I really wish my brown kitty were not in the habit of sleeping on my brown chair, thus rendering her essentially unphotographable. She has this adorable habit of sleeping with her paws in the air that would be lovely to share -- if she were not being more camouflaged than polar bear in a blizzard.

About 6:30, thinks to self "gee, it's awfully dark."

A few minutes later, "it's even darker. Sunset shouldn't be for a couple of hours."

And then it dawned on me: ECLIPSE! SO COOL~~!


Yes, I really am that easily amused. Because it's that cool. And the last solar eclipse I remember seeing was when I was about knee-high.

While an impressive parking job, <a href="http://youtu.be/a0Ve2eNfgPQ>this Lamborghini driver</a> does not show impressive driving skills. It made me giggle, despite causing damage to a perfectly nice supercar.

A couple of links I want to hold onto:

Something on the main festival at Takeisao Jinja in Yamagata: http://yamagata6.blog118.fc2.com/blog-entry-329.html

12 chapters of Nagoya tour: http://nagoyatabi.ncvb.or.jp/en/kankouroute/route03/spot08/index.html

I swung by the SDCC Hotels page to update some information (names of who is in what room -- don't panic!) and noticed that the reservation system is open again. They list some 20-odd hotels, including the Hilton Bayfront and Marriott. This is a shorter list than usual, and, for example, the Horton isn't listed. I guess this is how they're dealing with cancellations?

I'm a bit done with the smart, nerdy, slightly awkward girl genius charicture, thanks. Not all smart, geeky women have to look and act like Willow (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame,) thanks. Can we get some new flavor of geeky, competent women, please?

Museums and stuff in Tokyo: http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=988&catid=25&subcatid=165

Must feed cats before they drive me crazy. Er.

I saw a picture of seven people holding up signs that together spelled out "1000000". I was rather baffled as to what the significance was of a Japanese girl idol group was holding up a sign that said "64" in binary.


I did eventually figure out that they meant the base-ten number.

Japanese isn't tonal, like Chinese is. However, it does differentiate between short and long vowels. Making sure to note (and pronounce) the lengthened vowels is critical. A case in point:

Shōjō is a type of Japanese monster (of Chinese origin).

Shoōjo is a young girl.

Shojo is a virgin.

It was rather amusing listening to someone talking about a virgin in a bottle. :)


(Yes, this does mean I'm finally caught up on Supernatural. Was highly amused by their "Shinto blessing" -- particularly since it starts out with an invocation to the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. Japanese religion is syncretic as all-out so it's not that much of a fax-paux to put Buddhist deities in a Shinto ritual -- though it did make me giggle. Particularly since Wikipedia notes sometimes Fukurokuju and Jurōjin are lumped together as one deity (no wonder I have so much trouble differentiating them), and the Shōjō is filled into the blank spot. Because nothing says good fortune like boozing it up!)

Prepare for an "awwww" moment.: The Route 29 Batman.