I still wanted to get the air con, so I called up a Japanese friend of mine to see if he could help me out. He was a little busy but could help me in the early evening. So I watched a video and then took a nap. After the nap, I headed downtown to do a little window shopping. I was wandering around downtown when he called and said he could meet. We went to the electronics store closest to downtown, which was good because my experience at the other one was tainted. Once there we both looked at the various models and in a relatively short time someone came to help us out. The sales dude needed to know detailed info about my apt. I answered what I could, and asked my friend for assistance on the ones I didn't get. We finished the questionnaire and set an appointment for installation. The air con I selected wasn't in stock, so I have to wait until the 18th for the install. No prob, I just don't want to have to come back here to take care of this anymore.

So not that the store did anything spectacular for this to be an unfu*k japan moment, but my friend really did me a favor. (oh and my gf was busy today, so that's why she couldn't help out with this one. Besides, I don't want to have to depend on her for everything. I was hoping to do this one solo. Oh well.)

After that, I treated him to dinner where we talked about how crappy Transformers 2 was. Then we also got into a discussion about other things we'd like to see in live-action form. I mentioned that I'd like to see a live-action Macross, Yamato, Record of Lodoss War, and Area 88. He mentioned some obscure 70s/early 80s stuff which I didn't really know by name. From his descriptions I could picture the shows, but I didn't get the names. He told me how crappy the Dragonball live-action movie was and I told him that the Speed Racer live-action was actually pretty good.

My first cup of coffee today, as usual, was regular drip coffee from the coffee maker. I went for a second cup, but it was all gone. (;_;) We have hot coffee in the vending machine though. I looked over the various types, and they're all pretty much either too milky/sweet/gimmicky for my taste. I decided to try something different. I bought a can of hot black coffee, took it back to the teacher's kitchen and added sugar/milk to my taste. I got the sugar/milk ratio right, but the coffee itself was just not as robust as our regular brew. Still, it did taste better than the other varieties available in the machine. Of course I'd rather have the regular stuff, but in a pinch this will do.

I bought my ticket home for the winter break last night. $1300, ouch. I was feeling kinda beat from the weekend too, so I skipped out on the gym. I cleaned my apt a bit and watched more Detroit Metal City. I love this show. It's been a while, but I finally have an anime I can really geek out to again. Now I need to get some anime goods.

Classes today have been awesome. The 1st graders are *way* ahead of where I thought they'd be. They completely manhandled the worksheet I made for them today. Looks like they're ready for more challenging stuff. (^_^) Sad thing is, the 3rd graders have dropped off so much that they might have trouble completing the same worksheet. (;_;) I seriously have to wonder what the hell happened while I was gone (when they were in 2nd grade). The teachers I work with seem competent enough. The kids were so awesome in the 1st grade. At that time they were at least as good as my current batch of 1st graders, if not better. Now not only is their level down, but their attitude as well. At least, if anything it's keeping me on my toes though. If I could just come in and rely on my old bag of tricks, it would be too easy. This way, I have to keep pushing myself to make more effective lessons.

So I went to Tsutaya after work to get a video membership. I filled out the form, but forgot my cell phone number and forgot to bring my cell phone. DOH! Fortunately, the lady said that I could use my work phone number temporarily and update it to my cell phone number when I come in next time. I took a look around the store, it's probably the smallest Tsutaya I've ever been in. All of their DVD categories (including the *ahem* "mosaic" ones) were pretty thin. They had a decent CD section though. I may have to try out the Tsutaya Online thingy - supposedly it's like Netflix. That would be pretty cool. Netflix is awesome.

Speaking of Netflix, that reminds me. I saw the USA release DVD of Orguss 02 via Netflix before I left. The show itself is awesome, but the quality of the US release was crap. The subs were terrible. Moreover, it looks/sounds like they mastered it from an old vhs tape they had lying around the office. I gotta find this here in Japan. Did it even get a DVD release? I bought a few of the LDs for Wilson a while back. I should find out which ones he's missing just in case. Then we could re-master it to DVD as some sort of ultimate fanboy edition or something.

Since I've got to buy a good deal of stuff for the apartment this month, I've decided to cut back on the alcohol & snacks. It's not really saving me that much money, but every little bit helps. I need to do cut back on the calories to get back into shape as well. The bike riding is pretty good. Even if it is rather lightweight stuff, it's better than nothing. Speaking of bike riding, I went back to that second-hand goods shop to see if there's anything else I need. They had a couple microwave/convection oven combos that looked good and some rice cookers as well. They had some good furniture, but I doubt any of it would work in my apartment except for maybe a few items. Anyway, I guess I'll wait until some more bills come in to decide what else, if anything I'll get before the next payday. Oh and on the way home I found another onsen! This one is more like a public bath actually, but I may try it out someday nonetheless. I do want to try that one by the mall. One of my co-workers said it's pretty good.

Not much else is going on. I was going to watch a video, but I made a mess tearing through all my EMobile stuff trying to get it to work again. I've got papers and manuals all over my apartment. I need to get that stuff back in order again. After that, I may just watch a TV episode of something (either anime or dorama) then go to bed.

This is the City Hunter 1st OP. It takes a while to load due to the 1337 nature of getting such a high quality vid on youtube. Wait for it, you will be amazed.



I see that there are a lot of these high quality videos out on youtube. Interesting...

The Japanese Animation Club of Tallahassee (aka JACT)

It looks like the anime club my friends and I started at FSU is still alive and kicking. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in having a JACT reunion. I figure demetra_ai, oogami, stormd, myself, my brother, and Defiler would practically be the inner cadre. Soup is back in Orlando, Swatson is in Miami - I'm pretty sure we could talk those guys into coming up. Who am I forgetting? According to demetra_ai, they're having a con in April. Anyone game?