Thunder Shot Mk. II

I finally found some time to build this thing. Of course I didn't plan far ahead enough to think of buying a Tamiya track so the car is basically unusable. it looks nice though and the box pictures are pretty much worth the purchase alone.

This is a great picture and I wish they made posters of these. Maybe I'll blow up one to use for myself.

My plan for immediate gratification ruined as "some assembly required." The included postcard is very cute though and makes me want to buy another one of these.

I suck at models though, so the simple task of applying enamel somehow turned into a terrible ordeal involving scalpels, staples, vast quantities of paint thinner, and a mess that would make my middle school art teacher stick pencils in her arteries. Don't even get me started on the grease. On the bright side my digestive organs probably experience less abrasive friction now given the amount accidentally ingested.

Finished product. Racer Momoi will beat all comers!

Posted by Paranda at 11:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

What a week

I think I may have worked more in the last two weeks than the entire year. Coming back from Japan, I was still in Momoist mode and posting all those famous Momoi locations. Monday morning, I hear Fannie and Freddie both got put into conservatorship the week before and my jaw dropped.

But last week. LAST WEEK was when it truly hit: 150+ year old Lehman Brothers declaring bankrupcty, Merrill's completely out of nowhere sale to BofA, AIG collapsing and almost taking the entire CDS market with it prior to the financial industry calling the Fed's bluff and forcing it into a bailout, the oldest MONEY MARKET fund breaking the buck thanks to Lehman IOUs...it's funny that the only safe investments left are triple A rated commercial paper and T-bills. Treasury yields are so close to zero right now mattress stuffing actually seems like a good idea too. I watched even Goldman, which last year used to headline articles as the polar opposite of Bear in terms of responding to the liquidity crunch drop 30% in a day and threaten to go private. I watched Morgan Stanley sink even faster and WaMu desperately looking for buyers. Redemptions out the wazoo..credit events chained up like fighting combos - it's only a matter of time before some disgruntled war veteran who lost his pension starts remembering "that time when he served as a sniper in Vietnam". Then maybe MSNBC can actually use "panic and blood on the streets" literally and Jim Cramer might accidentally throw out his hyperboles, pause a bit, and explode once he realizes it's actually true. At this point even the guy in the bagel cart I visit on the street corner every morning is going "Hey buddy you guys doing ok?" Well no, not really. Just Lehman going bust on Monday -> "Oh shit are we going to get anything for Lehman Aggregate what the fuck do we do now? CALL THE VENDORS" followed by lots of zoo animal braying, slide whistles, and clown sound effects. Thank heavens for Barclays.

Next week looks like it could have a few land mines left. It will be interesting to see what we'll have to deal with next. Meanwhile, here's Potemayo wearing a piece of history.

And there is still Momoi stuff I need to post...priorities, priorities.

Posted by Paranda at 2:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Momoi pilgrimage site: Akihabara

Tora no ana main store: topic in Momoi's Koko da yo, Enter, and other songs. Frequently has Momoi promotions in the display wiinow, although during the time we went, the current feature was Sakakibara Yui.

Hourin Park: Location of the playground structure Momoi posed on for the cover of the special edition Yume no baton.

Posted by Paranda at 10:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Some photos taken over Animelo weekend

Ikebukuro. This will be home for the duration of the trip to Japan.

There is lots to see and do. But since this is a Momoist/otaku blog, let's just skip all the other touristy stuff I did and get to the substance...

animate! 9 floors of stuff. Took a good 4-5 hours to look through it all.

k-books (lots of good used stuff and comiket items)

Only bought a few things...spent conservatively since if I want to waste money on things that should never see the light of day, there was still all of Akihabara and Nakano Broadway.

Spotted while heading toward Animelo on 8/30.

Was so excited to be walking toward Saitama Super Arena

The Arena.

Merchandise tables. Combo sets and wristbands were sold out unfortunately by the time I got there. Picked up 2 shirts, towels, and pamphlet.

Outside map. Momoists set up camp in the marked area the next day.

Crowd began to swell as time got closer.

Had a blast at the concert. Jaw dropped when trying to find the number marked on the ticket and then the realization they were direct stage-side seats. Damn this thing was long. A great time was had, but I learned my lesson this time. 2 ultra oranges, 2 pinks, and 2 neon sticks is NOT ENOUGH. Wanted to UO on so many good acts but blew my entire stash right out the door with Yukari.

Goods obtained from the concert. Managed to catch a streamer that got shot out of the cannon during the encore. Since the thing was right next to me, when it went off I thought something exploded and nearly ducked for cover.

8/31

Posing with another Momoist.

Huge group of Momoists hanging out in the lower food court while waiting for seating to open. It was the same reliable group that has been to every concert I've ever seen so far. They came from all over. Some big trips to see Momoi include travellers from Osaka, Aomori (8 hrs by train), and even Korea.

T-shirt present for Momoi. Everybody included their own personal message. Takayama Saki (actress of Momoi from Haruko Update) was also attending Animelo to support Momoi and showed up to sign the shirt and say hello to Momoists.

These seats were actually pretty good and you could get a clear view of the performers as well as the entire arena. The "not as lucky" comparison is only relative to day 1, but otherwise it was awesome.

Lesson learned from day 1: stock glowsticks!!! Used up 15 ultra oranges, 6 ultra pinks, 2 ultra greens, 4 red and blue glowing bracelets, and fully drained 6 AAA batteries for neon red and neon blue light sticks.

Picked up 2 MOSAIC.WAV shirts along the way.

Still in Japan right now this is concise to save time. If you want to see parts of day 2 including Momoi you can probably find some recorded segments on Nico or Youtube although I won't bother posting the links since they will be constantly deleted/reuploaded. Also consider visiting seiyuu3 for a more detailed description of other artist acts.

Visited Akiba and a few other famous Momoi spots and specific stores/buildings thanks to a local fan who took a full day off to play ad-hoc tour guide. Maybe will visit more Momoists in Kyoto and we have a Suara concert to go see on Saturday. Let's see how it goes.

Posted by Paranda at 11:35 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

CFA cram begins

You might remember that I used to occasionally complain here about studying for tests back when I was going to NYU. Thankfully that all stopped after I graduated and got a job. I thought I would never have to think about studying again.

But since I am a shortsighted idiot, I appear to have gotten myself into a test taking situation yet again. So I can only post this for my self encouragement. Coming this December, I'll have finished my first year as a full-time analyst at "Unnamed Corporation," so I figured (way back in March), that I would aim to use my year of experience as well as my still-recent (and thus hopefully relevant) undergrad education to help study for the level 1 CFA.

Well now I regret making that decision because some 8 months after I became an analyst (almost 2 years if you include the time as intern), I still feel like I know jack about the industry. Plus, from what I've read, even having a finance background doesn't help much on most of it anyway, because so does everyone else taking the test, and it's still hard as shit and curved just enough to make 70% of grown men cry. BUT my stupid ass foolishly publicized that decision back in March in my "stated self improvement goals" at work, so now I basically have to put my money where my mouth is in order to not look like a chump. Since it cost an arm and a leg to even register for this test, I can't really afford to piss away money by failing either. Thus, August marks the start of my CFA preparation.

There is some obscenely low pass rate usually attributed to people underestimating the study time for the test. I thought I had decent cramming skillz back in school, but since I've heard nothing but horror stories about the amount of studying required from most of my coworkers who I consider real smart guys (and some who have been working way longer than I have), I have been sufficiently scared into early preparation.

My current plan is to do one session every five days, with no breaks in between except for the few days I will be in Japan for Animelo. This should allow me to finish studying about three weeks before the actual exam, so I can spend the last month on nothing but practice tests.

Also if I pass, I get to look forward to another 2 more levels of this test that are supposedly even harder before getting certified. Oh boy! Then again at least I'm not going for a CPA. Haven't people killed themselves over that one?

Posted by Paranda at 1:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Thundershot Mk.II pre-order

Since Thundershot Mk.II Momoi version preorders started, I have been looking around the web hoping to find somewhere that shipped overseas. A vendor finally turned up.

http://hobbyworld.aoshima-bk.co.jp/scripts/hw/seeke.aspx?seek_code=TAM08062001

They seem to be a small shop (Aoshima Bunka Kyozai) with an online page that only recently started supporting overseas customers. Their english version of the site is shady as hell and the credit card entry page isn't even encrypted but what the heck I took the plunge and ordered with them.

It isn't as cool as the pink chrome one depicted in TAMIYA's youtube video which seems to be something you can only get at events (or not at all?), but this one is cool too with the momoi wing stickers. Actually even just buying the box is worth it since it has such a cute picture of Momoi waving a checkered flag on it.

The car itself is pretty cheap, being only $9 if applying the pre-order discount. Total came out to $29 after including EMS shipping. The product is supposed to be released in early August. Hopefully the site is legit. I'll follow up if I actually get it that month.

Momoi liked toy cars ever since she was a kid. Once in primary school, Momoi thought it would be a great present for a gift exchange at her Christmas party. Unfortunately the other girl who got Momoi's present didn't like it at all and didn't even take it home. When Momoi saw it, she felt very alone when she realized her interests didn't fit in with normal girls.

Now, just by lending her name, she will help sell many of these cars, and maybe with the design more girls will start to like them too.

Update: HLJ is carrying it now!

Double-ordered to be safe. Maybe I will have two cars to race against each other :)

Posted by Paranda at 2:42 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Holy crap I am never ordering from Hobby Search again!

Received this in my email:

[Your Order.]
Alter Exelica (Completed Figure) 1/8
Item price :14,060 yen x Q.T.Y :1 = 14,060 yen

Shipping Cost 6,100 yen
tal cost 20,160 yen

6100 to ship a single figure? This thing had better weigh 30 pounds...

Posted by Paranda at 11:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

3/24

Saturday report is coming soon!
Meanwhile...

Yay

Posted by Paranda at 5:01 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Sister B dolls to be sold in limited quantities

Momoi fans may be pleased to know that Licca Castle will be selling 1000 Sister B dolls, available for pre-order on January 15th. 20 buyers will also receive a Kawaii JeNny DVD vol. 2 as a gift. Orders are 6000 yen each. Although Licca does not accept sales from foreigners directly, doll collecting is very popular so there are many online companies that you can ask to pre-order for you, assuming the dolls do not sell out instantly. The "Sweets Angels" dolls will also be available on 12/12 if you want those too.

Posted by Paranda at 2:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

m.m.m. membership card

Came today. Handwritten name and number confirmed :)

Posted by Paranda at 12:57 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Yuen no Amulet and R.G.B. arrive in mail

Along with a very nice surprise poster.

The PV is awesome in DVD format, and I love the song. R.G.B. will take a little more getting used to.

Posted by Paranda at 4:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Experiments with Omamo Ringo-san 2

I spent waaaayyyy too much time trying to get this thing to run properly in Foobar2k. Still can't get it right completely. Damn I need sleep...

Mebius Ring on Windows Media Player

Space Love on Foobar2000

But it's just too cute isn't it?

Posted by Paranda at 7:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Off to AX

See you guys there. MOMOI TIME!!!

Posted by Paranda at 2:44 AM | Comments (1)

Working a lot of hours lately

So I've been up since 7AM Tuesday without sleep, I've ditched two summer night classes, I've completely lapsed back into my massive coke drinking habits but made worse combined with coffee (I bet my blood would fizzles if I bleed), my meals consist of random takeout delivered and eaten at my desk, and now I'm finally going to go home to get some rest before coming back at 6AM again to make sure nothing is messed up. And I've been wearing like the same shirt for three days...note to self: bring some clean shirts and ties to stash in desk drawer next time.

WORK!

Work is fucking awesome...

Posted by Paranda at 4:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Well it seems like I overspent

After paying bills today, my checking account now has only $3 after factoring in next month's rent. I'm functionally broke. Momoi is just releasing too much stuff lately, and I can't keep up with her while still maintaining my figure habit. I'm going to have to conserve a little for the next few months, so...this will be my last "stuff" post for some time I guess. Luckily there doesn't seem to be too many new figures coming out that I want.

January's loot:

Set of 3 Range Murata Pinky figures.

1/6 Akari, 1/6 Aka, 1/6 Saber, 1/6 Majichan, 1/8 Eruru, 1/8 Lucy, 1/6 Tamachan, 1/8 Asa.
Eruru and Fate are actually from November, but I didn't want to disturb the stack.

Closer look at Lucy Maria Misora, one of my favorite figures I got this month. I now have a figure of every ToHeart2 main character, so I can recreate a school scene for my various sick fantasy worlds.

Any figure of a character voiced by Momoi also gets a spotlight of course. Here's Tamachan!

I also really like ARIA stuff. Closer shot of Akari!

And probably my best purchase of the month: Fate with Bardiche in zanbar form! It's an awesome figure from Alter.

I also got the Movic version of Fate, with her Haken form Bardiche but I haven't opened this one yet. I liked the pose though.

Another favorite of January, Mamiya from Magikano. And she is indeed wearing the special cat! Now I need a Maika figure to round it off for the most amusing duo ever.

Max Factory's gorgeous Blanc Neige figure from Shining Tears..

And lastly, 2 limited edition box sets of Eureka Seven DVDs.

Not pictured: Nerd-tan from Akibablog (because she's currently serving desk duty in my apartment). And now I'm all out.

Posted by Paranda at 1:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Back to school again

But before leaving...a last trip to Medieval Times. My throat is sore from yelling.

Main course: half a chicken. Way overseasoned, but delicious all the same. Utensils are not included, and surprisingly they only hand out one moist towelette AFTER the meal. Luckily, I remembered to wash my hands before going in this time.

Our knight preparing for the joust! We got the Green Knight this time. He sucked at the preliminary games but was a pretty good mock fighter who did a lot of fancy sword work, plus he was a gutsy rider who usually went twice as fast as the other guy. He ended up winning the proper part of the tournament also, which was nice, since the last time we came here, our old Red/Yellow knight dominated the ring/hoop stuff but got eliminated first round in the challenges. In the end though Green got backstabbed the King's right-hand man, so we grudgingly accepted Red as the replacement champion. Much booing ensued.

Fun times. Damn this winter break ended fast. I will be heading back to NYC in two days for the spring semester. I'll also be resuming my job. I'm almost afraid of going back to work considering I left a project I was working on for 3 weeks unfinished :3

Posted by Paranda at 11:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Exam review interrupted by mailman

A good interruption.

My Momoi and KOTOKO care package. Yume no baton, Saigo no rock, Ippozutsu, Chercher, and Uzumaki. Bonus KOTOKO postcard included. No Momoi extras unfortunately.

Arrest her officers! For the crime of cuteness!

Back to study.

Posted by Paranda at 9:12 AM | Comments (2)

I have been awake for 22 hours

In that time: 1 can of pringles, 2 packs ramen, and 1.5 liters of tea consumed, 300 music Momoi/UNDER17 tracks scrobbled, 210 pages of global economics textbook read. Health is failing. 2 practice tests and 6 powerpoint slide sessions left. First round of finals in 8 hours. Must...persevere...

Posted by Paranda at 6:11 AM | Comments (1)

Windows Media Player 11 still sucks

Since my specially DIY-upgraded 40gb H-340 was snatched away by a thief in October, I had been shopping for a replacement for some time. Unfortunately, the excellent H-340 model had been discontinued by iRiver and followed up by newer (yet somehow inferior) H-10 models. Aside from that series, there was no other HD player I wanted so I decided to go with the flash player instead. Originally I wanted to wait for the Cowon iAudio D1 model, but as Blip Festival came up I decided I couldn't wait any longer.

Apparently, photography, recording, video-taping, etc..was encouraged by the festival organizers, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone by buying the 4GB Clix which had just come out since it also had a recorder. I always record events when allowed now - a lesson I learned after MISSING THE CHANCE to do this with Kawasumi at Otakon. Here's a short clip of YMCK's Opening at Blip Festival

I've now been using the Clix for a week. As an mp3 player, the clix is OK so far, but a major MAJOR downside is they force you to use WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER to synch files to the player. Although WMP11 is an improvement over WMP10, and it looks fancy and glossy, it is still a huge crock of shit when it comes to supporting ID3v2.4 tags - it doesn't, and it'll overwrite to ID3v1 or the equally crappy ID3v2.3 if you look away! As a foobar2000 user for God knows how long, I refuse to switch over to this slow and buggy abomination of music software until at least ID3v2.4 support is added.

So far I've been compromising by making a backup of my entire music collection (hooray for 2TB - I can't stop buying drives) and a disposable folder specifically for when transferring over to WMP. In short, it sucks.

Posted by Paranda at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

I hate the E train

There is probably no experience in Manhattan's subway system worse than taking the E line during morning rush hour. In the mornings at 8AM, I wait at the 42nd street station along with rows and rows of other passengers. The E train will usually come already packed from the people who got on at Penn Station one stop before. Yet no matter how full a subway train looks from the outside, the interior defies physics. I'm always amazed at how dozens of fresh passengers can somehow cram themselves into an already overflowing car that looks like it's about to split at the bolts.

Inside, standers are stabilized from the rocking movement of the train since their positions are locked in a perpetual game of Twister with the other passengers. If one person moves slightly, it will trigger a shockwave of shifting that can be felt at the other end of the car. If God forbid someone needs to get off the train at a stop, the careful equilibrium will be lost and the situation inside the car will degenerate until the crowd becomes a large undefined mass of arms, legs, newspapers, and briefcases...not unlike the swirling tornadoes of dust and limbs that depict brawls in gag cartoons. After a period of time, those who need to leave will have migrated from the inside to the outside through Brownian motion, and everyone else in the train is now in a completely different location than before and probably missing their wallets. We all sigh with relief for that tiny bit of free motion, before holding our breaths again to watch in horror as 40 new people rush in the doors to stuff the gap that was created when one person left.

This agonizing circus act will repeat itself for several more stops, with more passengers magically boarding at each stop despite us having run out of space long ago. Just before the train is about to reach critical mass and collapse into a star, we arrive at 53rd and Lexington. It's my stop, and apparently everyone else's. From riding the E train, I've learned that every single person in New York city works near 53rd and Lexington. Immediately the entire train will drain out to the station, leaving behind only two or three people, probably broken or unconscious. At the station, a new battle begins. This one is a battle for the escalators.

The 53rd street platform is shared by E trains arriving from both Queens and downtown, and they will frequently unload at the same time so it is not uncommon to have hundreds of passengers all together at once in underground station. Unlike most stations, we only have an exit at one end of the platform. It has two escalators and one set of stairs. However, because we're so far down underground, very few people take the stairs. Instead the huge crowd will step onto the escalator, four people at a time. The end result is one of the worst capacity bottlenecks ever. If any one escalator breaks, the delay increases exponentially. If both break, any operations managers in the crowd will typically have a stroke and die on the spot.

The return trip fortunately not as bad. No thanks to the E train of course but at least it's made somewhat bearable since taking the stairs down isn't so bad. Also, when going back, the herd is split into two groups. The first half gets off at 34th Street, the second group gets off at 14th. 34th is Penn Station so I can understand, but I still have no idea what's so special about 14th Street that could account for so many people leaving here.

Posted by Paranda at 1:37 PM | Comments (0)

I am going to whine about midterms

There are two periods of stress for a student associated with Thanksgiving. The week before Thanksgiving, when all the midterms pile together. And the week after Thanksgiving, when the graded midterms are returned. Results are mixed. Monday started out good. I inexplicably aced my second Econ and a programming exam. Even though the new job had eaten away at my free time, things seemed to be under control and I was looking at getting away this semester with pretty good grades.

This was of course balanced out today after I found out I bombed on my second financial systems midterm with the proud score of 60.5, completing fucking up my previous B+/A- average in that class with no chance of recovery to A status. In retrospect, I really should have contacted the professor to let him know I wasn't ready to take the test that week. Maybe I could have gotten an extra day to prepare. I'm now shooting for a middle B if I'm lucky.

Although they were sufficient for economics classes, apparently my bullshitting skills can't cut it when it comes to the world of hard finance. Unlike the econ exam, where I was only stuck on a few questions while confident on the rest, I really didn't know my shit for this test and I didn't dare risk drawing stupid joke doodle/answers since each point was so precious. Instead I opted to go for the "obscure with semi-jargon and bad handwriting until it looks sort of correct" approach for when I had no fucking clue about the answers. Maybe I should have tried drawing after all, it worked surprisingly well for my first econ midterm - I got full credit for that question. Hmmmm it must say something about those two subjects.

Posted by Paranda at 10:14 AM

My trip to the NYSE

This week I took a trip to the New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the United States measured by market cap and one of the last great exchanges with a trading floor. Although it has been closed to visitors indefinitely for some time now, one of my professors through his various connections was cool enough to arrange a special visit for 20 interested students where we would be allowed to observe the day's trading activities from the members gallery, and ask questions to one of the directors there. Cameras allowed as long as there was no flash, so I took a few pictures.


This is Wall Street in downtown NYC. The building with the big flag is the NYSE. It is surrounded by many stern looking armored guards with automatic weapons which I decided, for my own health, not to capture on camera. We had to get ID verification twice, additional photos taken, and get questioned at two checkpoints before getting our clearance badges printed.

I was the second person in, so I had to wait in the lobby for quite a while. That wait lasted almost half an hour. Now I understood why the professor limited attendance to only the first twenty students that signed up.

Finally we were escorted to the largest of the five trading floors. The NYSE has changed a lot since movies depicted it in the 90s and 80s. Due to the merger with ArcaEx, NYSE became a hybrid market, maintaining both the floor exchange system as well as an electronic system. It's not as frantic on the floor since the majority of transactions are now done electronically or routed straight to the specialist, but massive orders are still occasionally walked over. Supposedly, only 5% of all orders are walked over now. As technology continues to roll out, the director estimated that soon, the floor itself may not even be needed. But even as he predicts the death of the floor, and with much of the horrible shouting and running reduced by technology, the place still seems pretty packed, and LOUD. I can only imagine how bad it must get when big news hits, or how it was before they put in the new system.

Here is a ticker. They are obsolete these days and are only mounted for atmosphere, since almost all the brokers have their own computers and handheld devices to check whatever info they may need.

This is a trading post. Each post has certain stocks listed at it where the trade is executed. For special orders, typically very large ones, the brokers actually have to walk over to the posts where they meet with a specialist of whatever stock they wish to trade. The specialist keeps an order book which facilitates the orders between other brokers, helping make sure the process is fair and at the best price.

These are the booths that line the walls of the floor. This is where the floor traders get their orders from their firms or outside brokers so they can bring it over to the specialist. Much of it is done through handhelds now, but before they set up an electronic network when the brokers got their orders by phone, they all had to physically run out to the floor and engage the specialists face to face.

One of the coolest parts of the floor is really above it. Everything runs up through an elaborate wiring and pipe system suspended overhead.

Posted by Paranda at 4:36 PM | Comments (1)

XP-tan, Eruru, Fate

The trio arrives. Amenbo's reputation sqeaks by to live another day.

Posted by Paranda at 9:22 PM | Comments (0)

Amenbo's service has seriously deteriorated lately

I don't know what has happened with Amenbo.com. Last year, they were the only store to stock Windows ME-tan figures, and they used to be a pretty good service. However, in the last six months they've screwed up so many times now I'll probably ditch them. They need to fire their shipment processing interns or something.

In June, I ordered a Shuffle Kaede figure from them. Instead they sent me Nerine. I let that slide since Nerine was only slightly cheaper than Kaede and I planned on getting her later anyway, but that was the first hint of problems to come and I probably should have paid attention to the warning signs. I ended up getting Kaede for $40 at Otakon since she was sold out on most online stores.

In August, I placed an order for 6 figures with EMS shipping and paid immediately after with Paypal, as I have always done. For a week I kept getting payment requests in the mail. After 10+ emails to their inquiries department with my payment confirmation number trying to show them I had ALREADY paid. As the weeks passed and the paypal dispute deadline came around, I threatened to retract my payment, so they finally confirm and ship. Except they shipped to a completely wrong address in the wrong state. My package ended up somewhere in the Midwest; I live on the East Coast. Another 10+ emails and another 1 weeks later, they finally resend to the right address. There was no "Sorry we screwed up so badly" consolation coupon. At the very least they should have reimbursed my EMS shipping costs. This month delay essentially negated the EXPRESS part of EMS. Oh well, I got what I wanted and I was too tired to bitch any further.

At this point, I should have decided to stop using them, but hey I had racked up $30 worth of points with them in the past and I thought it would be unlikely they messed up again on my account. I mean it was just by chance right? Sheer bad luck combined with bad timing right? So I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Seeking to avoid the paypal confirmation disaster, I ordered 3 figures and paid with credit card this time so they could charge me directly. Everything seemed normal when they confirmed shipping only a day later on October 6th and sent me a tracking number. Since EMS typically arrives in 3-4 days, I decided check on the shipping status of my item today.

"Your item number is not found. Confirm your item number and ask at your local post office."

I copied and pasted my tracking number a few times and even typed it in manually to make sure there wasn't some sort of character glitch. Nothing. So Amenbo sent me a fake tracking number? Where the hell is my package?

I've just sent Amenbo.com another inquiry. This is basically the last straw. If it turns into the 10+ email with week-long delay nightmare like last time, I guess I'm through with them for good, even if I do have to sacrifice those shopper points (I can't use them yet).

By contrast, HLJ, Hobby Search, and CDJapan have never screwed up my orders so far. Amenbo is the first one I've run into problems with. Normally I wouldn't care as long as they get things sorted out eventually, but I figure the frequency of the mistakes here are too high to be just regular bad luck. Maybe I sent too many complaints last time so they blacklisted my account to get intentionally shitty service, or maybe they just have zero quality control with regards to order processing. Who knows, but here's just a warning to others who might use Amenbo for their figure collecting purposes.

Updated: I got a response back fairly quickly this time. Turns out they had set up my shipment but during packing procedures they noticed my Windows XP-tan box was pretty damaged so they cancelled the shipping to replace it. I got my new tracking number and all is fine now.

Posted by Paranda at 1:07 PM

Received junk in the mail.

It was a lot bigger than I expected.

Also, Kanon is really good, if you aren't watching it you should.

Posted by Paranda at 1:58 AM | Comments (1)

Busy week

I haven't been on AIM or Utopia or #HoB since Sunday so here's why. Im writing this right now because I've had 6 hours of sleep total for 84 hours of awake time so far and it may be fun to see how much my writing has deteriorated like after pulling all nighters 3 days in a row.

Sunday: S-ranked Ready Steady Go on Cheer Girls mode. Thought that was pretty hard. I had no idea the week was about to get harder.

Monday:
Find out due to clerical error, I'm not on mailing list for CS assignments. Discovered assignment was posted on this mailing list. Discovered I had 1 hour deadline to write a Java program that we were supposed to work on for 4 days. Wrote program in 58 minutes and submitted. SOMEHOW it compiled correctly.
Receive email notification for job interview on Wednesday, realize it was at the worst possible time DIRECTLY after Operations Management midterm.
Pull all nighter to read 6 chapters for Business Law.

Tuesday
Financial Information Systems midterm. - Did fairly well, I think.
Cram 2 hour nap between morning and afternoon class.
Realize it was a good thing I read those chapters for Business Law because I was the first person called on.
Pull all nighter to prepare for OM midterm, and also study for job interview.

Wednesday:
Operations Management midterm - Walked to and attended class in full corporate suit & tie, as there would be no time to change after midterm. Completely bombed. Might drop class if score is in low 70s.
Job interview with 5 people consecutively for 2.5 hours. Incorrectly defined duration of a bond. Messed up 2 out of 6 brainteasers given. Assumed self failure and regretted dividing time between studying for midterm and preparing for interview.
Cram in 4 hour afternoon nap, then pull all nighter for Global Econ midterm.

Thursday:
Realize all nighter was only enough to reread all chapters covered in textbook but still didn't start the 200 page supplement. Attempted to cram 200 pages in 30 minutes with extreme speed reading technique. I got to page 43 :(
Global Economics midterm - LUCKILY there was only one question on the supplement reading which asked about parts I had read. I think I got everything except a 4 point question on "sudden damage" so drew a detailed picture of a guy getting his teeth knocked out by a sucker punch.
Business law professor stuck with me again. Now it's really good I did that reading.
Get called from firm I interviewed with, job offered with contract in the mail. Suddenly sacrificing OM midterm feels totally worth it.
Attempt to wind down by watching Sky Girls. Realize it only made things worse as I had to struggle with pro of Itou Shizuka in a lead role vs. con of OVA sucking badly. I think she realized too because her acting was kind of bland at times (BUT SHE SOUNDS SO GOOD!!!).

Plans for Friday:
Repay a week of sleep debt.
Watch Lovedol, Otoboku, Happiness, Sumomomo, Galaxy Angel 2
Write opinion on Lovedol.

Posted by Paranda at 3:41 PM | Comments (1)

Steve Irwin is dead.

This is one of those things you like to joke about happening but don't ever expect to actually happen. The guy seemed immune to dangerous animals. Stabbed through the chest by a stingray. Poor guy.

Bonus Wiki snapshot:

Posted by Paranda at 2:04 AM | Comments (2)

I need to kick this Coke habit.

Earlier this monday, I went to BJ's to exploit some coupons for some $2.99 50 pack Fuji DVD-Rs. I also got some Coke. I normally don't drink soda, but there happened to be a sale going on: $12 for 24 bottles, so I went ahead and got a box. I set it next to my computer and drank freely whenever I felt like it, tossing the empty bottles on my shelf nearby until trash day. Today, after taking a quick glance at the accumulated bottles, I realize I have consumed a disgusting amount of coke for only 6 days. I will not be buying another case, as I evidently have no self control whatsoever.

Posted by Paranda at 4:39 AM | Comments (2)

Momoi CD, Otakon loot, and other things

momo-i quality ~Best of Momoi~, Halko Momoi's first independent album, has arrived. Somewhat disappointingly, the "photobook" is not a real separate book but actually a hybrid built into the first edition album jewel case. The case is a hardcover book format, with adorable Momoi baby and school pictures (with commentary) as well as a collage of recording studio photos attached to the inside cover. There is an additional booklet neatly sandwiched between some pages of the photobook, containing lyrics accompanied by photos of Angel Momoi and Demon Momoi in various stages of DBZ-style battle before finally reconciling their differences on the last page. The disc is a fine black with the text "momo-i quality" printed in a futuristic silver font.

Lyrics booklet:

Photobook:

Inside Disc:

A separately packed B2 (20"x28*) promotional poster is included.

Although momo-i quality is a compilation album of past songs, upon listening it actually feels quite new since most of the songs previously released have been remixed. Here are the tracks I've picked out that have not been previously released:

Opening - dreaming more! more! - is an instrumental intro remix loosely based on Motto Yume Miyou and was composed by Momoi herself.

LOVE.EXE -momo-i quality version- features more complex instrumentals this time, arranged professionally by Shinya Saitou. The vocals have also been significantly stripped of distracting effects, and the overall result is a much cleaner song that maintains the catchiness of the original.

Far and away ~party night~ -new mix- is my current favorite on this album and a wonderful remix of Feria's theme song from Prism Ark: Prism Heart II. Slow clear vocals set to a good tune always always tend to sit well with me. The arranger is Haraddy.

Akihabalove -summery summer version- A very impressive remix by Halko Momoi, who according to the credits also played composer/arranger on this one. I find the background instrumentals a lot more varied and interesting than the pure synth sound by Perfume. As for whether she does a better job of singing, I think her pronouncing of "dekiruyo" is a thousand times cuter than Nocchi. I will not say more at the risk of starting a Perfume vs. Momoi holy war.

As for Motto, Yume, Miyou!! -now I feel...version-: although it is "new" in name, it appears to be the exact same song as bright future next step version. If someone can correct me on this and point out any subtle differences that I may have missed, please let me know.

Overall, given the new tracks and the extras, this album is solid in terms of content and a good buy for any Momoi fan, especially since many of the singles featured in this CD are no longer available for purchase.

But aside from Momoi stuff, my mail today also contained a few other goodies which had probably been sitting in CDJapan's offices for months before I finally relieved them of their misery and let them ship everything together:

Clockwise from the top-left corner: momo-i quality, Mami Kawada's Seed, two Kimiko Koyama albums, To Heart 2 Soundtrack and Character Songs, Marinarina and Zoku Marinarina.

And lastly, because I forgot to post about it...I returned last week from Otakon. The trip was fairly productive, and I managed to cram in most of the presentations I wanted to see, excluding 4chan because fuck that idiotic line and the powertripping staffers who tried to herd it.

Out of the video showings, I most significantly came away with newfound appreciation of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, which I previously dismissed as retarded magical girl pedobait (I was ESPECIALLY put off by this genre ever since the steaming turd that was Magical Canan - which I forced myself to watch solely for Rokku character designs and Mizuki Nana voice - who by the way probably realized this show was shit and mailed in an absolutely dismal performance that I still haven't completely forgiven for someone of her caliber). Now realize the error of my judgmental ways. In the 4 episodes of "A's" that I saw, I learned that Nanoha is not a panty flashing girly girl moe show but actually about powerful mages wielding awesome steam-releasing pump-action cartridge-loaded rocket-powered polo-playing jackhammers scored to a John Williamsesque full orchestra soundtrack (HELL YEAH). Goldenboy was also pretty good and I will probably be tracking it down eventually. Out of all films, my favorite showing without question was Osamu Tezuka's Cleopatra, a terrible low-budget and unsubbed 18+ movie which was simultaneously the best and worst thing ever.

Industry-wise, I attended about 12 industry panels during my trip. Notable guests I met include Madhouse founder Masao Maruyama and director/character designer Kazuto Nakazawa, two great guests who both had CRIMINALLY low attendance (like 20-30). Interestingly enough, Masao Maruyama went to see Nobuteru Yuki's panel, and sat down directly next to me - I scored an early autograph this way. I had to miss most of the J-Rock panels due to scheduling reasons, although I did get into the MUCC/Nana Kitade concert thanks to some incredible luck. Out of everything, Ayako Kawasumi was probably my favorite for obvious reasons, and I'm still kicking myself today for forgetting to bring my iRiver with me to record it. During the autographing session, she signed my Maritan book and was particularly amused that I even knew about it.

Here is the Otakon haul, limited not by my funds but by the size of my backpack (Sunday in dealer's room was AWESOME. My budget was only $200 but I filled up wayyy before that):

As you can see, a couple of good things up there..such as two Aria figure collections, new YURIA album Honey Bee, an issue of HM3 (seiyuu photobook magazine), oh and the crown jewel + ultimate goal of the trip:


Two autographed items by Ayako Kawasumi! :) I'm quite the happy camper.

By the way, Ayako is much MUCH cuter than any pictures would have you believe. She's just not very photogenic.

Posted by Paranda at 7:33 PM | Comments (5)

Kill me now

I'm sitting here at work in a cramped office with 11 desktops, 8 servers (ALL OF WHICH ARE ON AND RUNNING) and the AC is busted today.

Outside:

Posted by Paranda at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)

I must declare my support for Borders Express, formerly Waldenbooks.

For always offering fair deals stackable with Borders Reward program for maximum value. The people there are nice too. Thanks to their summer reading initiative (buy 3 paperbacks get 4th free), I picked up 20 volumes of manga today and a nice 8" figure of Aya Natsume from Tenjo Tenge for approximately $180 in addition to racking up 11 dollars worth of reward points.

And this is a strangely large and detailed figure to be selling for less than $20. Geez most import PVCs this size go for 30.

Posted by Paranda at 12:04 AM | Comments (2)

Annual Stash Inventory 2006

Otakon is coming up yet again. It's time for the one year follow up to this post. The junk pile has expanded considerably since I last did one of these. Hopefully I can continue the trend for a few more years before I go bust.

Posted by Paranda at 1:43 AM | Comments (0)

Maritan Intensive Language Drill

This lovely package came in today. Inside are full size illustrations, comics, and examples designed to help you have fun learning and speaking like a drill sergeant. Think of it as "Moetan," but only for the colorful style of English supposedly spoken by Marines (or at least what Japan believes it to be spoken by Marines). Of course, by "colorful," I mean hilarious sentences such as "I like you. Come over to my house and fuck my sister."

The pack also includes a voice CD which proved to be the best part (and is real reason I ordered this thing). Ai Tokunaga is cast brilliantly as Maritan, and her engrish inflection is noticeably better than Yukari Tamura. Still, it's scarily good enough to give me great enjoyment, despite being belittled as a subhuman amphibious piece of shit. Ayako Kawasumi, Mai Kadowaki, and Tomoko Kaneda also provide their talents as Navy-san, J-tan, and Army-san, respectively.

Some images. Click to enlarge:

Maritan ICE BURNS Navy-san with "lol texas" even though she isn't from Texas. She also supports the Bush administration in hating French "slots."

Pics of the allstar cast. Ayako once again shows she seems to blindly take on any role with no rhyme or reason. Not that I'm complaining.

Posted by Paranda at 6:49 PM | Comments (4)

Back from Superman Returns

Saw it with some friends today. Reaction: good! This film went all-out on visual effects, and I am satisifed. My opinion: worse than Batman Begins, better than X-men, on par with the Spiderman movies. Much cheesy dialogue was present, and several stupid moments, but ultimately entertaining.

Some flaws I felt were too large to ignore:

• Fortress of Solitude apparently has no security system of any kind or difficult terrain to keep regular humans out that only Superman can navigate.
• Lex Luthor plot device - "No one will allow you to do this." "Aha but I have TECHNOLOGY! I can beat ANYTHING!" So - Luthor apparently has the army and tech to sustain full-on aggression by every single country on the earth to be devastated by these floods? Well SHOW it to me then, because the only things he seemd to own were a cruise ship, a helicopter, and some crystals he stole.
• Lois Lane is loose.

Neat parts:

• The opening scene of the planet explosion and the space travel, viewed on IMAX, is coolest thing ever.
• Interpretation of how Superman learned to fly.
• Bullet 2 Eye.
• The entire segment where he falls from space and everything after that (except for Lois's "I DONT KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME" scene which must have been used a zillion times in every movie made)
• More Imax stuff.

Go watch this on Imax if you can. The movie feels like it was made specifically for that giant screen in mind. It's definitely worth it.

Also, GO FRANCE! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! Zidane is awesome :)

Posted by Paranda at 1:14 AM | Comments (0)

Gekkostate vinyl stickers.

My set of four arrived today (one for the laptop, one for my current car, and two saved for future use). Eureka 7 fans will probably recognize the logo. These were much bigger than I expected, and feel pretty sturdy. Sheets were custom cut by forum goon stormrider. Overall I am impressed with the quality and I like them so much I may order another sheet the next time he does a batch of these again.

Posted by Paranda at 2:59 AM | Comments (2)

Tama-chan figure!

Just became available for preorder :) Seems to have swappable parts with Majichan. I prefer her wearing purple like in the animated series but what the hell, I've waited too long for a Tama-chan figure I'll take what I can get.

Tama is Magical Cute's mascot designed by Yuiko Tokumi and self proclaimed "world's smartest first grader." She is voiced by Halko Momoi in the TV anime "Bottle Fairy."

Posted by Paranda at 12:22 PM | Comments (2)

CDJapan now offers magazine subscriptions

However, I expected a somewhat better deal considering they are a fairly large establishment that could probably afford to work in some sort of deal with the publishers. Instead they'll be charging full price per issue and full shipping. With all this considered, they haven't really been able to undercut other places like Sasuga or JList - some of their deals are even worse. Megami, which I've thought about getting for a while now, is notably cheaper, but the pricetag still puts me off..which is disappointing. I have also emailed them an inquiry about getting new issues of Seiyuu Grandprix, now that the only other US supplier, Animeten is having troubles with no sign of recovery. Still, unless they add some sort of bonus for subscribing I don't think it is likely that I'll bite even for Seiyuu Grandprix. You'd think they could offer some sort of discount based on the length of your order (3 months and 1 year all sell at the same price). This is still a new service though, and has only been up for about 2 days. Maybe they'll introduce some better deals soon. Keeping my eyes open for now.

edit: Wrong category.

Posted by Paranda at 4:26 AM

I need to catch up on American TV

A few thousand dollars of merchandise later, it's time to end my phase of denial. In the past two years at college armed with regular disposable income and lots of free time, I've gradually been sucked into the dreaded lifestyle of the anime nerd, which, when I first got into the stuff, I swore would never happen. A stone's throw away from full blown otaku, I am now totally out of touch with things normal people enjoy.

This dawned on me at work during our usual pre-meeting time for idle smalltalk, when suddenly some coworkers started up a conversation about a particular TV show. As it turns out, everone was watching it except me, and so I sat there in this lively conversation twiddling my thumbs looking like the lonely outcast, hoping desperately someone would change to subject to politics or hardware or E3 or something else I knew a little about. Later, I found out this TV show was called 24.

So, determined to curb this before it becomes a real problem, this summer I plan to backtrack a bit and catch up on American television, so that at least I can hold my own on fairly general TV/cultural topics that I can better continue to hide my predominant interest in Mikuru beams, seiyuu worship, and moe analysis.

Task for May: Download and marathon all episodes of 24 aired to date. I'm actually looking forward to it though. It seems pretty good.

Also I got my grades back. It was better than I expected, but somehow taunting at the same time..as I was so close to a 4.0. Instead, I have a 3.88 for this semester. The culprit? You guessed it: B+ in Databases.

Posted by Paranda at 4:53 PM | Comments (1)

3 Habaneros

Posted by Paranda at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)

I was so worried I was going to fail my DBMS final

Good thing I got that over with. Now that I've failed it, I don't have to worry anymore.

One more week.

Posted by Paranda at 1:12 AM | Comments (0)

I am still alive

But if this still holds true by next week will be debatable. Org Comm is killing me. KILLING ME TO MAKE SURE I AM DEAD! Databases is also pretty hard, and I have no idea WTF I'm doing in PnP2. I am so gonna die on the final. That nice GPA I worked my ass off for the past 2 years..its pretty much done for. Given the curve, I'm pretty sure no matter what I do in Databases and Org Comm, even if I get a perfect score on the finals, can't save my grade enough to break even an A-. That's one thing I hate about the Stern curve - you only get one chance.

Estimated grades:
Comp Sci I - A
Managerial Accounting - A
Database Management - B
Organizational Communication - B/B+
Computer Principles and Practice II - ????? (B for now, but potentially very bad when the final comes around May 2nd. Like 'C-' bad if I don't do something about it.)

Today I have also registered next semester's schedule. As I have learned my lesson from my anticipated piss poor performance this time, there is NO way I am going to take 3 computer related courses again at the same time next semester, as I only realized now that all CS classes tend to give homework assignments that are ridiculously long and complex. Well that was retarded. Hopefully my classes next semester will help balance out this semester's disaster. I tend to do well in pure business courses.

Fall 2006 Lineup:
Legal aspects of Business
Comp Sci II
Financial Information Systems
Economics of Global Markets
Competitive Advantage from Operations

By the way, Albert is shit. Who the hell decided to have two minute maximums on session times? Yeah I love reloading the whole NYU Home page and logging in again every other click. Die!!

Posted by Paranda at 1:27 AM | Comments (1)

Dammit! (desu)

I backordered this damn thing JANUARY 4TH! It still failed! Argh, Suiseiseki I have failed you as a fan. ;_;

In other news, Tetris DS is pretty fun, especially with the new modes. Catch is my favorite so far, with a really cool concept of bringing a mass and connecting it to free floating tetris blocks. Mental and muscle memory from the old Tetris will not help much, and you have to concentrate pretty hard to get through the higher levels. I actually had cold sweats dodging metroids for dear life.

So far, marathon mode is my least favorite, as it gets impossibly hard, fast. I figured I would have no problem in traditional Tetris, as I've been playing Tetris for so many years now on my graphing calculator it's like second nature, but marathon gets so mindblowingly fast it's not even funny - as in instant tetromino drop without even a moment to step left or right. Past 150 lines, the game becomes an exercise in "LOL PRESS ROTATE REALLY FAST AND PRAY YOU DON'T GET THE O BLOCK." All those years of Tetris skill cannot be applied to a mode like this where actual strategizing and reaction speed take a back seat to thumb endurance. I got bored and died at around 600 lines and haven't tried again since.

As for Metroid, I'm taking a brief break after playing for nearly three days straight on multiplayer. I hear the single player is engaging as well, but I dislike FPS single player modes in general, as I have terrible sense of direction and any map beyond the size of typical closed multiplayer arenas will confuse me (I avoid hedge mazes in real life too because I'd probably die in one).

Finally, my final announcement today - I may be ordering the Habanero-tan plant and figure set found here. However, importing is quite expensive on a small scale like this, so I will be paying around $45 for a 2100yen item. As much as I love Habanero and would be willing to pay through the nose for her, a 100%+ markup seems just a tad unreasonable and will probably result in a massive case of buyer's remorse soon after if I were to go through with it. So, I make this proposal: if anyone would like to order one as well, perhaps we can pool our orders together and save some cash on commission and shipping. They are taking up to three orders per person, so I can arrange deals with two people. Contact me if you live in the continental US and are interested: paranda@paranda.net

Update (March 26): I have one person with me on this deal, so there is only one slot left. I will order by April 1st.
Update (March 30): 3 slots have been filled. Ordered.

Posted by Paranda at 2:20 AM | Comments (0)

おめでとう私.

Posted by Paranda at 12:14 AM | Comments (1)

Brief review of four Japanese import middleman services.

Akibado
Commission: Variable. http://www.akibado.com/auction.html
Pros: Offer personal import service in addition to auction. Best commission prices. Automated order and shipping status checking.
Cons: Mysterious nonresponse times. Often overloaded with too many customers, which means you have a higher chance of getting screwed.

Celga
Commission: Flat $10 per 10,000 yen increase. http://www.celga.com/fee.html
Pros: They have somebody working all shifts. Very rapid response time, plus fluent english speaking representatives. They will time your order to place your bid during the final few hours. You can also create your own account to bid with.
Cons: No automated request or shipping system. You have to send emails to place orders or check if your items have arrived. They like to round up costs and not explain why or how they are derived.

Crescent-Shop
Commission: 12.5% http://www.crescent-shop.com/index08.html
Pros: Offers import service in addition to auction. Will provide free translation and is very good about explaining store policies and procedures you may not understand.
Cons: Will not strategically time your bids (places them right away). Slower response times. Seems to be run by one guy, so he's obviously not going to be available at all times.

Rinkya
Commision: 15$ base plus 1$ per 1000 yen. http://www.rinkya.com/bid.php
Pros: You're on your own to make bids.
Cons: You're on your own to make bids. High base commission makes bidding on small things costly.

Remember the following:
Exercise caution and common sense - just like you would on Ebay or anywhere else. Translate pages, or get someone to translate them for you.

If you bid your max at a "buy it now" price, most places will just bid the max for you right away and close the deal - so if you want to get it below the buy it now price, bid below it.

Some sites use yen commission, some sites use dollar commission. Take the exchange rate into account to get the best deal on this.

Posted by Paranda at 1:54 PM | Comments (0)

Database professor enjoys overhyping midterm.

It was speculated that the midterm would be cover a vast arrangement of highly complex topics with a generous curve to make up for the extreme difficulty. Naturally, with everyone's current grade roughly the same due to a lack of homeworks and projects, we all hoped to beat the curve by studying ourselves to death. I was one of the victims of this professors's trap. In the past week I have sufferred several minor concussions as a result of frustrating over impossible to understand material, using vaguely worded 400 page powerpoint slideshows as my study guide.

So while I'm shitting bricks the previous nights over 6 forms of normalization, bag theory, 8000 ways in SQL to get the max value without using the MAX() function, and Boyce-Codd theory of shoving large objects up my ass (these were all mentioned as important topics that will show up on the midterm), it turns out the actual test basically asked questions on the level of "{1, 2, 3} is a set. Yes[ ] No [ ]"

Uh...

In other news, my black ER-6i's arrived today - a great way to start spring break. Sound quality is pretty nice. Definitely blocks out a lot of sound which will allow me to lower the volume on bus rides and buy my eardrums a few extra years of functionality. Hopefully. My only complaint is they feel so fragile I'm afraid to even sneeze while wearing them. I'm undecided on comfort yet.. I'll need more time to break these in. I am pretty noobish when it comes to headphones though, hopefully these were the right choice.

Posted by Paranda at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)

Firefox, wasting memory like there's no tomorrow.

Today I got a "System is low on virtual memory" warning for the first time ever on my laptop, which happens to have 2GB RAM. I was pretty shocked, since I didn't have much open. A trip to task manager reveals:

Uh ok. Wow Firefox decides it needs 1.2 GB of memory all to itself. All I had open was a small plain text page in a tab. Apparently, two days worth of past browsing managed to build up this much waste. Leave it to Firefox to have horrible memory leaks that have not been fixed for years. This disgusted me so much, I'm seriously considering switching to Opera or something else. Maybe even OMG Internet Explorer 7. Surely nothing can be as bad as this??

Posted by Paranda at 4:59 AM | Comments (1)

Binchotan coin bank

Somehow the idea of a Bincho-tan coin bank is just so clever to me, I had to buy it.

Posted by Paranda at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

Newegg apparently has a warehouse 40 miles from my house.

I just ordered some RAM for my new laptop two days ago, my credit card validated it yesterday, and it arrived today. Checked with UPS tracking and shipping and delivering the order took them 3 hours. This is with the cheapest slowest shipping choice selected.

Frikkin' awesome.

Posted by Paranda at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

Ski Trip + Visiting Niagara Falls

Going back to visit Canada for the break. 7 days without internets..oh god all the torrent I will miss!

Posted by Paranda at 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

Oh Saber

The figures have begun arriving. Today's mail:




Ohhhh yeaaahhhh..

Posted by Paranda at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)

Post-thanksgiving suffer time

Since I am not into this whole "Black Friday" hysteria and thus not concerned about being alert and fit to raid any stores tomorrow (real reason: I am going to work), I decided to consume my own body weight in turkey and stuffing. This is probably unhealthy, and now I can't walk due to the slightest shift in weight most likely resulting in the explosion of my distended stomach, its internal pressure delicately balanced only by outside weight of my sweater. My incapacitation is expected to last 6 - 8 hours: approximately the amount of time it will take for digestion.

 \ o /
(  .  )
  / \

Posted by Paranda at 3:17 AM | Comments (0)

It appears that I have screwed myself.

I stupidly filled all my general requirements and major prerequisites last year really really fast without choosing any electives for a minor, and I don't have enough credits for junior standing so I can't select more of the advanced courses for my major until next year. So...what the hell do I do now for the spring semester? I can't work on furthering my major, so I HAVE to work on a minor, or just not minor at all but taking random classes would be a total waste. Course registration opens tomorrow, so have one day to decide on my minor else risk waitlist and shitty scheduling..and once I decide, I must take three classes related to it simultaneously (this automatically rules out any minor that forces you to take classes in a particular order). What a pleasant situation. I am an idiot.

Decisions so far:
Major: Definite: Finance & Information Systems (double major)
Minor: Boiled down to: Computer Science OR Math OR Economics.

At Stern if you plan your classes exactly right with absolutely no excess and no wasting of classes, you can cram exactly two majors and one minor into 128 credits. I plan on cramming this even further by taking advantage of maxing out on credits per semester and graduating early. Because I am a masochist and that's what masochists do. Only I accidentally made it even worse by shoving my 3/4ths of my minor into one semester.

Also, I probably bombed that accounting midterm because I know I only half finished that last question which was worth TWENTY GODDAMN POINTS. It seemed hard enough even though I studied, so maybe I'm not alone. Go go curve! PLEASEEEE!

Posted by Paranda at 3:41 AM | Comments (0)

Midterm week, part 2

And to make it worse, I have to get up at 5AM and bus over to the school for each test. Being a commuter sucks. I just have to survive until the end of this year, and then..never again. I'd rather just piss away money in a dorm on campus. College PROTIP: Don't commute!

Posted by Paranda at 10:57 PM | Comments (1)

SKI Computer Expo

So MSKCC had a pretty cool computer expo today where a bunch of tech vendors came in to show off their new products that could help our hospital and research facilities. I was relegated to the registration table where I attempted to teach all these genius cancer-curing expo attendees how to click a mouse to sign in. After the morning crew rush, I had some time to browse the expo myself and I saw some pretty cool stuff.

First off, I had some stress inducing fun with Lapsim, a very neat virtual surgery training program. Even in a simple simulation, the pressure to succeed was absolutely enormous and I, along with pretty much everyone else who tried out the thing, would panic during any accidental tear of some vitally important tube and the blood would just gushing out like a fountain and and...oh man as the clock ticks, you try to save the guy by working faster but you just end up stabbing him in the gut with your clamps and scissors or stapling his lung to his heart or whatever. Surgeons sure do have it tough.

Next I checked out some neat MRI imaging thing. I had no clue what the rep was talking about and felt kind of stupid among all the lab-coated nodding heads, but huge pictures of spinning brains and their cross sections are always fun to look at. Then another rep came and did a presentation about 3D models of cells, DNA, and other structures. Luckily I read Genome back in 8th grade, so I at least had some idea and was generally able to play along with "yeah..telomeres."

VENDORS! Microsoft was pretty generous with the gifts. I stood there for a few seconds watching a guy explain Excel and suddenly I found my arms filled with MS branded frisbees, stress balls, an extremely nice and expensive-looking pen/pencil boxed set, and a letter opener. Google, who was set up directly at the next table, gave out post-it pads. They also ignored me and didn't say "hi" when I wandered past the table.

HP/Compaq. I hear that they have a pretty crappy reputation among the nerds on the internet. I would like to say that this is probably outdated or not true, at least for the professional line. I don't know about the home line, but at MSKCC we use HP workstations, and servicing for us has always been easy. Since I was shopping around for a tablet, I checked out what they had to offer. The newer compaqs are pretty sleek looking if you ask me, and they're not too expensive.

IBM salesmen are pretty cool. Apparently, part of their sales routine just involves them abusing the shit out of their laptops and PCs (punching, throwing, jumping on - the guy was at least 200 pounds), and then turning them on to show everything working perfectly fine. They also boasted about the cooling benefits of "oooooh titanium casing." It's probably a load of bollocks, but I found myself tempted, especially by the super small S series. The X41 tablet is also extremely sexy and now I want one. Too bad it's two grand at even the lowest configuration.

There were lots of other vendors too selling some stuff, but I forgot their names and I didn't have that much time to look around anyway. Later on I heard Apple was there too, but somehow I missed it!!! At noon I had a free pizza lunch and then returned to manning the registration tables for the afternoon crowd. Finally at the closing ceremony we raffled off a couple of prizes including two iPod Nanos donated by Apple, an XBOX donated by Microsoft, a DVD burner and graphing calculator donated by HP, and some Symantec software. IS employees aren't supposed to participate in the raffle so I just watched on the sidelines while stuffing myself silly with cookies. After everything was cleaned up, the rest of the expo staff went out drinking, while I, being my poor under-21 self, rushed back to NYU to attend my IAG meeting.

Today's stock was ETLT.

Posted by Paranda at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

No, not marketing midterms!

After throroughly studying and applying concepts and possibly acing the test, I realize that few of the marketing rules apply to me, and thus I fail on all levels as a rational consumer.

Posted by Paranda at 11:20 PM | Comments (2)

NJTransit sucks

What the fuck is this "no buses on Sundays" shit? In short, I was not able to see Yoko Ishida today. Now I am going to go cut myself. Or play more Katamari. Bye.

(Luckily it was ONLY Yoko Ishida and not Halko...although if it were Halko, I suppose would not even be having this problem because I'd have camped out the day before)

Posted by Paranda at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

Densha Otoko is over

I've finally watched the last episode of Densha Otoko. My reactions are pretty much demonstrated by this guy:
BENOIIIIIIIIIIISSST! I wrote a longer sentimental comment in ADTRW which I don't feel comfortable sharing on my site, but yeah...the general gist of it was that I cried like a little girl. Please please please watch this show for the good of humanity. When you see this horrible group of outcasts band together, it is such a good feeling Your faith in people will be restored.

Second, let us discuss Akiba-Ou Senshuken. Thanks to a particular goon, many of us have managed to see this gem in Japanese television: a quest to become Akiba King! This thing is seriously funny and also often infuriating (jealousy at awesome prizes). Where else do you see a bunch of otaku fighting each other to get to the top of a greasy slide, for a Rei figure and a chance to match sound clips to seiyuu? Except the best part of this was OMG SURPRISE APPEARANCE BY ACTUAL SEIYUU!

INOUE KIKUKO, DOES SHE TRULY UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON THROUGH THIS MAN'S MIND? Appearances were also made by Aya Hisakawa and Ai Shimizu. In the final runs of the first round, where the one to make it up to the slide got to stand next to her, the look of determination when the hardcore Ai Shimizu otaku was really something. He did manage to scramble up, and Ms. Shimizu gave him a personalized call message recorded on his cellphone as a prize.

Next up, they go to various Akiba maid cafes where they do a variety of things. Maid cafes, if you are not familiar with them, are basically restaurants where the waitresses dress up in maid costumes, call you goshujinsama, and fulfill your horrible anime maid fantasies. Sounds pretty seedy like a maid whorehouse, but actually it's kind of cute and relatively innocent considering the clientele are basically nerds. They will also call you oniichan if you ask them to.

In one challenge, they had to identify the incorrect part of 5 maid uniforms. Only cosplay otaku got it right. Later, an even harder challenge involved them sampling random drinks and then trying to find which maid cafe it came from. Only two otaku made it to the final round.

The final round involved giving random girls a "moe" makeover. The two finalists drew numbers from a box, and matched them to the corresponding girl. The winner would be the one who could make their assigned girl the cutest.

One guy got pretty lucky with an easy task.

The other did not.

TASTE THE DESPAIR!!

AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

However, the guy stuck with ganguro girl happened to be cosplay expert otaku, and he ended up doing a pretty decent job with her. Linked in case you plan on watching this and do not want to spoil it. The results from the other guy were pretty weird too. He knew people would be less impressed at his transformation compared to making over a fucking GANGURO, so he had to go overboard on his girl. We ended up getting to see his creation, a "nekomimi meido imouto." Wow.

Definitely a lot of fun, and also very educational for aspiring otaku. If you have ever called yourself otaku proudly, seriously, most likely you are just an attention-whoring moron that most people hate. You do not deserve the prestigious title of otaku until you can match up to even half of some of these guys. Ai Shimizu otaku was hardcore man. In the invade your room" part, he did the concert dance without even looking! And next time, ask yourself...do you have Marimite costumes in your closet? Because they do.

Posted by Paranda at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

Blah. Random entry.

Items of concern this week:

- MORITA-SENPAI!!! I like Honey and Clover and I like Morita.

- Momoi improvising "Do you remember love" from Macross on keyboard at Anipara. Oh 2003, what a great year for Halko Momoi fans.

- Priz needs to return my emails or I will start to AIM-stalk him so he can finally watch GURAGURA.

- Momoi Akihabalove DVD search not going well at all. I did manage to scrounge up some obscure songs from a CD that she sold at Comiket 67 that Nakid never ever ever promoted. What the hell, Nakid?

- Akibapop has the best intro/outro I have ever heard and I could loop it forever because I love "A. K. I. B. A Akibapop" cheerleader style chanting to fast beats. :heart: Mosaic.wav. I desperately want the full version.

- My investment professor appears to be BS'ing his way through the last two classes. I hope he's only kidding around and will actually start teaching next week! Otherwise...

- Do I like KOTOKO enough to buy this? http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=GNCA-16
I already have this song on Glass no Kaze, so it is a huge waste of money. But..it comes with a DVD...and it's not some random singer, it's fucking KOTOKO!! Help me out.

Posted by Paranda at 10:38 PM | Comments (2)

NYU 2005 Fall Semester

retsu begin de gozaimasu

Posted by Paranda at 2:07 AM | Comments (0)

I was a TVO kid

I was raised from in Canada from 4 until about 10 or 11, so like most young Canadians out there, I grew up with primarily two essential channels. TVO and YTV. Today, I saw the opening video for Today's Special, and it brought back many memories I thought I had lost. I want to revisit them now for my own purposes.

YTV first:

note: I wrote this while in an excited/tired state at 2:00AM, so I am in no mood to care about grammar or punctuation or whatever. I will not be proofreading this or revising, since I wrote this for myself and don't expect anyone else to actually read it.

While YTV had interesting programming, it was always the live action segments in between that were the most fun. As a child, seeing the PJs always made me happy, somehow. They were a constant. They were always there, and having fun, and they seemed to be the one absolute proof that adults could have fun lives. I had fun watching them. It didn't occur to me that they were actors or poor struggling college students trying to earn a paycheck on children's television..no I believed that they actually and truly did live in some huge treehouse, talk with puppets, and watch cartoons all day. I still remember three names: PJ Phil, PJ Jenn (who betrayed us all and jumped ship to host the saturday morining lineup on ABC!), and PJ Allison. I was also old enough to remember the much hyped "Warren Day," when that green fuzzball took over the network. Aside from those memorable live action segments, they mostly played anime, heavily edited French and American cartoons, and some other stuff that I can't remember ( There was some show about a guy named Lupin. It may have been french. It has nothing to do with the anime by Monkey Punch. There was also show about robots, and one of them was called Ninjas and he had Bruce Lee or some other guy's spirit programmed into him, and for the life of me, I can't remember the title.)

Anyway, what I wanted to get at was, while YTV was good, TVO was better because it was mostly live action, and those kinds of shows created memories that stuck with me. Later on in the 90s, they also started one of those afternoon "host" lineup thingies. There was a white woman with long brown hair, and a tall black guy with short hair or perhaps bald. I have completely forgotten their names, but I do remember them telling me everyday to "call 1-888-TVO-KIDS." It may be nostalgia talking, but I think these types of shows, along with their host-lineup format, were worlds better than the utter garbage Nickalodeon plays today. If they ever sold DVDs of these, you bet I would buy them up right away, because they were totally awesome. What the hell is today's programming? Wild Thornberries, Rugrats, CatDog, Hey Arnold? It hurts my head thinking about it.

Among the best of the best of the old TVO shows:
Join In! (Zack, Jacob, and Nikki live together in some apartment and do stuff. It was fun.)
Art Attack (This got me interested in art. In retrospect, Niel's arts and crafts projects were always impossibly hard for any 8 year old to do well..but at least he got me trying.)
Today's Special (I remember this being my favorite goddamn show on TV ever when I was 5 years old. I still remember the episode with Sam doing chinups.)
Eureeka's Castle (Nobody I know remembers this show. Nobody.)
Ghost Writer (I used to think this was good but now I realize it kind of sucks).
How do you do? (Technically not a children's show. It was actually a series designed to teach English to foreigners. But it had a cool robot who looked like the Tin Man, and the skits where he learns to be human are hilarious.)
Inquiring Minds (Yes, inquiring minds want to know.)
Lamb Chop's Play Along (I used to watch this for hours on end when I was sick, because TVO would play this for hours on end)
Pingu (coolest claymation show ever. ever. Really, no claymation has ever topped this, not even Wallace and Gromit)
The Elephant Show (The only name I can remember is Bram, but everybody on this show was cool..especially Eric, which leads us to:)
The Eric Show (I think this only lasted one season, but in the pilot episode, Eric had managed to improvse "I need to go to the bathroom" lyrics into his song that had me rolling.)
Polka Dot Door (For some reason this was always intensely interesting, but now I realize it must have been totally boring for my parents. It is definitely the kind of show you could watch on acid though; then it would be the best show ever.)

Posted by Paranda at 1:51 AM | Comments (4)

Here we are

BLOGGING LIVE FROM..[MY HOUSE], WHEN I SHOULD BE IN..[BALTIMORE]. PLANS FELL THROUGH. DON'T BE AN IDIOT LIKE ME. HAVE BACKUP DRIVERS!

Posted by Paranda at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)

Spending problem

I just bought $300 worth of figures from eBay and CDJapan. Help me! HELP!!!!

Oh, I also got my Perfect Grade MS06 Char Zaku, and it is FRIKKIN HUGE!

Posted by Paranda at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Annual Stash Inventory

It's time once again to make preparations for mass shopping in the dealer room at Otakon next weekend, and to do this, I am taking my annual stash inventory to see what I have and don't have. I also took some pictures to show off before I started counting, because I think my room is pretty cool for an anime fag such as myself. I realize there are quite of few people who could probably outdo me, but this is only the second year I've had any sort of income. Oh yes, I fully intend to catch up with the masters. It'll be fun...so long as I never have to invite anybody other than me inside it. Or it's figures/poster hiding time. And that would be a big pain.

Onward with pics.

My pretty Chii walls. I used to like Chobits a lot. I don't anymore, but the posters are still nice. No I did not do disgusting things with my Puchiko pillow. As you can see, it is still in the case to prevent dust. I value my collection. I wish I got a Dejiko instead though. I made up for it with a tiny Dejiko plushy on my door.

My prized shelf. Room is limited, so I have been forced to stack a couple of things. They definitely deserve their own row. But I can't buy a new shelf because I always use my money to buy more figures and manga.