milkypink [dot] net

Short short entry today because I’m exhausted (x_x)
Talked with people about voice lesson possibilities today, who they would recommend, etc.
Making plans for what days would be best, transportation, is going well.
Spring semester starts soon so I have to put in my registration within the next couple days to ensure I get a chance at the lesson time I want…
I’m excited!
I kept meaning to take voice lessons but never bothered…

Or, I should really say “Lack of Packages”
I did my best to clear out the area by the mailbox today, chopping through several layers of ice to reach the pavement beneath, but I’m still not sure if that’s enough since we didn’t get any mail today… although that does happen occasionally anyway, it’s ambiguous :/
On top of that, I was supposed to receive an EMS package today based on tracking, but I never saw anyone, and the updated tracking now says they tried to deliver it ridiculously early in the morning and that they left a notice… but if they did, I can’t find one! No slip on or by the door or in the mailbox :/ So I can’t even pick it up at the post office without that…
Tomorrow I will watch like a hawk ( > 3 <) I want my fluffy coat!

Pretty much didn’t do anything.
Coordinated a nice outfit using the LL Doll skirt, went grocery shopping.
Exercised, watched Shugo Chara!
以上です。

So you know how I was trying to dig out my mailbox yesterday?
It snowed. AGAIN. today.
So plows have reburied everything D:
Really not happy about this ( > >)

In other news, I uncovered my old lyrics and have been reading them over to get back in the habit of writing them. About half are usable as-is and the rest need at least a little tweaking, which isn’t bad. I even tried singing one of them and recorded it (nothing worth sharing yet, though!) and it felt pretty natural~

I wanted to go up to the mall today and look at keyboards but that obviously didn’t happen…

For brunch today, I went out to dim sum.
I have to admit it.
I don’t think I like dim sum.
I mean, I like the concept of it, being able to pick and choose small quantities of food, with a large variety of types, but I just… I can’t really find anything I actually want to eat.
People think I might like Tapas better. I’m not sure. I might have the same problem.
So since I didn’t eat much at dim sum, we went to Friendly’s afterwards, where I had a sandwich XD
And of course I got some ice cream to bring home (even though it’s been in the low teens (F) lately…)

I was going to just go back outside and try to clear out the area by the mailbox (since the Postal Services left a little illustrated note showing how you should and shouldn’t keep the area around your mailbox clear… we hadn’t really being doing anything. It felt like a passive aggressive tactic to say “remove the snow or you won’t get any mail” XD)
BUT the Cat Genie was beeping and wasn’t draining properly :/

So I had to disassemble it and figure out what happened.
Apparently a TON of the granules had gotten into the hopper area so it couldn’t drain. I don’t know why still, so I can’t completely prevent it, but at least I know what to research now…
It seems to be working at the moment, but who knows what will happen tomorrow…

So after that mess, I went outside to clear the snow. Or, I should really say, ice. Layers and layers of ice.
It was a slow, incomplete process. I will try again tomorrow, since no mail is coming then anyway.

It’s only 5pm and I feel exhausted already XD

Most of today was spent watching Shugo Chara! and doing girly things like lightening my hair (mild success), curling it (even though I have to sleep on it before tomorrow, this way my hair will have at least a wave to it without any effort), and doing my nails (spent way too long without much to show for it…)

I also fixed some of the gems that fell off of my phone, and sewed up a plush bag charm that had come apart a little.

Tomorrow I’m going to have Dim Sum for lunch :9

I’ll go back and update my master list eventually, but here’s some more anime I’ve been watching and what I thought:

Shugo Chara!: I tried watching this when it first came out, and wasn’t interested. But now since it’s on Crunchyroll I thought I’d give it a second try. It’s not bad! Clearly aimed at kids (the main characters are 5th graders) but things are a little different than you’d expect so it’s entertaining :D

Toradora!: Have I said that I love this anime yet? Because I do ♥ I want to read the light novels too, but I’m on a spending ban right now… (;o；_；)o

Kannagi: This is over now, and although I liked it, I feel like nothing really happened? I don’t know, none of my questions got answered, and even MORE questions appeared in the last couple episodes. The manga’s on hiatus too so who knows what will happen with this one… （＠＿＠）

Pretty Cure: … don’t laugh! I saw merch for this EVERYWHERE when I was in Japan so I finally gave in to see what the show was all about. Relatively typical magical girl show, but not as good as Sailormoon so far :P I’m not overly fond of it, and it’s not culturally necessary that I watch it so I might stop…

Maria Holic: This has been animated AMAZINGLY (I ♥ SHAFT!) and has a crazy OP. Only 2 episodes in, but I will be watching this one to the end for sure!

Skip Beat!: I just watched all current 14 episodes today… kind of an overload, but it’s good! Of course it’s good timing right now, to watch a show about a girl trying to break into the entertainment business in Japan… (=^_^=) ヘヘヘ (although her motives are REVENGE oriented)

Looking at the list, aren’t there a lot of anime with ! in the title?
Or am I just collecting them somehow?…

I used to be really focused on owning a Japanese 携帯 (cell phone). Really really focused.
So much so that I bought a hacked Sharp phone for use in the US. It was fun, but not perfect, and it was missing one important thing: I wasn’t in Japan.
Not to mention the phone was a couple years old at the time, technology had moved forward… But I really enjoyed using it for a while.
Now, I have the Tilt, a pda/phone made by HTC (also known as the Kaiser or the TyTN II), and I can’t really imagine having something that could do less.
Since I have a pda phone, I have an unlimited data plan, which I do my best to take advantage of （＾▽＾笑） but isn’t unlimited outside of the US （（（ T_T） (of course, right? but anyway..)
I post to plurk, to twitter, I read feeds through the google reader’s iPhone designed interface, I can even check LJ but I usually don’t since the main reason I check is for communities that have downloads…. facebook sometimes, I guess. Oh and wikipedia and google! But mainly for settling arguments about information… XD
At this point, I feel really crippled if I can’t be connected when I want to be.
I notice this mostly while I’m travelling, especially on planes. I know some airlines have started to implement wifi, but that’s only within-country usually (much like JetBlue’s satellite TV offerings, they go out when you head over international waters) so that doesn’t help me during the trips I would most like to use it – overseas flights! But being in the foreign country is difficult, too. I’ve been lucky enough to find a nice hotel in Tokyo that provides complimentary internet access, but other places weren’t as good. In London, both times, I had to rely on either paying a heavy fee for day to day use (when I wouldn’t even be there a whole day!), going to a netcafe (blech!) or hitting up a McD’s with free wifi… Paris was even worse, despite it being a ridiculously nice hotel. I don’t remember why, but I remember spending a lot of time in the nearby McD’s to get my internet fix… Even in Hawaii, the resort’s internet was paypaypay.
Internet is everywhere, guys, just accept it as a normal comfort like air conditioning! (which, if I might add, I’d be more than willing to swap for internet access…)
It was harder for me then, being so desperately connected to friends through the internet only, but even now it’s unsettling if I can’t have my normal morning routine of breakfast & rss feeds :/
Maybe I can’t understand it because I live a mostly quiet life in an isolated area, but I don’t want to go on vacation to be further deprived of entertainment! Like going to a secluded area on an island that barely has anything but tourist shops, that isn’t relaxing! It’s just boring. Same goes for camping. I don’t find the idea of living outside to be exciting or appealing. When I go on vacation, I want to do something.

And if I can’t do something, at least let me have the internet and I won’t complain.

I find it really hard to do anything productive (especially anything that involves moving) when it’s cold out.
Now, this isn’t just because it’s cold outside, it’s because that means it’s also cold inside.
Maybe you’re thinking “but don’t you have heat?”
Well yeah, I do, but not good heat. Running it a lot basically just keeps the house from freezing, and our normal “room temp” is around 50-53F (10-12C) which is pretty chilly, if you ask me. But oil is expensive, and most of the house sucks at retaining heat. Either the windows aren’t properly insulated or it’s just because of the cathedral ceiling, I don’t know, but I do know that the result is a freaking cold living room and a pretty cold rest of the house.
Sure, I have blankets, and my little electric ceramic heater, but those only keep me warm if I’m glued to them.

Sometimes I feel like my body doesn’t really produce much heat. Being in hot weather doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it does other people, and it takes very little to cool me down.
But warming up? I either have to a) take a very hot bath, b) sit in front of a 500F wood stove or c) do some serious exercise, but NONE of those effects last very long. It’s like I’m a black hole for heat….

I’m really better suited for hot climates.

So why don’t I live in one?

Don’t ask me…. ┐(￣ー￣)┌　

I don’t like being 4 entries behind so I’m writing another one now to lessen the gap.

I’ve been trying to drink more water recently. It’s hard to get into the habit, but once you’re there it’s natural. Zero calories, keeps you hydrated, and in this weather, in my house, it’s always cold XD (I hate drinking lukewarm water unless I’m really thirsty and that’s all there is…)

I don’t drink tap water. This the the result of a lifelong conditioning of tap water at my house not being safe to drink. Even though the water here is supposedly okay, it’s still well water, so I buy gallons at the grocery store. This results in a lot of plastic bottles lying around… we do recycle them, though.

I’m currently using a pink Kleen Kanteen bottle after the Nalgene plastics scare, even though my bottle wasn’t a Nalgene at the time I figured, this is probably more sanitary anyway. I do miss having a straw though…

I had to get the sports pop sippy top for it, though. The open mouth was just begging for a disaster every time I tried to drink out of it…
all down the front of my shirt ( ｉдｉ )

like every day was wet T-shirt day or something ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ

Neosporin is my new favorite medical thing. I had a blister on my right hand from chopping ice, and I can’t play handbells with something like that, so I decided to drain it (using a sterilized needle, obv) and smother it with neosporin afterwards. Like a day later, completely healed. AMAZING. I have to remember to put it on my kitty scratches more often…