It Started with a Journal

Just checking. It's June, right? And I live in the northern hemisphere? Then why the hell is it 56° out and raining? I really hate it here sometimes. >< If it's a choice between freezing even in four layers of clothing or being sticky and hot, give me the latter. I can't play WoW when my fingers are frozen!! Or write, for that matter.

Speaking of WoW (yes, wasn't that a good segue?), Blizzard is doing another one of their promotions. If you're the least bit interested or curious about this thing that consumes so much of my time, I can send you a link for a free 10-day trial, just let me know. Full disclosure is that if you decide to become a paying member, I get 30 days free. But I don't even care about that, honestly -- I just want more of you guys to play! <g> And the first hit is free! ;)

So last night at work, there was some emergency thing that needed to be posted after hours. ( Work bitchery. )

So, as y'all know, I really love the manga Hot Gimmick. I just found out that apparently, a novel was written from the manga, which has an 'alternate' ending to the manga itself. It's really irritating on the one hand (I hate the "let's try to please everyone all of the time!" mentality), but on the other hand it's kind of neat to see how influential public opinion can be these days. I still consider the manga to be the official canon, particularly since Miki Aihara didn't even write the novel, she only illustrated it. I'm vaguely curious about the novel, but if it never gets translated to English I'll be fine with it, since I like how the manga ended.

Does anyone else have the bad habit of reading multiple books at one time? I'm constantly doing that, mostly because I'm lazy and don't like to carry books around, so I have one in the car, one in the family room, and one in my bedroom. Also, sometimes I just get in the mood for a certain kind of book. Currently I'm reading: Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card), Gaudy Night (Dorothy Sayers), and American Gods (Neil Gaiman). Very different in tone, and so far I'm enjoying all of them (even if Sayers can be a bit painful at times).

Happy Friday!

Is there anyone out there who can read Japanese who'd be willing to help me out?? I found scans of the last chapter of HG and am DESPERATE to find out what happens. I wouldn't make you translate the whole thing, but maybe just the last three pages or something, get the gist of what's going on? Plleeeassssee....

I hope all my fellow Americanos had a lovely 4th. I think it's my favorite holiday, because ... there's no pressure surrounding it. No presents to stress over (birthdays, Christmas), the weather is lovely, and there's barbecue. Nothing to do but relax, eat, drink, and hang out with people you want to be with; I love that. It's also one of those holidays that are very flexible; it can be a family event, or it can be one spent sinning with friends. Whereas I tend to feel that holidays like Thanksgiving are more family-oriented. *shrug*

After my foray into Hot Gimmick I checked out some other manga, but nothing really appealed to me. I think HG is one of a kind, for me. Even though we're only up to volume 8 in the US, I've gotten caught up on everything that's been released in Japan, through reading oceansportrait's translations of the most recent chapters. Live Journal communities/people rock.

Also, I've read Julia Quinn's new Bridgerton novel, It's In His Kiss. ( If you want to know what I thought of it... )

So I got The Sims 2 on eBay for like $21, and started Draco and Ginny sims. I've given Draco the Fortune aspiration, and Ginny the Family aspiration. They now have two daughters and a son (the younger daughter/son are twins). You know how in Sims 2, they now have "Wants" and "Fears"? After the birth of the twins, one of Ginny's wants was to have ten kids. TEN KIDS! I was like, no WAY. Kids are a lot more work in Sims 2 (not to mention the pregnant mom -- Ginny died twice while pregnant and I had to exit without saving the game. I don't care if this is cheating; Ginny can't bloody die, that would be lame!). And Draco's fears were cracking me up: "See roaches." "The repo man." His wants: "Woohoo with Ginny." "Buy a computer costing at least $2,000." At first he was on the athletic career track, but then he lost his job. Seeing him all dejected in his mascot uniform was so very amusing. What wasn't so amusing was how, when he was unemployed, he'd just randomly go outside and panhandle for Simoleons. I'm sure Ginny was embarrassed as well. But ... Ginny's now a general practitioner (medical track), and Draco is a senior manager (business track), so all is well. My goal is now to get them into the house/plot of land that I have deemed "Malfoy Manor."

The only thing I'd improve about the Sims is being able to name/select the Simworld characters, like neighbors and such. I don't want to have to play them (the hardest part is making/maintaining friends, imho), but I'd like them to be "familiar." It'd be nice if I could make Jade the mail person, or Robbie the cleaning lady (because the irony would be irresistible!), for instance.

I think I want to get additional fans for my computer. But there's no room for any more fans, that I can see. Does that mean it's not possible, or is there some way to add fans anyway?