Category: general

I have been tagged by Miss Em! I am compelled to take a survey!

(Okay, fine, so it doesn’t really take much compelling…)

1a. What year did you first start using e-mail (on a daily basis)?
…I’m not sure, but it was somewhere around the time I got into BBSes. So I will guess 1994.

1b. What year did you first start using a cell phone?
2003. Hahahahaha!

1c. What is the ring-tone on your cell phone?
The default ring. Someday, when I have a phone that supports ringtones, I will put music from Kyou Kara Maou on there. Haven’t decided what yet–the opening theme is appealing because it’ll get my attention quickly, but it might be nice to use Conrad’s Theme…

2. From where you are answering this, can you see out a window? If so, what do you see?
No, my chair is actually facing away from the window (it’s feng shui to be facing the doorway, so that’s how I arranged the office), and anyway the blinds are closed ;> If they were open and I was turning around, I would see the pond, ducks, and trees, because our view rules.

3a. What one physical characteristic would you change about yourself?
I want to be in shape. Not “thin”, but healthy. Good muscle mass, not too much fat.

3b. What one personality trait would you change about yourself?
I don’t know…it’s taken me so long to figure out my personality as it is. I’m not sure how I would deal with myself if I changed something. Even the stereotypically bad stuff, like my temper, comes from good places, places that are me. And I dunno, I kinda like me.

3c. Thing you like about yourself the most?
My desire to experience and love the world.

4a. Favorite spectator sport?
Videogames!

4b. Favorite team and/or player in that sport?
My brother AJ, playing Link in any Zelda game.

4c. Professional sports team and/or player you would most enjoy seeing crushed in defeat?
The bad guys in any Zelda game. Or, anyone playing against me in a racing game. But that’s not really in the realm of “spectator” anymore…

5a. Favorite bumper sticker saying?
I don’t really like bumper stickers; they mess up the sleek look of cars. I used to get bumper stickers and putty them to my walls instead of putting them on my car. However, of late I just think bumper stickers are snarky without being clever.

5b. Bumper sticker saying that really pisses you off?
Anything talking about how the owner of the vehicle is a “Princess”, or is “Spoiled”. Because, I mean, why advertise those things?

6a. Do you believe in astrology?
I think the idea is interesting, but given that we don’t know so much about what astronomical bodies are out there, it seems unlikely that we could come to any accurate predictions–even assuming the fundamental theory, that we can read and interpret causality in the universe, is sound.

6b. Do you believe in extra-sensory perception of any kind?
Sort of; I think our brains have senses that we haven’t detected/developed yet.

6c. Do you believe in ghosts?
Not really, because I feel like they were invented to explain inexplicable events in the past, or to help people deal with death. However, I do believe that people are sensing something when they think they see ghosts. Maybe they are ghosts. All I know is, I’ve never seen one or experienced anything that seemed supernatural.

6d. Do you believe in God?
See this post.

6e. If you answered “No” to 6a, 6b, and 6c, and “Yes” to 6d, please explain.
n/a

7a. Favorite movie ever?
I dunno. There was a time in my life when I’d put The Empire Strikes Back down for this question without thinking, but meh. Forrest Gump really had an impact on me. I love The Fifth Element, too. I think, though, that my tastes are geared more towards series than films.

7b. Funniest movie ever?
I’m sitting here trying to think of a movie that makes me laugh out loud and that I would watch right now…and all that’s coming to mind is Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

7c. Scariest movie ever?
I hate scary movies. I don’t like the tension, and the plots are usually stupid (in my opinion). Like, oooh, a spaceship that went to Hell! Anyway, I tend to avoid scary things. I do watch thrillers occasionally, but those aren’t all that scary. The movie that actually scared me, so that I screamed out loud at the very end, was Carrie. But to be fair, I didn’t watch the whole thing…

7d. Worst movie you’ve ever watched in its entirety?
Well, as you might be able to tell from the previous question, I hated Event Horizon…Ben liked it, though, and he’s into that stuff, so maybe that’s not a fair assessment. I’m gonna go with You’ve Got Mail. That movie was pretty stupid.

8. If you were appointed Supreme Dictator of the United States for a day, what one thing would you outlaw? (Note: None of this “I’m not that type of person” crap. Indulge yourself.)
Now, see, this is hard, because I want to say “intolerance”, but there are caveats. I would prefer that everyone be intolerant of murder and rape, for example.

9. Are you happy?
Right now? I have a headache ;_; But in general, yes, I’m content. There are things I want and need, but I’m not distressed to a crippling degree over them.

10a. How many foreign languages are you fluent in?
None. I’m working on Japanese, though.

10b. How many computer languages are you fluent in?
I used to know BASIC (the original), Pascal, and FORTRAN. Nowadays I cobble together HTML, PHP, CSS, and JavaScript with the help of the Web.

11a. What was your major when you entered college?
Aerospace Engineering (stop laughing, please)

11b. And what was it when you graduated?
Linguistics, and English (two degrees–not a double major)

11c. And what would it be if you could do it all over again?
I’d do the same thing, only I’d spend more time studying Japanese, and tack on a Japanese or Japan Studies degree. (Japan Studies ended up being my minor.)

11d. And if you were to go back to school now strictly for pleasure/self-improvement?
I’ve been thinking about an MBA. I’d also like a PhD in Linguistics someday. If I went back to school now, though, I would really just take self-improvement classes like photography and more Japanese language. I’m also interested in studying Arabic.

12a. What one thing about George Bush do you loathe more than anything else?
I don’t really loathe anything about him–the one thing that bothers me to a certain degree is also the thing that makes me trust him, and that is his manner of speech.

12b. Member of the Bush Administration you actually think is evil (as opposed to merely stupid, incompetent, wrong-headed or short-sighted)?
Umm…

13. Do you “share” music with your friends, and if so do you feel guilty about it?
Yes, and no, but my loophole is that the music isn’t licensed/released/whatever in the US.

14. Favorite comic strip?
At this point, I’m gonna go with Girl Genius–it’s the one I most look forward to reading. (I’m reading Girl Genius 101, because I never followed the original comics.) My long-term favorite, Sluggy, is kind of laggy lately. Right now, I would rank Penny Arcade above it.

15a. Do you consider yourself romantic?
To a degree. I can find romance, and I do nice things for my husband, and I enjoy romantic movies (to an extent, depending on my mood). But I’m also a realist and a control freak, and my husband isn’t romantic at all, so our lives don’t really include champagne and roses.

15b. Have you found your One True Love?
Yup :)

15c. Do you use cute nicknames for each other?
I don’t know if they’re cute. He calls me “Babydoll” and “Babe”, and I call him “Honey”, “Dear”, “Sweetie”, “Dearest”, “Snugglewumpus”…okay so my names get a little ridiculous…

15d. If so, what are… No, scratch that. Move along.
Ha! I already volunteered that information!

16. Ever owned an “exotic” pet, and if so what was it?
No, but I had a friend who had lizards and snakes once. I think.

17. Physically-grueling activities: Love ’em or hate ’em?
They’re great…when you’re done. It’s such a rush and an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

18. Have you ever gotten a Letter to the Editor published? If so, what was it about?
No, I don’t think so. I wrote to TV Guide once, concerning ABC’s Saturday morning lineup (they’d bumped ReBoot for some stupid show I didn’t care about, Xenogears or something), but all they did was write back that they have no control over ABC’s programming decisions. My letter didn’t get published ;>

19. Would you say you’re competitive? Feel free to elaborate.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I’m so competitive that often I won’t participate because there’s the chance I might not win. Maybe this is something I should want to change about my personality…

(Actually, I do want to change it, but not with a snap of my fingers. I’m trying to work on it.)

20. As a percentage, how much of what you’ve achieved in life would you say is due to “dumb luck” (e.g. where you were born, who your parents were, random chance, connections you’ve made with people, etc.) versus hard work, careful planning, and determination? Please round to the nearest 10th percentile.
I have no idea. I wasn’t in a “privileged class”, growing up, but my mom carefully planned to give us experiences and education that would help us in life. So I would say that much of what I’ve achieved is due to my mother’s hard work. Most of my choices have been made based on the circumstances of my life, rather than any long-term planning of my own, but I can’t really say that I’ve achieved a whole lot that way. So I guess we can say 90% dumb luck because of who my mom is?

21. What actor/actress would you want to play you in the Movie of Your Life?
When asked this question in my Human Sexuality in Cross Cultural Perspective class, I said Jodie Foster. I still like her, but she’s getting kind of old to play me. What they should really do is animate my life. Oh bah, I could be here all day trying to pick a good voice actress for myself. Next question…

22. Favorite philosopher?
I haven’t really studied philosophy, so I don’t know. I’ll go with Em’s answer and say MYSELF, because I do like to harp and speculate quite a bit.

23a. What is the most enjoyable job you’ve ever had?
My job at 2go-Box, because I did all kinds of different things. It was also my most frustrating job, however. I never knew where I stood or where I was going, and though my opinions were welcomed, I felt that I couldn’t really make a difference where it counted.

23b. Putting aside talent, training, compensation, and any other practical consideration, what job would you most like to have?
Wife of a billionaire. ;P Seriously, I don’t know what my ideal job is. It would have to be something where I could do different things a lot. I hate being bored, and I love being challenged. Some days I’m just in the mood to do mindless, menial labor, but other days I need something I can really sink my teeth into. I have yet to figure out what job is like this.

23c. OK, now taking all the practical stuff back into account, what job do you wish you could have?
Owner of a business–I love being in charge of things, I’m good at organizing, I know when to delegate, and I think guiding a company would appeal to my hates-being-bored personality.

23d. If you won Powerball, would you continue to work any kind of regular job?
Not a regular job, no…but I would have to do something with myself. I’d write, travel, take pictures, work on my website…and I’d invest in things, and start my own business.

24. Biggest phobia?
Someone I love being hurt/dying. (If that doesn’t count as a “phobia”, then change my answer to “cockroaches”.)

25a. How often do you worry about death?
My own death? Usually only when I’m in a dangerous situation. Other people’s deaths? I’m not sure…the thought will occur to me if someone’s late arriving somewhere, or just randomly when I’m thinking about a person. Sometimes a news story about something horrible happening to someone will make me worry that it could happen to someone I love.

25b. What’s the closest you’ve ever come to dying?
That fever when I had cancer was the closest, I suppose. I was pretty sick.

25c. If you could be immortal, would you want to be? (Note: If you answered “Yes” to 15b, assume that person could be immortal with you.)
I think I would be like Nicolas Flamel. I’d be “immortal” for awhile, but after a time I’d get tired of it, and want to “go to bed after a very long day”. Ultimately, mortality is part of the human experience…it’s too surreal to keep going and going and watching everyone around you grow old and die. While there is so much to experience out there–too much to ever see in one lifetime–would the cost, family and friends, be worth it?

26. What period in history would you most like to visit?
The Heian Period in Japan. I find the whole courtier lifestyle very appealing, what with the arts and poetry and such. Of course, I don’t think I would want to be a peasant during that time. ;P

27a. Do you think we’ll ever achieve interstellar travel?
Yeah, we’ll figure something out eventually. Probably not in my lifetime, given the sorry state of the space program, and the fact that we have plenty of other things to worry about, like terrorism, injustice, and world hunger.

27b. If you could travel in space, even if it were “just” to a Moon base, e.g., would you go?
Yup!

28. Name someone of your own gender that you consider “hot”. (Note: Answering this does not mean you’re gay, although feeling intense discomfort about answering it might. Oh, and if you are gay, name someone of the opposite gender you consider “hot”.)
Too…many…answers…I’m attracted to both sexes, so this question’s point is lost on me.

29. Book(s) you’ve tried to read but just couldn’t get through that you still plan to read?
Master and Commander

30a. Favorite alcholic beverage?
I don’t drink, so I have no idea. I liked the taste of cold sake when I tried it, and how it went down kinda rough.

30b. How often do you drink alcoholic beverages?
Never :) I can count on one hand the times I’ve had a drink, and for each of those times it was only a sip.

31a. Do you enjoy taking surveys?
Very much so. I love talking about myself. I mean…I have a blog, for goodness’ sake.

31b. Are you pissed off that I said this was going to be 40 questions and, including sub-questions, we’re already at, like, 52?
Actually, wherever it said there were 40 questions was mysteriously absent on Miss Em’s page, so I didn’t know how many questions there were supposed to be until I read her answers. However, if you’re asking if I’m the type of person who is annoyed by inconsistency, then yes. Yes, I am.

32. How many of the 50 states have you been to? (Note: For purposes of this question, “been to” can include driving through on the highway, but it cannot include airport stop-overs where you did not leave the airport.)
16, apparently

33. Person you’d most like to have a beer with (excluding friends/family)?
Again, I don’t drink–but if I could meet anyone in the world and hang out with them, I’d kind of like it to be Junichiro Koizumi, because he is so cool. (Plus, he’s the sexiest 60-something-year-old man in the world.)

34. Person you’d most like to punch in the mouth?
Why can’t we all just get along? Violence is not the answer! Okay, seriously: Osama bin Laden.

35a. Describe your style of driving.
Attentive, relaxed, and usually a little too fast

35b. If you could have any car in the world — for daily use, not a “trophy” car — what would it be?
Mazda’s “The Slut”!!!!!!! Okay, honestly, I don’t know–I don’t want an SUV, those things kill the planet and are way too big and impossible to park, and I don’t want a van for similar reasons (and also because they’re dorky). Trucks are okay, but nothing too big. I’d prefer a four-door so I could cart people around comfortably, but I want the car to be relatively small (and cute).

36. Your Myers-Briggs personality type?
I was an INFP back in high school. I took the test more recently (maybe even this year), but I don’t remember what I scored.

37. Favorite color? Explain.
It always used to be blue, but now I really like pastel pink. I’m such a girl. I don’t know, I’m really into cute lately.

38. Favorite season/location combination?
Oohh, this is hard. Right now I’m thinking fall, in Central Kentucky, but really, there are so many beautiful places…

39. Do It Yourself or Hire A Professional?
It really depends on the job. There are some jobs I would much rather give to someone else, like dishes and laundry. Anything that is recurring and repetitive. But projects…those can be fun! For instance, I would love to try building a deck, or installing an outdoor kitchen.

40. It’s Friday afternoon, almost quittin’ time. Can’t wait to get home so you can _____.
For the sake of this exercise, I’ll pretend this applies to me. Here’s how I finish that sentence:

…hop on the computer to see if anyone’s released the next episodes of my favorite anime, or if there are any new comments on my blog. Yes, I am that sad. I also love hugging my husband, a lot, so I would indulge in that. I would not be looking forward to making dinner, however (cooking is one of those recurring, repetitive things).

Brooke and I went walking at the Greeneway. It was a totally gorgeous day, but by the time we reached the end of the trail, grey clouds were rolling in, and a “rain breeze” was picking up. Eventually it did start to rain on us, and while the trees provided some measure of cover, we were thoroughly soaked by the time we finally stumbled out to the parking lot.

It was a good workout, and the rain cooled us off. I’m glad we went.

I could stand to be dryer, though.

Why do you have to be in my apartment?!

Dan Hiri Weller was an advocate of the rights of children of interracial (human/Mazoku) marriage, and he founded the Nameless City in Shin Makoku where they all lived as refugees. (I only vaguely knew what he was up to before, but episode 47 elucidated his past.) Of course, he has a special interest in this because of his son, but it seemed that he was also driven by the need to make his mark in the world. So, this could be another reason why the Shinou wanted Cecilie to be Maou. Their marriage was one of many steps along the road to peace between humans and Mazoku. (Many, many steps…)

So it could be that peace is what the Shinou wants after all. Maybe the Shinou, like Yuuri, is an idealist, and that’s why the Great Sage is there for both of them, to temper that idealism with reality. And maybe the Shinou was just trying to help Yuuri to be realistic, and so Murata had to go the other way in order to bring everything back to balance.

It’s all speculation, really…there’s kind of an eerie, almost evil aura in the Shinou’s temple, but other than that, and Murata’s offhanded comments (like, “He changes his mind a lot”), we don’t really know anything about him.

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!

Last night I had this dream that somehow combined Kyou Kara Maou with Disney’s Gargoyles. I was Elisa, except that somehow I was a newspaper reporter instead of a cop. We were picking up where Gargoyles left off, except since I never saw the end of Gargoyles (I stopped watching when it started getting all mystical), I guess my subconscious was making stuff up. In my dream history, the Gargoyles had all left for another dimension through a stone archway. I ended up changing that history by asking Goliath to stay and go to prison–he’d been sentenced, and that’s why they were fleeing, and I wanted to clear his name and get Gargoyles and humans to be able to work together. He wasn’t really all that into it, but he loved me and was willing to give my plan a shot.

So I led him to jail and he went in peacefully, and I was thinking that it was just like that episode of Lois and Clark where Superman went to prison–he could have escaped easily, but he chose to be in there to validate the system. So noble! Then I retrieved a stack of letters that had been written and preaddressed that I needed to send to people who might be sympathetic to our cause. The letters had been prepared by someone on orders of the Shinou (here’s where Kyou Kara Maou comes in). I was getting ready to take them out and mail them, and then go home and write an article for the paper that would run the day after the people received their letters, when this woman came along who I had to schmooze. I let her take the letters, reluctantly, because I knew she would trust me if I did. I wasn’t sure if she would actually put them in the mail though; I was worried. The guy I was working with showed up and asked for a key, and I realized that the key was in a packet of stuff bundled with the letters. The woman came out and said “If you need that key, you’ll have to ask me,” and dramatically handed it over, like she was very proud to have it. The guy looked at me as if I’d betrayed him, and I felt stupid.

Later, the woman kept coming on to me, and I really wasn’t into that, but I couldn’t protest or she’d get suspicious.

At some point I was talking to the guy about the Shinou, and I said, “Don’t you wonder sometimes about his real motivations?” The guy seemed reluctant to respond. Everyone in the dream who had orders from the Shinou followed them without question (like the girl in episode 46).

So this dream sort of crystallized my thoughts about the Shinou, and now I think I’ve come to a realization. To illustrate it, let me go through what we know about his activities:

Thousands(?) of years ago, the man who would become the Shinou (literally “new king”, I believe Great/Imperial King) worked with the man who would become the Great Sage to stop someone from destroying the world. Together, they sealed this person’s powers into four separate boxes. Each box could only be opened with a key, and each key was carried by a person in a family line trusted by the two men. The houses of Weller (left arm) and Brischella von Walde (left eye) were chosen. At this point, I don’t think we know the other two keys. (These keys can apparently only be controlled by their owners, or by someone who is compelling them via the Wincott poison.)

After the battle was finally over, the Shinou gathered up all the people with natural magical abilities (demon powers) and founded a nation for them, called Shin Makoku (New Great/Imperial Demon Country). He became the first Maou (Demon King). The Shinou established Ketsumei-jo (Blood Pledge Castle) as the “perfect” fortress, the pledge being that the Maou would protect the people and that the castle would only obey the Maou.

At some point, the Shinou’s temple was established in the mountains just beyond Ketsumei-jo, and the Miko (priestesses) were installed there to listen to the will of the Shinou, who inhabited the temple after his death. The Genshi Miko (Original? Maiden), the most honored of the miko and the one who communicates directly with the Shinou, has apparently always been frozen at a young age (there have been at least two of them); she uses a crystal ball with which to communicate with the Shinou and to see what’s happening in the world around her. The priestesses are forbidden to ever leave the temple.

At some point, presumably ~800 years ago (when Ulrike became the Genshi Miko), the Genshi Miko Ondine is commanded by the Shinou to leave the temple and live in a magical oasis near what was once dead terrain. Her sole purpose at this point is to coerce Shibuya Yuuri to drink magically charged water from the lake, thus creating a pact between him and the water element. (In order to use Majutsu, or demon powers, Mazoku must form a pact with an element. Their abilities are therefore more “natural” than those of regular humans, who build shrines and pray to their gods for powers.) Ondine waits for her time to come, and as she does she fosters a community in the forest, taking care of the people, animals, and plants there.

A few hundred years before the present time, the ancestor of Dai Shimaron’s King Belal attacks the Weller family and attempts to take the left arm of the head of the family. Weller severs his own arm and hurls it into the sea, pledging it back to the Shinou. The arm disappears once it is underwater; the Shinou has taken it back. The head of the Weller household is killed, and his son is taken in by King Belal’s ancestor. In future generations, the Wellers become wards of this human king’s line, so that their former status in Shin Makoku is lost to history.

Somewhere along the line, in the distant past, but after Ondine is installed at the magic lake, [not necessarily!] a box, very likely The Mirror at the Bottom of the Sea, is sent to “another world” through a portal in the sky. My thinking is that the Shinou did the sending, and that the “other world” is Yuuri’s Earth.

In the more recent past, the Shinou selects Cecilie von Spitzberg as the next Maou. It is later revealed that his sole purpose for this is so that she can meet and marry Dan Hiri Weller. It’s not much of a stretch to conclude that the purpose of this is to produce the key for one of the boxes (Conrad).

20 years ago, war broke out between Shin Makoku and the humans, due at least partly to Cecilie’s impotent leadership, and her brother Stoffel’s ineptitude. Anti-human prejudice is thick in the people of Shin Makoku, and this causes anyone with human blood, including Conrad and Yozak, to attempt to prove themselves by going to the front lines. Of their unit, Conrad and Yozak are the only survivors, and Conrad’s valor earns him the title of “Rutenberg Patriot”. Despite the heavy losses, they were successful in warding off what could have been a devastating human attack. Fueled by anger and jealousy that a human contingent did so much for Shin Makoku, Geigen Huber Brischella leads his own contingent deep into enemy lines. His attack isn’t successful at all and costs many lives. Conrad’s “special” person, and the fiancee of nobleman Adelbert von Gratz, Susanna Julia von Wincott, dies when she uses too much Majutsu helping the wounded. Adelbert decides that the Mazoku leadership is incompetent and defects.

Upon Before Julia’s death, the Shinou tells her he has chosen her spirit to be reincarnated as the next Maou. Julia agrees to this fully, and this is why she recklessly uses up all her Majutsu helping the injured. Additionally, she has no regrets whatsoever about her decisions in life, and this results in her spirit forming a perfect white sphere.

The Shinou tasks Conrad with taking Julia’s soul to Earth to be implanted in the child of a Mazoku man and human woman there, as Julia wished for him to be the one to do it.

For the new Maou’s father, the Shinou chooses Shibuya Shouma. The Shibuyas have been important somehow in Earth’s Mazoku hierarchy; Earth’s Maou, Bob, has worked with them long before present occurrences, and even chooses Shouma’s first son, Shori, to be his own successor.

In the present, the Shinou gives Conrad the arm of his ancient ancestor, in exchange for the vow to leave Yuuri’s side. Conrad accepts. Yuuri, however, does not accept this, and ultimately it’s Murata Ken, the Great Sage, who causes Conrad to return. In conversation with the Shinou, Murata says, “I know this isn’t the way you wanted it, but this is better, I think.” The implication is that the Shinou wanted Yuuri and Conrad permanently separated. It’s already been mentioned that bad things happen to those who don’t obey the Shinou. Things might be different for the Great Sage, however; obviously the Shinou himself anticipated his return, because Ondine knew it would happen. The question is whether or not the Shinou anticipated Murata’s interference with his plans.

So. Ultimately, the Shinou has been molding Yuuri’s rule for thousands of years. He’s been carefully putting the pieces into place; the question is, what is he trying to build? He was willing to sacrifice thousands of his people in a pointless war in order to ensure Conrad’s birth (perhaps he couldn’t have foreseen that Cecilie’s rule would bring about war, but at the very least he knew he was installing a Maou who wasn’t suited to rule). He carefully took away one of the four boxes so that the humans couldn’t get them all before Yuuri did. He arranged for Yuuri to make a powerful pact with the water element. He chose Yuuri, son of a “noble” Mazoku family who perhaps came with innate talents of his own. He chose Julia, whose entire life was an act of love and self-sacrifice. He may possibly have been the one who arranged for the implantation of the Great Sage (“Christine” in his most recent life) into Murata–obviously Bob was involved there, at least.

It seems that he was preparing for a time when all the boxes and all the keys would be available. He wanted the Great Sage there, because who better to handle them than the one who’d created them? He wanted a Maou with extraordinary powers unlike any his people had seen in ages (perhaps since himself). And yet–he wanted his Maou to be sensitive, and he wanted him to be betrayed by the very person who was in star-crossed love with his soul.

What is the purpose of this?

Was the betrayal purely an exercise in maturity for Yuuri, or was there something more sinister there? Did the Shinou hope to break Yuuri, to unleash his raw power? (Against the boxes, to destroy them? Against the humans?) Or was the Shinou banking on the strength of Julia’s spirit, of her way of living with no regrets, to foster Yuuri’s innocence through troubling times? Was he simply trying to give Yuuri the hardest thing he could ever have to deal with early on, to prepare him for something horrible? Murata has already mentioned that even darker times are coming…

I would just like to know if, ultimately, the Shinou’s goals mesh with Yuuri’s. If Yuuri’s refusal to destroy is mirrored in the Shinou’s plans, or if the Shinou has something else in mind entirely. Ultimately, will Yuuri have to disobey the Shinou?

Actually, the Shinou hasn’t given Yuuri any direct orders yet. It seems that he is perfectly happy to let Yuuri do whatever he wants–but he’ll pull other strings along the way to provoke him. Will this eventually come to a head?

Also, is there a particular reason the Shinou wanted Yuuri to have water powers? It’s true that earth and fire powers are already available in the Ketsumei-jo court (Gwendal and Wolfram, respectively), so water rounds things out nicely, but is that the only reason? Why is it that Yuuri travels through water to get to his kingdom? Is it because of his own innate water abilities, or is it because Murata also has a pact with water?

Man, I love this show.

[Edited on 1/13/06 for minor errors/new information]

Today my cousin Carl writes about Dr. David McAdams and the work he does in the Congo. The details of Carl’s post are really illuminating.

As he explains it now, the city (I apologize that I have forgotten the name of it) he often goes to is like a holy city in that it is left alone by the Mahi-Mahis’ (sp?) and the government and is neutral ground when both have wounded there. This much I’d heard before, the amazing movies he’s made of how horrible the roads are with their four foot pot holes that you have to go down into and drive back up out of, all the bridges in disrepair, the road blocks were what I would have expected of a civil war torn country. He has many pictures and movies of such, so I’d heard of them.

However, it wasn’t until he was having a discussion with Dr. Zeis about the witchcraft used by the Mahi-Mahi’s that I truly was just blown away. These kids of the side of the rebels wear animal skins for druid-esq. transformations and powers. One such power, that David has heard of and even met the man was that in his spirit form he can move so fast he can catch the bullets in his teeth.

The Mahi-Mahi’s set up their road blocks at grave yards and David says when you pull up to stop and offers to shake their hands they will not touch your hands because it would break their spell of animalism. These Mahi-Mahi’s dig up graves and worse, they murder people for their body parts for these kinds of rituals. The children are worse, raised in this, have no moral conscience at all and there are stories of them toting heads of their enemies through towns to show their power and terrify the locals. There is still practice in the Congo of burning people alive.

Father leaves kids in hot SUV

“The vehicle they were in had the windows up, and it was not running,” said Sgt. David Turno, a spokesman for Aiken Public Safety. “The kids had no idea where their father was.”

The temperature outside was in the mid-80s, but with the humidity it felt closer to 95.

Inside the car it likely felt hotter. According to a study conducted at San Francisco State University, temperatures in a closed vehicle can rise by more than 20 degrees in less than 20 minutes.

Luckily, Adam Truesdale, an off-duty deputy with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, was walking in front of the restaurant with his wife, Tara. Deputy Truesdale had just put the couple’s name on the waiting list.

They heard the boys crying and searched the steamy asphalt parking lot. They found the children in the locked SUV and dialed 911.

“When you hear a child screaming for help, you’ve got to help. ” he said.

Thank goodness that deputy was there. I’m glad the kids got to air conditioning quickly, and I’m glad the stupid bastard got caught in the act. The moron. I can’t believe how ignorant and thoughtless people can be. And towards their own children!

People just don’t seem to understand that life is precious. And not just your life. Everybody‘s life. And people don’t get that parenthood is a gift and a responsibility and not something you can do and still think of yourself first. I guess they figure that since it’s so easy to become a parent, it must be easy to be one, too.

Somewhere down the line our lack of proper education or decent communities or something has caused people to stop recognizing the truths of parenting. Or has it always been this way? Have there always been people who killed their own children because they were careless or selfish?

It pisses me off just to think about.

I’m just glad those three boys are safe.

I just read a review of Between Two Empires: Race, History and Transnationalism in Japanese America by Eiichiro Azuma, a Japanese-American who is assistant professor of history and Asian-American studies at the University of Pennsylvania. It sounds like a good book, so I’m putting it on my Amazon Wish List.

(By the way, I’ve split my Wish List into categories, so now we have: Fiction, Nonfiction, CDs, DVDs, Manga and Graphic Novels, and Help Me Learn Japanese!, which is the one currently linked in my sidebar. I’ll link all the others later. ;P)

Ampontan at Japundit has written an interesting, detailed piece about shochu, a Japanese alcohol that is distilled and can be made from “anything”. I don’t drink, but sometimes I want to, and pieces like this are part of the reason why.

My cousin Carl wrote something today that is hilarious to me as a writer and perfectionist. Check it.

His mom reminds me of my mom. But that’s normal. ;>

I’ve subscribed to the blogs of two Iraqi women, who are apparently mother and daughter. They live in Mosul. I think these subscriptions, more than news stories, will help me understand real life there, and I’m interested to hear about other good Iraq blogs.

One thing Sunshine posted really grabbed me just now. I was just skimming through her posts and came across this one, in which she corrects a mistake she’d made in an earlier post. Then she writes:

He who makes no mistakes makes nothing ..

And you know, that is so true. I know it is. But to see it written so plainly is profound to me. When will I begin applying this truth in my own life?

Here is a 14 year old girl who learns and then teaches. She doesn’t wait until she has it perfect before she teaches it to someone else. Perfection isn’t the point; doing the best she can, and helping others to do the same, is her goal.

I have always said that I can’t teach because I’m a perfectionist. It seems like I can’t do a lot of things because I’m a perfectionist. I need to leave that attitude by the wayside and really join the learning community. I need to be willing to learn and to teach.

Thanks, Sunshine. I’ve learned a lot from your blog already.

What a day for space news!

Water ice in crater at Martian north pole

10th Planet Discovered, Bigger than Pluto

No, I haven’t seen the movie yet…but that title fits my feelings after reading this article over on Asahi.com. I was intrigued by mangaka/poetess Sugiura Hinako’s fascination with the Edo period, but I felt like I was missing out on the true meaning of the things she described–and I know there were layers of meaning in her poems that didn’t come out in those translations. This is one of those times where I’d like to see the translation alongside the original Japanese, so I could make a comparison and see why the translator chose to express it that way, and so I could pick up subtler shades of meaning that are difficult or impossible to translate.

Sugiura’s work, as mentioned in the article:

大江戸観光 (Oedo Kanko; “Doing the sights in Edo”)

風流江戸雀 (Fuuryuu Edo Suzume; “Folks of refined taste in Edo”)

もっとソバ屋で憩う (Motto Sobaya de Ikou; “More relaxation at buckwheat noodle shops”)

Amazon.co.jp has a lot of other results for her name (杉浦 日向子), too. (Hey, look…that’s the same ‘sugi’ as in Uesugi!)