Flowers

I don't have anything to post today, so I will post a picture of some beautiful cut roses from my family's garden.

~have a nice day~

団長

This week, I made a Haruhi headband and armband. Surprisingly, I made both from ribbon.

For the Haruhi headband, I took a length of ribbon and sewed two ribbons on to it. Very simple, but it was hard to get the ribbons just right.

For the armband, it was even simpler. I took some ribbon, and ironed it. The ribbon flattened out happened to be the right size for the arm band. Lucky! Then, I just wrote 団長 (brigade leader) with permanent marker and tried to make it similar to Haruhi's armband. I use a safety pin like Haruhi to attach it to my clothes.

Camera

The other day, I was talking to my dad about cameras, and he told me that I could use one of his digital cameras that he didn't use anymore! He used to be a professional photographer, so this camera is really nice. I have taken a lot of nice pictures with it so far (although just of my backyard really:0)

~have a nice day~

Its been a while!

He he,,, I'm sorry for not posting in a while! I got back from my vacation a week ago and I still haven't posted! I have no excuse! But, some cool stuff has happened since I last posted. However, if I told you everything that I did this week in one post, I wouldn't have anything to post the rest of the week. おｋ! For now, I will talk about registering for a Nico Nico Douga account and my Miku picture. Today, I decided to make a Nico Nico Douga account. I did, and then browsed the videos. The videos on Nico Nico Douga are mostly Anime/Otaku related, so it was really interesting. It is much like Youtube, but the videos are really hyper and really Japanese. Currently there is no option for the site to be in English, but I read on Wikipedia that it will also be in English soon. The comments are overlaid on the video, like this:

As you can see, most of the comments aren't very constructive. Lots of wwwwwwwww, which is kind of equivalent to lol. Well, the comments appear on the video at the same time that you posted them at. So, many people submit the lyrics to the video and they come up at the correct time. There is also the option to remove the comments from the screen. I usually leave the comments up, but sometimes people spam the video so much that one cannot see the screen at all:

ha ha ha i love Nico Nico Douga

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Also, I drew a picture of Hatsune Miku:

~I will post again tomorrow~

Trip to Lancaster

Today, my mother, grandmother, ten year old sister and I drove to Lancaster to do a little sightseeing. I enjoyed seeing the Amish people and their beautiful farms. I don't have much to say, so I will just show you some pictures that I took. Most of them were taken out of my car window, so the quality isn't great. ゴメン

~I hope you all have a nice day~

How to give your computer Japanese character recognition

Many computers have Japanese and Eastern Asian languages installed on them by default. Hovever, there are many computers that do not have these languages installed. For a long time I didn't know how to give my computer Japanese character recognition. I tried looking for ways for my computer to display Asian characters through Google, but I couldn't find any good answers. One day, I figured out how to display these characters. When I found out, I was so angry at how easy it was. You don't need to download any special software or anything, just need to follow these simple steps. Also, I will teach you how to input Japanese characters. Remember, click on the images for a larger and clearer view.

1. Go to start -> Control Panel.

2. Go to "Regional and Language options"

3. Go to the "Languages" tab and check the "Install files for East Asian languages" box. I think you need to reset your computer for the changes to take place.

4. To take it a step further, and to type in Japanese, go to the "details" button located on the same languages tab

5. Click on "add"

6. Choose Japanese as your input language

7. There should be an "EN" at the lower right hand corner of your computer. Press "show language bar"

8. Open your text processing program or the Internet and type using the romaji pronunciation of the Japanese word. It is straightforward enough. For example, to get the character 団, type "dan" then press space until you find the corresponding kanji. Or press enter if you want it to remain in hiragana だん.

Have fun with Japanese characters!!!

I'm on vacation!

Today my family and I left to visit my grandmother and other relatives in Pennsylvania. After an 8.5 hour drive, we have arrived! I apologize for this weak post, and I will assure you that my other posts this week will be more engaging.

Cool Frog

Today is Independence Day!!! My family and I didn't do anything, we just had a quiet day at home. Its actually a good thing that we didn't plan to do anything because it started raining and a really powerful storm passed through. After the pouring rain, we found a beautiful frog clinging to a window:

I hope you have a good night!

The best toy

Puchi puchi puchi puchi puchi puchi... You hear this noise (roughly translated as pop, pop) in your sleep and it follows you everywhere. You know why? Because you like bubble wrap. You buy extensive amounts of fragile collectibles off of the web because you like to pop the protective wrap it is shipped with. Or if you are smart you buy the stuff in bulk at the post office. But you know what? Its your lucky day! Because Bandai released a toy that will save your money. Mugen Puchi Puchi (roughly means never ending pop-pop) is one of my most prized possessions and it cost only $10. I received it as a gift at Christmas and is one of the best gifts I have ever received. It usually makes a popping noise, but after 100 pops it makes a "surprise" noise such as a doorbell or a barking dog or a girl saying "ya~n".

Oh, it's so convenient! Many days I have brought this wonder to school with me in my pocket. However, one day it went off with a doorbell chime during a lecture in American Government... he he he... The class went silent and wondered what made the noise. Such is the power of this small toy. Oh, and if you are wondering what the beads are, it is a trinket that a child from the preschool I was helping out at gave me. It doesn't come with the toy.

This toy is entertaining, sturdy, and feels very much like real bubble wrap. I have heard that Bandai has also made a moe and even an edamame type if you like that kind of thing.

This makes a great gift and I highly recommend it.

So you want to buy it?

Regular: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/japanfan/982f/ OR pink http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/KBN063

Moe: http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/KBN106

Edamame: http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/KBN109

Nagato Yuki's CD

This is probably old news for you if you are a Nagato Yuki fan. However, I am going to review her splendid character album anyway. It is Vol. 2 of the Suzumiya Haruhi character song singles and apparently sold the best out of all of them. I bought it because:

1. I love Hare Hare Yukai, which is one of the songs on her album
2. Nagato Yuki is my favorite character
3. I was going on a trip and I wanted a CD to listen to.

Since it really wasn't that much money, it was really an easy choice to make. Before ordering CDs, I do not listen to the songs on youtube because I want it to spoil my surprise. When I got my CD (after a terrible wait of 3 weeks from Yes Asia because I didn't want the domestic version and I ordered some Japanese language manga in the same order) I was ready to listen to it on my CD player. The CD art is very simple, with a blue theme and a simple 4-page booklet with lyrics (no pics of Yuki). However, this CD's music blew me away. When I first listened to "Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite" I was in shock at the first part, where there is an incredible harmony (which is repeated several times during the song). Its really hard to explain, but it was one of the coolest (and still is) parts of a song ever. I know it sounds weird that I say that and it is just a seiyuu singing, but this song really is incredible. To make it even better, there are a few parts where Yuki has a monologue with lines from the anime. The lyrics fit her perfectly; I am glad that I understand Japanese well enough to appreciate the message that Yuki passionately expresses through this song. It seems like it would be impossible to sing and still sound like the quiet, always-monotone Yuki. However, I feel that Chihara Minori (Yuki's seiyuu) accomplished this task very well, and it is easy to picture Yuki through this song. It is re enforced though the spectacular monologues that bring lots of Yuki into the song. The background music is great and is fast paced and sounds very electronic/dance (i suppose?) with lots of violin.

The next song is a slower song, called "SELECT?" I do not listen to this song as much as the others, merely because it is quite slow and not HYPER. However it is quite lovely, and the lyrics fit her quite perfectly: "In a small, small room/widening infinite pages/I walked into a novel" (oh and my translation might not be right so don't quote me on that) Anyway, its great but its kind of easy to forget that the silent Yuki is singing this.

The last the song is Hare Hare Yukai, the ending to Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, only it is Yuki's version. I think that I prefer Yuki's version over the original, but I can't say for sure. It has the same background version as the original, but with Yuki's solo.

As for the three instrumental tracks, I love them as well. Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite's instrumental is still great on its own without vocals. I love to listen to it. SELECT?'s instrumental is not great to listen to on its own, because you might fall asleep, but its great to sing to (or imagine yourself singing it brilliantly in your head). Hare Hare Yukai's instrumental is great, because it includes the harmony vocals. It is a great alternate to the original.

You are still reading this!?!?! I'm impressed and flattered. If you want to follow my advice, buy this CD. The domestic version (the one marketed for Westerners which usually includes English translations romanji in the lyrics and romanji song names) is a mere $10 on Amazon and the Japanese version is about $15. If you aren't obsessed with all of your CD's having all Japanese text, then I would recommend buying the domestic version because the music is the same. Another site worth trying is Yesasia.com, where the Japanese version is just $10. Wow! I'm impressed at how much I wrote about 3 songs: ) I hope that was helpful or amusing.

In honor of Nagato Yuki, here is one of the best AMVs/MADs ever (I didn't make it):