand new friend's journal.

Entertainment Weekly's list of the top movies of the last 25 years.
Go through their list and BOLD the ones you have seen and underline the ones you own on video or DVD.