dolari

Edelweiss CD/DVD

On Saturday I received an order from CDJapan – the Edelweiss CD/DVD performed by 17-year-old singer Asaka. “Edelweiss” is the ED song for Centaur no Nayami. I’ve already added the song to several playlists and have updated one of the music CDs in Ava. The B-song is “Unfulfilled Butterfly,” which isn’t a bad song, but I’m not interested in adding it to any playlists.

The case included a small booklet with photos and lyrics to the two songs on the CD. Because the CD included both the Japanese and English versions of “Edelweiss,” both sets of lyrics are included.

The DVD (region 2) had the “Edelweiss” music video and a 10-minute short on the making of the video. The video was rather low budget, low tech – and it had the quirkyness of those sorts of productions. Both videos were fun to watch, though.

Once in a while I get a surprise treat on these orders. I did not pre-order this CD, and when I ordered, CDJapan said the First Press bonus – one of five different photos – was no longer available. But my case included a first press photo. Cool!

The full song has been posted to YouTube: Centaur no Nayami Ending Full - “Edelweiss”

Shiraishi Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, Episode 4

Finally! January 30, 2018. Sentai Filmworks is finally going to release Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless) on home video. The price difference between the Standard Blu-ray release ($52.49) and the Premium Blu-ray release ($97.49) I think is excessive, given the listless extras that Sentai is providing. (Sentai is not very good at premium boxes.) Even though I love the series, I’ll probably just get the standard release.

By the time the series is available on home video, 19 months will have elapsed since the end of the season. Feels longer.

Pirari Academy Class 1-S Hina Logi – From Luck and Logic, Episode 12 (Series Finale)

Here are the shows from this season that I watched last week…

Tenshi no 3P! (Angel’s 3Piece): Episode 10
Well… the show is getting worse… and it wasn’t that great to begin with. I didn’t expect Yuzuha and Koume (Kiriyume) to be added to what is degrading into harem competition. Much of the episode was effectively a “date” with Kyou and Yuzuha – which ticked everyone else off. So then a “date” with Sora… and… this is just terrible stuff.

Yōkai Apāto no Yūga na Nichijō (Elegant Yokai Apartment Life): Episode 11
Something of a slow episode. We didn’t learn a lot on top of what we already knew. Tashiro is kind of a pain – intentionally for plot, I guess. The episode dragged on until it reached another cliffhanger. The preview for next week seems a little more interesting, anyway.

Isekai Shokudō (Restaurant to Another World): Episode 11
I can’t say that the sirens’ story was very interesting or believable. Only the door’s connection with a previous story (Admiral Flugel) was valuable. I do like how the series has been working to do cross-connections between stories we’ve heard previously. The show did some spotlighting on Kuro, but Kuro isn’t an interesting or appealing character, so that time didn’t deliver much.

New Game!!: Episode 10
No real drama this week… not much happening with Aoba and her peers, either. The bulk of the episode was flat – no character development, no insights. Near the end, the writers threw a softball – everyone went home to cozy dinners with friends and family. The best part was the final vignette with Kou and Rin. Kou’s my favorite character in the series, and Kou x Rin is my favorite pairing – although there’s little sign that anything is actually going to happen between the two friends. I suppose their moment together made the episode worthwhile.

Tsurezure Children: Episode 11
Awww! I want to see Chizuru and Takurō together! The light is slowly turning on for Chizuru. Credit Ayaka for the assist! Then it seems like Kana and Chiaki are never going to get their act together. They are certainly ill-fated. Saki and Haruhiko need to get together, also – their vignette started sadly but then there’s a glimmer of hope. I loved Yuki’s contribution to the scene. I love Yuki! In the final story, Ryōko was trying really hard with exams. Masafumi sat on his hands, but the banter with Shinichi (the Dating Master) was fun. It’s the best Shinichi has looked all series.

Mahoujin Guru Guru: Episode 11
The usual antics. The episode was fine.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations: Episode 24
Seems like this episode could have been something instead of being a series of small vignettes that fell flat. The gathering of the five kages was overly flashy. Sakura unpacking was… whatever. The kages’ concern with the soft youth was kind of pointless. (Why don’t they have more competitions like the chunin exams?) Boruto remains a punk, and Sarada would do better to just ignore him. The battle between the two was… OK – but I expect better. Much of the what happens here is taken from Naruto manga chapter #700 – the series finale – but I wish they’d just done the chapter as it was.

Yōkoso Jitsuryoku Shijō Shugi no Kyōshitsu e (Classroom of the Elite): Episode 10
There’s been less conflict than I expected – and some finally appeared in the second half of the episode – manufactured by another class, I suspect. The current setup will surely lead to another misunderstand – and you know I hate misunderstandings. I dread what comes next, and my hope is that the mess will be short-lived. Who knows?

Gamers!: Episode 10
Back when this series started, I wouldn’t have guessed that most trouble would have been generated by Tasuku. But he’s the guy that leads everyone else to jump to conclusions. And there’s plenty of jumping going on. I’d love to have more of the (stupid) misunderstandings cleared up.

Konbini Kareshi (Convenience Store Boy Friends): Episode 11
Mishima has dragged his cold feet around so long that I don’t think he even deserves Mashiki – even if he finally confesses to her. After all, one episode is one month, and nothing has happened after 11 episodes. This entire series has been terrible. I’m rooting for Mashiki – and that’s about it.

Hina Logi – from Luck and Logic: Episode 12 (Series Finale)
Fluff until the end. A little bit of the expected conflict… and the goofy attempts to deflect the conflict… plus a bit of decent action in a battle challenge… and then the inevitable conclusion. Overall a reasonable ending to a lightweight show. Of the students and staff, there weren’t any that I didn’t like, so that’s a plus.

Boku no Hero Academia: Episode 36
The exam battles all were extremely entertaining. Highlights: Ochako blushing… Nezu-sensei laughing… Kōji speaking. I’m not sure what my reaction was to the student that I dislike – Mineta – actually winning. Ah, well… no matter. We’re finally ready to watch the final exam battle – Izuku & Katsuki vs All Might – starting next week.

Centaur no Nayami (a.k.a. A Centaur’s Life): Episode 11
Well, that was about as leisurely slice-of-life as you can get. The first story spent a lot of time with flower names. Shino is a quick learner and a patient teacher – very sharp and mature for a little kid. The second story was mostly about the Chi-chans – how they try to look after Sue… and their search for someone prettier than their oneesan. And, certainly, there’s no one prettier in this show than Manami (my fav!) Anyway, the episode was a whole bunch of small kids being cute. I’m good with that!

Knight’s & Magic: Episode 12
The fanfic continues. The big battle turns into a draw. I’d anticipated that the “running out of mana” scenario was going to be an out – and it happened twice. It’s all a setup for the finale (I hope).

Mitama Sisters Centaur no Nayami, Episode 11

Test Photo

I was preparing my cameras, lenses, batteries, and memory cards for the event I’m photographing this morning. I remembered that D810/302 is getting close to the end of the number range for image filenames, and I wanted to see how many pictures remain before I need to reset the filename prefix. I absolutely must do this before Kumoricon, when things are so crazy I’m sure to blow right past the limit and forget to reset mid-convention.

I did test shots on each camera to see what the current filenames are. They are:

• NFC_9500
• NGA_2510

So there are nearly 500 photos remaining on D810/302. I’ve actually been using D810/306 as my walkabout camera, and if that remains the situation, it’s not likely I’ll shoot 500 images on 302 before KCon. I’ll probably have to swap cameras for a while.

This post mainly serves to remind me to keep an eye on the image counter on D810/302.

Dishes Sinju Sushi Restaurant • Bridgeport Village • Tigard, Oregon September 10, 2017

I’m a little weary, and I wish I had more time off from work. Many of my friends, former co-workers, and relatives are retired – and I’m a bit envious of them as my own plans don’t call for retirement for another seven years. I like my work a lot – I just wish I didn’t have to spend so much time at the office.

Work is going quite well, and although my workdays are long, the week does seem to fly by quickly. I love my job, my bosses, and my co-workers. I couldn’t ask for a better environment. I’m certain this is the best situation I’ve enjoyed in my 40-year career. I know to savor these blessings now, as things can change radically without notice. That’s simply the way the business world is nowadays. But I’d love to end my career on this sweet note.

*****
The weekend comes before I’m ready. Whether I’ve prepared or not, a long backlog of tasks carries over from the previous week.

This weekend is the fourth and final weekend in my less than heroic attempt to get the house in order before my fall schedule ramps up. The house had gotten to be quite a mess during the summer, and if I didn’t get things back in control, the fall was looking very bad.

The first two weekends were not very productive as the high temperatures hovered around 100°F, and the house did not cool down overnight. The house was stifling, and I sluggishly plodded through tasks. Last weekend the temperatures were around 80°F, and I did a little better. Every weekend was a small, incremental but important step in the right direction.

My big worry is the memory of the house falling apart horribly last fall when my schedule was overwhelming. This coming fall my schedule is similar. Basically my events and activities go non-stop starting mid-September and going through the end of January. While cleanup has been steadily progressing, I’m wondering if a state of tidyness is going to stick through the end of the year. I’ll try to keep on top of things this year – at least I’ll make an effort to be more mindful.

*****
I’ve been busy – too busy to take photographs. I used to be able to go on photowalks at random places, but my schedule has been too squeezed to do that. Right now, though, I’m thinking I need to stop any extracurricular photography. My mind isn’t in artspace much at the moment anyway. I’ve been learning that my event photography exacts a heavy time penalty, and it takes a couple of weeks to get my personal schedule back on track after an event. I’ve figured out I need to factor those weeks into every event on the calendar.

Friday I learned that a co-worker is also the co-founder of one of the bicycle companies I photographed at the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show. Once I made the connection I sent him links to my photos of his bicycles. He actually remembered me from the shows. It’s a very small world. I made the connection as we were sharing our photo galleries in the Photography channel in one of our corporate Slack workspaces.

One of the studios that displayed art at the Portland Winter Light Festival asked me if they could use one of my photos of their work to include in their submission to the 2017 Oregon ASLA Design Awards. Sure. Glad to help.

*****
As usual, when my schedule gets stressed, I rely on anime to reset my brain each night after work. The current season’s broadcast schedule works out perfectly at roughly two episodes per evening. Monday still has the three worst shows of the season. The three shows on Tuesday are much better. Friday is down to no episodes except for the three minutes of Nobunaga no Shinobi. But I unwind in other ways on Fridays. (Monday’s shows are so meh that sometimes I’ll delay watching them, even as late as Friday.)

Anime music on my drive to and from work consistently puts me in a good mood. Ava’s CD player is acting balky at the moment. Usually it doesn’t do well in hot weather, but the CD player hasn’t gotten better with cooler, autumn temperatures. I don’t know if the player is having age problems, if the head needs another cleaning, or if the CDs are wearing out. I’ll be burning replacement CDs when I merge new songs into the commuting playlists later this month. I’ll learn more then.

*****
I still have a stagnant collection of unread books. I’ve shelved most of them, and now I’m keeping a list of the reading backlog instead of staring at a stack of books sitting on the floor in my bedroom. I avoid going to Powell’s Books except for mission shopping as I know I’m too vulnerable to impulse buying. I still spend plenty of money at Powell’s to feed my manga addiction. I’ll be paying another visit later this month to get copies of Skip Beat! Vol. 39 and Bloom Into You, Vol 3.

And maybe now it’s too easy to grow the backlog. I’ve stalled on The Color of Magic in my iBooks library. A week ago I added another ebook: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. It’s a book that I don’t think I’ll miss having a physical copy of. On top of this, two weeks ago I received a digital version of the volume 1 omnibus from the Kimagure Orange Road Manga Kickstarter. That’s 550 unread pages of manga in my iBooks library.

I was reading about changes in the library card system for Washington County Cooperative Library Services, and September is Library Card Sign-up Month. I was temporarily motivated to go in and see if I could still use my very old library card – or if I needed a replacement. Then I realized that I haven’t checked out a book (or movie or whatever) in decades – and I probably won’t need a library card until I retire and have more time to read. I used to go to the library to read certain magazines and newspapers, but I don’t even have time to do that anymore. I guess the Internet has taken the place of that. Still, we have a Really Cool Library. I should stop in once in a while.

*****
Back to the original question. I’m doing fine. Super busy. A little bit tired. Sleeping barely enough (but sleeping in a couple hours extra on weekends). Somewhat overwhelmed by a daunting backlog of tasks, many past due. Treading water mostly – but making tiny bits of progress.

Next week my calendar is full – the start of fall/winter overload. I bring it on myself, though. And each activity is good – there’s just too much. When I don’t get enough personal downtime, I get grumpy, so I’ll have to watch out. In general, I take care of myself just enough. Sleep. Anime. Doing Nothing. Those all are things I need more of in times of stress. Stepping up time management is something I need to do, also.

RyuZU from Clockwork Planet Kotobukiya 1/7 scale PVC figurine

I had expected on Monday to have to go to the post office to sign for this latest shipment from CDJapan, but it appears that Daniel was home and answered the door when the postal carrier attempted to deliver. So the parcel was waiting on the kitchen island when I got home from work yesterday. That saved me a trip and a day.

I ordered the figurine back in April, three weeks into the broadcast of the Clockwork Planet anime. The sculpture is based on the Cover Illustration for the first light novel in the series. Five months from order to delivery is unusually short for figurine orders. Figurines like these one has to order early, because they sell out. This RyuZU figurine is no longer available.

Kotobukiya as usual crafted a finely detailed figurine. RyuZU’s hair is less than impressive, but her outfit is stunning. I liked the anime series… I liked the character of RyuZU… and I’m pleased with this figurine. And remember that RyuZU was the Runner-up Name for My Next Laptop.

BlackPods Unboxing

We had thought that Apple might announce a New Version of its AirPods today. That didn’t happen, but there’s probably an update in the works that will be available soon. That’s fine. The current version still works perfectly well. I like mine a lot.

The only thing I don’t like is the color. The white AirPods look dorky to me, and I’m nothing if not vain. Several of the Apple News sites I follow were promoting BlackPods, and when The Loop ran a promo with $20 off, I jumped at the chance to get a set. I placed the order three weeks ago.

I like the smoothness of the AirPods case, so I ordered the gloss black BlackPods. My order was shipped first class mail and arrived Monday. They are very cool.

BlackPods

The BlackPods were soon fully charged, and I listened to one of my large anime playlists all Monday evening. I followed that by wearing them much of the day at work. I happened to be doing the kind of work that wouldn’t be slowed by music in my ears. The BlackPods were awesome.

No More White AirPods iPhone 6 Photo