Author: Heather Meadows

Apparently the post didn’t go up because I didn’t wait through the menu before I keyed in my menu choice.

So that’s five minutes of my rambling gone forever.

Alas.

I signed up for Audioblogger the other day, and today at lunch I called in and recorded my first entry.

So where is it?

Heck if I know :P

Why is it that when I have plenty of free time, I’m dull and lifeless and completely uncreative, but when I’m extraordinarily busy, I tend to come up with all sorts of creative ideas? (I’m pretty proud of that blog template/layout/feature toolbar I came up with, for example.)

Here lately, an anime music video has leapt almost fully-formed into my head. It happened in the car, because that’s the only place I ever listen to the radio, and the inspiration was a new song.

Today the song came on again, and this time I could almost see the music video. The song is perfect. And the video would express some feelings I’ve had about one of my all-time favorite anime.

The only problems?

I don’t have the source video.

I don’t have the song.

I don’t have video editing software.

I have never made an anime music video before.

;>

I’ve been staring at flowering trees for days (weeks?) and wishing I could get some good pictures, but I haven’t managed to get close to any of them until today. Pictures of my excursion to Riverview Park are up. I also uploaded pictures from yesterday, when I went to the Greeneway.

I keep writing posts in my head while I’m out at lunch, and then not committing them to paper/screen later on. Today I thought I probably ought to set up audioblogger or something. We’ll see.

In any case, let me just recap real quick what I did yesterday and today.

I brought my lunch yesterday, but that didn’t stop me from going to McDonald’s on my break and getting a Filet O’Fish combo meal :> I then took it to the golf course side of the Greeneway.

I chose to wear my new floral high heels (Brooke’s shoes) yesterday, and while they are comfortable, they’re still high heels. So I took them off and walked barefoot down the Greeneway. The warm pavement felt awesome under my feet.

Looking for a place to stop and eat, I considered a trail leading towards the river, and a park bench, but both were too sunny. So I went on until I reached the old metal building sitting along the left-hand side of the Greeneway.

I didn’t stay, but I did look around. Though if walking a short way up the path, finding a trail that runs up next to the outbuilding, following that trail, and eating my lunch on a bed of pine needles counts as staying, then I guess I did stay.

By the way, the strap on my Wal-Mart purse is broken. This occurred shortly after Mari told me that the strap on her Wal-Mart purse had broken. I think she jinxed it. Regardless, I had a lot of fun lugging it and all my other crap around while trying to take pictures.

And that was my lunch yesterday.

Today I decided to go to Wife Saver. I knew there was one in North Augusta, but I wasn’t sure where, so I googled it. When I drove out Martintown to find it, I realized that there are hella restaurants on Martintown Road. I will have to go to Monterrey’s sometime!

My winding journey back into town led me further out Martintown, then back in on some road of which I don’t know the name, and finally to Buena Vista, which I took all the way down to Riverview Park. I hoped to find some flowering trees in the public space, but no such luck. I drove past the place where I usually park and headed back around the baseball field. Finally I felt that I really wanted to eat under the shade of some nice pine trees, even if there weren’t any flowers nearby, so I stopped and carted my lunch over to a bench among the trees.

Unfortunately I wasn’t there long before a bee started buzzing around me. At first I just sat still and waited for him to go away, but after a time it became obvious that he was very interested in the bench beneath me, so I packed up and moved on. The bee nuzzled up under the bench; he must have been a carpenter bee. ;P

I finished my lunch on a set of concrete steps, then wandered around and took a few pictures.

On my way out of the parking lot I realized there was a beautiful flowering tree right across the street.

So, like the obsessive that I am, I left my car idling in the entrance to the parking lot, ran across the street, and took pictures until a truck pulled into the parking lot and I decided I’d better move.

After that, I headed back to the office, narrowly avoiding an accident when I failed to notice a stop sign ;P gj!

All in all, I had a good day. As usual, my lunch excursion was very pleasant, and breathed life into my day. Otherwise, I stayed busy, and I had a project to work on in between newscasts.

I also didn’t get up early and do contract work today, which I think helped me be less tired. But I have plenty of freelance projects I need to finish before I can stop doing that and have a clear conscience, so tomorrow it’s back to the grind.

Nigerian ‘Gbenga Sesan writes about his trip to Atlanta, and his reaction to seeing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s personal effects. It’s a nice piece, and a good reminder that though sometimes it seems like the US is horribly horribly prejudiced, things have changed. (Let’s just hope they can change even more!)

Gasp!

Reuters: Mind your language, Japan PM tells parliamentarian

A question in Japan’s parliament on Wednesday peppered with English financial terms had Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi warning a lawmaker to mind his language.

“Who understands (English) words like ‘compliance’ and ‘governance’?” Koizumi asked the embarrassed opposition questioner.

“Use words that ordinary people can understand,” he said to loud cheers and laughter.

“Some members know English, I’ve studied a bit, but debates shouldn’t be limited to those who understand English. Debates are for everyone.”

X)

Is that scary or what?

I can actually still see the template in my head, and it’s kind of cool. It’s Victorian and very flowery.

In my dream it was on someone else’s blog, and I clicked a button to “apply it to my blog”, which occurred instantly. Wouldn’t that be a neat feature? Maybe blog hosts/software developers could create something to interact with themselves/each other/browsers. Has someone done this already?

One of the best things about my job (did I mention I love my job?) is the fact that it gets really busy right towards the end of the day.

Normally things would be winding down, and I’d be trying desperately to make it through the last few hours of work. But not in this job! In this job, I have stuff to do that lasts pretty much until quittin’ time. That rules.

Usually I go somewhere to eat lunch, but today I just stayed at my desk. No particular reason, really. I microwaved my Healthy Choice Sesame Chicken, then just sat here and ate it. Then I ate most of the rest of my lunch, while reading Book-A-Minute (they never get old). Now I’m just piddling away the last 15 minutes of my lunchbreak.

This morning I got up at 6. I actually woke up at 4:44, and considered getting out of bed, but instead I kind of lay there for the next hour and fifteen minutes, finally getting up just in time to catch my alarm when it went off.

The main thing I worked on this morning was designing a logo. We basically have the idea down, but it’ll take some tweaking to finalize.

Then I came to work, and caught up on the weekend news stories, and did some extra things, and started on a section for Masters coverage.

I’d kind of like to take a nap!

When I stayed in Yatsushiro, our class went on field trips with the IEC college students. One such trip involved climbing 777 steps. It was hard, even given all the exercise I’d gotten on the Japan trip to date. As I was huffing up the stairs, Kuni, one of the girls, told me to ganbatte, and when I stopped to recuperate she pressed a tiny Hello Kitty figurine into my hand and told me to concentrate on Kitty-chan, and I could do it.

I finally did make it up those steps.

On one of our last days in town, Brandon and I visited the children’s store where my host sister worked. I didn’t get a picture of him, but there was a little boy at the shop, maybe the child or grandchild of the proprietess. He seemed shy…so I unzipped my backpack and pulled out the treasured Kitty-chan figurine.

I can’t remember if I said hai, kore or douzo, but I gave the figure to the boy, and he smiled. Everyone seemed to think that was the perfect thing for me to do.

But as you’ll note from the picture caption, I always sort of regretted giving that toy away, because of the memories associated with it.

This morning as I was driving in to 2go-Box, I suddenly thought that I don’t regret giving Kitty-chan to the little boy anymore. After all, what point would there have been in my keeping it? It would just be gone now, with all the rest of my stuff.

Funny how one’s perspective can change.

I don’t know why major news outlets think this is big news, or why I think it’s big news, but there you have it.

Reuters: Japan’s child princess gets taste of Disney

Mainichi: Crown prince, princess take Princess Aiko to Tokyo Disney Resort

I was interested to see Princess Masako in these pictures. She’s looking well.

Look at that coat Princess Aiko is wearing! Isn’t it adorable?

I don’t know why, but Crown Prince Naruhito cracks me up. “Hi, I’m the next emperor of Japan! Like my burgundy jacket?”

In a burst of ecstatic shopping, I have acquired quite a few of the things on my list for the apartment. I’m pretty much set on kitchen stuff (though it occurred to me belatedly that I also need kitchen towels and washrags). I didn’t get the glass bakeware yet because I have a weird feeling like I already have some. It’s probably all in my head, but just to be safe I’m going to wait until I’ve unpacked everything.

I met up with Mari, Bonnie (Mari’s mother), and Brooke at Hair Cuttery, where Mari was having her hair done. After that was finished we went and had a late lunch at the cajun place in the food court–it was so good. I had the bourbon chicken.

We checked out Payless in the mall, and I found some absolutely beautiful high heeled sandals. They fit perfectly and were easy to walk in. I was so ecstatic that I refused to take them off until I showed them to Brooke.

“Look at these shoes!” I said.

“Yeah, I have those,” she said.

“They’re so pretty!” I said, not quite comprehending.

“Yeah, those are the ones Dorothy was trying on at my house that one time, that I bought thinking I’d wear them to the opera.”

Thud. I’ve done it again! When I was in college, my roommate bought a dress, and I advised her on the color. Then I later bought the same dress without realizing it, in the other color, and she accused me of doing it on purpose.

“Are you going to get them?”

“Oh…I don’t want to like wear the same shoes as you and outshine you or something,” I said (because despite my very real concern, I can’t help ribbing Brooke. It comes as naturally to me as breathing).

“Don’t worry girl, you could never outshine me,” she responded, and that was that. I bought the shoes ;>

After a quick stop at American Cookie Company (because apparently such a stop is required by law), and then a visit to Brooke’s mom at Macy’s, we headed over to Target. I mainly just wanted to eyeball their furniture to get an idea of what I might want for the living room and bedroom, but we also perused the purses and the exercise equipment.

When I realized it was 5:15, I headed over to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Since I had a gift card (thanks to the generosity of a previous employer), that was where I wanted to do the majority of my shopping, and I was afraid that it would close at 6. (It actually closed at 7.) Mari and her entourage stuck around at Target, looking at shoes (I think).

It turned out that I hadn’t thought of everything I would need. I got some ceramic containers for dry goods, a scrub brush for doing dishes, and a potato peeler. From the list, I got glasses (a nice set of rounded-square glasses with an intentionally non-flat bottom–the “flaw” intrigued me), a cutting board, wooden spoons, spatulas, and a lovely wok, complete with lid and complimentary bamboo steamer. (The first wok I saw was $100. I’m not insane. This one was a far more reasonable $35.)

I saw a couple of other things I wanted–a dish drainer and a beautiful tea kettle–but I decided to wait on the drainer until I knew the dimensions of my counter, and on the kettle because it’s not a necessity.

While I was shopping, Brooke called to say that they were heading to the nearby Payless, so when I was finished I met up with them. Brooke and Mari both bought a zillion shoes.

Then we decided to go to Michael’s; Mari wanted to look for some flowers and feathers for a spring wreath she was making for her house, and I doubt Brooke would ever turn down a chance to go to Michael’s. She even used to work there. So we headed over.

At first I just observed their shopping, and vainly attempted to slake my all-consuming thirst at the water fountain, but after awhile I decided to indulge in a few unnecessary things: two candles, a candle holder, and a decorative box. When I showed them to Brooke, she was like, “Do you need that?”

Which is funny, because usually she’s the one who says, “Go on, buy it, girl!”

I think we decided it was a case of sour grapes, though ;> Since she’s moving to England next year, she can’t buy decorating stuff anymore. (Well, “can’t” isn’t the right word. It’s more like she decided it wasn’t prudent to keep buying a bunch of stuff until she’s there, in England, with a better idea of what she has to work with. Which makes a lot of sense. But it has to be annoying. I mean, all three of us–me, Mari, and Brooke–are the type who like to organize and plan and design and decorate. Brooke probably feels like her hands are tied. …just like how I’ve felt these past six months!)

So finally the store closed and we checked out, and Mari and her mom headed out their own way and I drove Brooke back to her car. It had been a long day already, and my feet were killing me…but I still had to get groceries!

So I went to Wal-Mart in Evans. In addition to the typical grocery stuff, I got two shower curtains, two sets of shower curtain hooks, and two “allergy reducing” pillows. Now we will be able to bathe and sleep in our apartment! Yay!

It was a really fun day. I’m so glad to have this much of my shopping out of the way, since I don’t have a lot of time left to do it. As you know, next weekend is the Washington roadtrip, and the weekend after that is the move…and I work until 7 pm, and right now I’m doing contract work in the morning before work. So really my weekdays are full, because when I get home all I want to do is sit around online for a bit and then go to sleep. (Thursday, the bridesmaid dress thing, is going to be interesting.)

I think I can wait to get the rest of the little items until we’re moved in and I have a better idea of a decorating style. The kitchen stuff I bought today is all shiny silver metal and black–I don’t like brushed aluminum/whatever anymore because it’s so ugly when fingerprints get on it. Plus, my new pots and pans are shiny. So that’ll be my general theme, and then I’ll add splashes of color here and there. I have no idea about the rest of the rooms, but I imagine a lot will depend on what the furniture we’re getting looks like.

Whee, plans…so much to do…

I’m so happy right now :)

………….

Have you seen the Prince of Tennis movie?

O…M…F…G!!!!

About the point where Tezuka Zone caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, I literally could not get my mouth to close.

And then it got ridiculous!

Just…wow.

Remember how poor Gutsy Radish was decapitated? Well, apparently

Radishes sprouting up in unusual places have been reported all over Japan

and now there’s a Gutsy Radish copycat in Tokyo.

The radish, which measures about 4 centimeters in diameter, apparently started growing under the asphalt and pushed up the wooden lid of a ditch as it got bigger. Its leaves span the width of a human hand and the radish can been seen from the road.

They’re coming.

They’re coming for us all.

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean today for the first time. What a fun movie! I didn’t know anything about the plot, so I had no idea what to expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jack Sparrow–excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow–is such a cool character. When the movie first came out I saw some promo pictures, and all I could think was that he looked a little weird, what with the mascara. But in the movie it works! (What is it with Johnny Depp and makeup?)

Keira Knightley is purdy.

And the music is pretty good. I hadn’t heard of Klaus Badelt before. Based solely on the driving theme of the ships (and the fact that Disney used him for The Lion King), I guessed Hans Zimmer. I was wrong!

I do agree with Mari that the corset aspects of the plot were pretty stupid. I guess they would be cute and funny if you didn’t know anything about corsets.

The IMDb has some fun facts about the movie.