Hiatus Updates

So I said I'd post my contentions with ebay and it's denizens, and I'll recount two stories I can think of off the top of my head, here. One will be etched in my memory forever just because it's so ridiculous. I had posted an auction for a Marvel Vs Capcom advertisement, desktop mini-standee thing, and also a guidebook for the game Dark Cloud 2, each with a $2 shipping cost attached. An irritant wins both auctions, I hear nothing from him after sending him an invoice. Six days or so pass with zero contact, and I send another invoice with the requisite $4 shipping. So I get a reply asking why I'm charging "double shipping". dot dot dot. . . 2+2 = 4 does it not? I think that $2 per item is more than generous, and so apparently does the post office which wanted $6.85 to ship both items first class. So this person fights tooth and nail with me to get me down to $2 shipping, which, I don't care about the two damned dollars in the first place, so I just relented. As I mentioned, the post office wanted $6.85 shipping, and I wasn't about to eat $5, so I sent it media mail (it was a book, after all) for $2 something and he'll be waiting like 2 weeks for it. The "twist" if you could call it that, was that the fellow in question has a store on ebay. Upon looking through the items he had sold in the last 15 days, many were up over $100, however there were TWO World of Warcraft sealed limited editions that sold for $850 a piece, and this guy was getting pissy over $2. Two items of the more than 20 or so in the last half of a month brought in $1600 and somehow my $2 charge for shipping is crossing the line.

The second is a blanket thing more or less, with one example that sticks out. A person from Mexico won an auction I had up for the GBA game Sword of Mana, and basically demanded that I give him a tracking number for his package. He paid $10 for the game and $4 shipping. People want insurance and tracking and magic flying puppies for $5 shipping with no compromises and then bitch when you can't provide it nownownow, and that was the best example I could think of.

Anyway, I got more schwag over the past few days, picture at the top of the post. The Yoko oppai mousepad has softer, erm, "wrist rests" than the Doki Doki Majo Shinpan one I just sold.

Hiatusness

So I've been on "hiatus" for approximately 16 days now. This is due in part to the fact that I'm lazy, but also because I've been liquidating a lot of my old junk on ebay, and it's a very time-consuming process. One would think that ebaying just involves putting an auction up and then sending off packages, but there are a lot of (potentially obnoxious) steps in between. I plan on leaving this country within the next 4 years, and for the next two I plan on being very busy. So while my job is still relegated to the back burner and I have oodles of freetime on my hands, I figured I'd go through all of my old crap that I don't want anymore and sell it all off. This plan works two-fold: for one, I'll get a lot of money off of this (I've made $1000 in about 4 weeks' time and I've not even made a dent in the pile of crap that I have to get rid of), and when I finally do decide to move -- whether it be to Japan or New Jersey -- I'll have gotten rid of the lion's share of stuff that I would have otherwise thrown out, instead of shipping it or putting it on a moving truck.

I also redid some of the living space, evidenced by the picture above. Later I'll post some of the worst moments of the last month regarding my flirtations thus far with ebay.

今日の読み物 (Today's Reading)

Here's what I'm reading today. Ranging from the most elementary of manga, Yotsubato!, what's considered to be the first novel ever written, Genji Monogatari, or The Tale of Genji as it's known in the West. I'm not that far along in Genji yet, but it's enthralling for something that was written in the 1100's. Yotsubato! is about a girl named Yotsuba (get it?) that is 5 years old and misunderstands the simplest of things, making for interesting situations. It isn't clear where she's from, but the series makes it out to be like she's foreign and "Tou-chan", as she calls her dad, adopted her. It's an adorable series, and Yotsuba is an absolutely endearing character.

Cutest Commercial Evar

Quick post. I just had to share this, because it is impossibly cute:

My Really Awful Musha Keroro Modelling Attempt

Took some pictures of the model of Keroro that I completely ruined, in this case it's Musha Keroro, musha meaning warrior, in this case a samurai. I attempted to spray him with gray primer, which didn't work, so I used paint thinner to remove it, Then I attempted to paint him using Testors, which ended up being way too dark a green, and also glossy, and also lacked the proper mixture in the pot which made it way too thick. In short, he was looking like garbage before I really did anything to him that would bring him a step closer to completion. So, instead of going out and buying white primer (which, I didn't know you could actually use the kind in the large spraycan, I thought model primer was special and no shops around here carry white model primer, ah well live and learn) and redoing it that way, I ended up just using old Gundam Markers to paint the whole thing plastic-raw. As expected, the details look good, but the large patches suck hardcore. Going to buy another from HLJ and some white primer, and have a go at it again. I really like this model, it's $5 and they make these like, eternally compared with completed PVC figures. In dim lighting he actually looks pretty good, but as you can see, the flash brings out the flaws -- a lot. By the way, this took a grand total of about 3 hours.

Yoshizaki Mine Designs a Character for Soul Calibur 4!

Separated at birth?

One of my favorite manga creators of all time (I'm not going to say mangaka, because I really like the anime version of Keroro Gunsou, but not the manga version, however he DID create the characters, so...) and pre-Keroro, famed ero-bishoujo artist, Yoshizaki Mine, made a character for Soul Calibur 4! I'm pretty happy about this, except for the fact that I noticed purely by the features of said character. Not only does she share part of her name with a pre-existing Keroro character, Angol Mois, but her outfit and weapon are largely the same as Mois-dono's. For those of you that aren't familiar with the Keroro universe, Angol Mois was sent to earth to destroy it but finds Keroro and company there and stops her mission when her "uncle" Keroro expresses his like for it, as well as their need for conquering it intact. Angol Fear (the SC4 character's name) has differences, though. Namely being black, having white hair, a palette-swapped outfit of gray, and bigger breasts which I'm sure were included just to take advantage of SC4's advanced physics engine.

Real Life Shishio Makoto

Does he not look a lot like the Rurouni Kenshin villain, Shishio Makoto?

Stolen from Japan Probe:

A monk in Niigata tried to beat some hornets with a homemade torch, but ended up burning down his temple:

The 41-year-old tried to burn out a hornet’s nest on top of a cupboard in his temple in the central Japanese province Niigata with a home-made bamboo torch.

However, the cupboard caught fire as the angry insects defended their home and attacked the scared priest. The fire soon spread to the rest of the building. While the priest only suffered light burns, the temple burnt down completely.

As you can see, the monk now has minor burns covering much of his face, giving him a creepy appearance as he explains the situation to the press. He says that he had not been expecting the hornets to go after him, and their sudden attack shocked him into dropping the torch and starting the fire that eventually burned down the temple.

First Squad: WWII Soviets vs. Nazis Anime

Found this gem via Japan Probe, that found it on Japanator:

First Squad is made by the Russian-Canadian collaboration known as Molot Entertainment. It is being directed by Yoshiharu Ashino who also directed Tweeny Witches’ and Mind Game. World War II anime are always super, and this one is extra great because it takes place on the Soviet side of the conflict. Nazi’s have dug up and resurrected crusaders to fight for their cause, and the only thing to protect the world are a bunch of Soviet teenagers with special powers.

It looks pretty good, although the stills seem a little less impressive than the trailer in motion.

わいわい！ヨーコさんが来た！

Woot, finally got the Sniper Look Version of Yoko today in the post! She's a Wonder Fest original limited edition, and she looks great! I have like four more Yoko figures coming down the pike in the next few months, I wonder if I'm developing some sort of problem... ^^; More pics to come once I unbox her.