Getting a Handle on Things

So I just canceled my Alter Saber Lily preorder, leaving just Yoko Bounty Hunter Version as this month's singular preorder. I've been trying to whittle down my anime expenditures as of late, reflected in the rhetoric 2-3 posts of the past month or two. I'm in that horrible middleground that most people that consider themselves otaku, are not. In fact, most of the DC.com audience seem to be on one side of the fence or the other. They're either 17-21 year-olds who have a part time job or rich parents and no obligation to pay bills and buy a lot of figures, or they're adults who have "made it" and can buy whatever the hell they want with reckless abandon because they're masters of science or art. (Or they're poor and they mention how they can't buy molded hunks of plastic here and there) In any event, I have yet to finish my degree, and I've (stupidly) mortgaged about 5 years of my life now over buying said hunks of plastic. The fact that they're all extremely limited in production was part of why I didn't stop in the first place, but I sort of want my tale to have a happier ending. Continuing to have no diploma and a mediocre job will only lead to a mediocrely diploma-free existence.

As I've said in the past on here, a change of scenery would be more than welcome, even a slight one to pop this bubble of routine would be nice. I think this is a nice start to that. Removing a figure that would've cost over $100 with shipping, that I can easily obtain on Yahoo Japan Auctions a few years from now when the economy has rebounded and I (hopefully) have a career, I feel, is definitely a good start. An occurrence like this is partially the reason why I stopped reading DC.com almost entirely. I know that if I read that site as much as I had been before, I would probably end up preordering and ordering a lot of things that I don't really need. I'm going to make a post about that later (I've been putting it off) but for now that one sentence explanation will suffice.

Buying unnecessary, aesthetically pleasing things is fun. I won't deny that. If I had to define myself I think perhaps I'd have to invent a new word: "hedomasochist". I overindulge with a lot of things, it's a real problem. Nothing bad yet, alcohol is kind of a turn off (I have no idea how something that makes someone feel so shitty would be addictive, so to alcoholics I sarcastically salute your vigor), never tried a drug in my life and have never really wanted to other than pot (I've had a contact high or two and they were fun, sue me for wanting to see what the real thing is like), not too much of a gambler because my logical brain intercedes killing any potential fun or profit. Mainly it's just with oral fixation - namely non-alcoholic drinks, and collecting stuff. And even with collecting I usually have a discerning eye. Uuuuuuunfortunately for me and many others, Japan makes too many well-crafted items of interest.

However, I've always had this thirst for travel, this wanderlust, in me. And keeping myself here is absolutely a masochistic act. If I ever forget this, my mind reminds me when I read any J-Blog and automatically think, "Wow I could be doing/seeing that right now," being ironically flanked by my PVC collection behind me.

USB Keroro Gunsou Pasotomo

Suddenly the top of my computer case is very busy. First I got my USB owl that sits on his little plastic tree stump and bobs his head and blinks. Today, my Pasotomo (shortened version of pasokon, Japanese for personal computer and tomo, shortened version of tomodachi which is Japanese for friend.) Keroro Gunsou arrived! He plugs in to any USB port and reacts to sound and voice by swinging his head and his cheeks light up. He was actually bigger than I expected, I was expecting a tiny version of Gunsou-san, this iteration is as tall as my USB owl and his stump. He's adorable, though a talking version with his seiyuu from the anime would be cuter, but there's one small problem I have. I wouldn't so much mind the fact that he's overtly-sensitive to sound if the motor in his neck wasn't so loud. It sounds like a tiny locomotive of sorts, and with him being set off by the slightest noise I found that it started to grate on my nerves kinda fast. Apparently he's pretty popular, being sold out at both HLJ and Hobby Search. He retails for 1800yen.

Gone Fishin' - i.e. Busy Tweeting

Yes, I've joined the "revolution" of slaves to messaging 2.0. That's sorta why I haven't been posting here lately. I've been talking to "real Japanese people!" lately, in Japanese, so I've not been on DC.com or haven't really had anything relevant to post here, either. If you'd like to follow me, you can do so here.

It's sorta funny because I never really stepped back and noticed how verbose I am until I was regularly communicating with people in another language. I may have studied Japanese for a long, long time now, but honestly I didn't really use the skill on people that much. It's very different whenever you're just reading a magazine, or a figure package or a website or listening to a song, versus talking to real live people and having to think on your feet. But trying to convey thoughts in a language that has a whole lot of subtext, virtually zero sarcasm and where one word can have 3-4 meanings... it becomes difficult to break habits in English that just don't translate over well.

What's more, words like 皮肉 (hiniku), which means ironic, can also mean sardonic and sarcastic. In English these words are separate entities. Sardonic means that you're being sarcastic with the intention of being insulting to the subject of said sarcasm. Sarcastic means that you generally indicate by your inflection, the opposite of what you're saying. "Oh yeah, that's good," would mean that you're trying to indicate - via sarcasm - that you're not looking forward to whatever "it" is. Moreover, often times you have to add 的 (teki) or っぽい (-ppoi) to "augment" the states of some words, while others have their own special word and yet still others are set into different facets of grammar.

Upon learning more and more Japanese over time, I find it ironic (heh heh) that a culture that is so steeped in beauty and the arts, has - to me at least - a language of "approximation". I guess one could argue that the arts are how the Japanese express themselves, but comparative to English, there aren't nearly as many "unique" adjectives/adverbs. Conversely you could also say that English has too many created words, as it's easy to branch or combine or mangle in the English language.

Digging for Treasure

Well it wasn't exactly digging, more like foraging. I found my old Super Famicom games in the closet this week. You can tell I was about 16 when I bought these, just by looking at the titles. Isometric DBZ Action-RPG game, G Gundam (so good), The Great Battle III (SD Gundam series) and Live A Live (a really great little RPG from Square that never made it outside of Japan).

I remember that each of these games cost well over $100 with shipping, back in the day. I actually ran across an invoice that for whatever reason I saved, for my copy of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the limited edition from Japan on the very day it released, and that cost me $130 with overnight shipping (I was young and stupid and impatient!) for the PS1. God, I'm such a frivolous, impulsive human being. I can draw so many parallels to my collecting figures today - and consequently why I don't yet have my bachelor's degree. >< Yes, my life has been stunted because of figures and games. It's like a punch in the gut to actually admit it. There's more to it obviously, but the financial aspect I owe to those things and being about as reliable with money as leaving your appletini with an alcoholic.

Completely unconnected to this epiphany - and in the interest of being a grownup for once - I've canceled the gross majority of pre-orders I had made at any and all online retailers for figures and paraphernalia. I really need to actually do something with myself, and that unfortunately requires money.

Geez, I'm lazy, I haven't posted anything in like 5 days. cough.