Gintama...every now and then, it just makes me cry. Usually I'm laughing. But not this time.

Reading Gintama...
Soraichi keeps making me cry...
Y U KILL HIM OFF FOR?????
It better be a 'just kidding, we didn't really do that, it was just a time-jumping hallucination, the main characters will still save the day, this is just a joke' kinda arc.
But I have the feeling it isn't.... WHAT WILL THEY DO WITHOUT YOUUUUU?????
SPOILER ALERT MAYBE????
SORRY!
But it's likely you don't have a clue who I'm talking about anyway.
In other news, still waiting to hear about my placement for my new job in Japan, wondering if it is all some kind of mix-up and it will not happen after all.
Good thing I still have my other job and didn't resign yet.
:(
Also, no word on signing a contract.
Double :(.
So that's :( :(
So frustrating. Supposed to be leaving in August.
The longer they drag this out, the harder it is for me to pull up my entire LIFE and move to another country. It's kind of a big deal.
Two months left before I'm supposed to do this amazing, challenging and stressful thing and they are messing around.
I'm getting a little worried.
This is actually my dream.
I'm so close that I wonder if it will ever actually happen.
All my years of work toward this goal -
May still come to nothing...
I'm nervous.
Anyway, pray for me.
If you know how to pray.
:)

Skyrim Headless Horseman

Possibly spoiler alert? I guess...

Lotsa ppl in forums seen a headless ghost riding around on his ghostly horse but I found him by mistake,  just sitting on his horse by some coffins. There was a locked chest but I had no lockpicks....
Anyway, after I finished the Dustmans Cairn quest which was very close by, it said I had also cleared this quest so don't do the Companion's Dustmans Cairn quest if you want to do the headless horseman quest, I guess. Disappointed.
I don't think it was much of a quest but still! To be unable to do it is annoying.

Happy Birthday Maru.

Happy birthday, Otanjoubi omedetou to Maru-chan, one of my most favourite internet cats.

IMHO he is more amusing and cute than some of the American ones.
Even though he is not as well-publicized; AKA nobody shoves him down people's throats on tv (yes, G.C., I went there, because you filmed a bad Christmas special (that I really enjoyed but an internet cat who is really just a meme should not have a movie), even a Christmas special that has Russell Peters in a cameo (he is charming) -end bracket? sorry got carried away with exposition), youtube and facebook as much as the other cats.

Uh, what?
What was I saying? I derailed amazingly there for a minute.

Oh yes, Maru is great.
His great charm lies in the fact that he is just a cat doin' cat stuffs.
And so serious in the face while doin' said cats stuffs.
Even if he falls on his round furry bum while trying to climb something.
So serious. Love it.

See his blog here, and his videos are on youtube (his own channel) and on his blog.
I think he made me laugh more times than any other cat-lebrity.
Is that a word?
NO.
To quote a certain other amazing cat.

Odd fact

Apparently the hair of an adult can stretch 25% of its length without breaking.

Moving to another country can be a pain. Or is it always a pain, no exception?

I'm moving to Japan in two months.
I don't really know how to feel about it, just kinda everything at once, like, excited and scared and irritated at all the junk I have to sort out before I go.
I really want to do well at my job.
I will be working as an assistant but I'm not sure if the company I work for will take me seriously.
Oh well, no point in worrying.
I will do my best.
I am just that kind of person who takes things seriously; even when I try to relax, it's no good.
So wish me luck!
Thanks.
I really appreciate it.
No, no, you're right, I am amazingly talented and all that sort of stuff, but you don't have to gush.
Well, okay, I guess if you want to tell me I'm awesome, I won't argue.
I mean, I was going to say it but you beat me to it.
Gosh!
Haha!
Wow, you really think a lot of me.
I won't say you're wrong.

:D
Anyway enough of all that.
I get it, I get it.
Thanks.
I think you're great too.
Not as great as me, though.
Thanks for the good wishes.
I suppose I will continue this waste-of-time blog.
I enjoy it, so yup.
I'd better start a Japan blog too.
In case anyone needs to know what it's like to live and teach in Japan.

I have a secret, though.
I'm actually very shy.
So I have to push myself to be louder and more positive and so on.
It's funny, I like shy people best.
But most other people don't like shyness.
They seem to feel that if you aren't confident, then you are not competent.
That is wrong, but since I can't change people's minds immediately; I will have to do it by trying to make a good impression first up.
After that, once they get to know me a bit, they will be more forgiving.
I hope.

Some of my favourite comics

I'm using the word 'comic' but I guess some people prefer the words 'graphic novel' or 'comedian'. I realised the word has two connotations so I will list both.

Comedians:
Ellen DeGeneres
Trevor Noah
Billy T James
Russell Peters

Manga (translated to English):
Oishinbo
Strawberry Marshmallow
Ranma 1/2
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Sketchbook
Ouran High School Host Club
Yotsubato
Magic Knight Rayearth
Azumanga Daioh
What's Michael?
Honey and Clover
Gintama
Slam Dunk
Aah Megami-sama
Natsume Yuujinchou

Comics:
Garfield (preferrably earlier ones)
Foxtrot
Calvin and Hobbes
Fred Basset (sometimes)
Get Fuzzy (check out the Go Comics website, it has some of the comics I like)
9 Chickweed Lane
Gamercat (on Taptastic)
The Scott Pilgrim series

I can't remember but there are others... Anyway, I have a sly sense of humour so these usually make me laugh a bit or at least smile sometimes. Not all of the manga are meant to be comedic though.
A lot of the comics I like seem to be about animals. Never noticed.

My favourite season

I keep vacillating (is that spelled correctly?) or wavering as to which is my favourite season. But in my heart I know that my love lies with Autumn. The trees changing colours, the damp air, sometimes hot clear days, sometimes rainy and cool. The special smells of Autumn. Apples, smoke, grass, earth. I love walking in rustling leaves, looking to find mushrooms. Yes, Autumn is the one. Cold mornings and nights, warmer days. The other day we went to Mission Bay, a beach area with cafes. I watched the ocean, it had gone a beautiful teal green, the tide was in; a warm wind buffeted us, and caused waves to grab at the sand. It was a lovely trip.
Last night the sunset was so pure I couldn't stop looking. Cream merged to light green, and met with a soft grey-blue, then the cream became gold, the green became orange, the blue became a deep violet, the gold went pink which ran into the orange, and the violet turned deep indigo. A star came out, just one. I made a wish of course. I didn't see the moon. My window doesn't face it at this time of year, it moves up higher and beams into my room later in the night.

Problem: Steam would not run. Fixed it myself. If you have a problem, read this.

Right, nobody told me this and I didn't find it mentioned on the forums so I will blog about this in case someone else has the same problem.

Have had Steam for a while, it was running fine.
Injustice: Gods Among Us was very laggy but that's very likely my computer, and not Steam or the server or anything else.
Skyrim was fine, Child of Light was fine, FFVIII fine and so on.
Anyway one day Steam just didn't run.

I had a short while earlier updated Windows 7 with a buncha stuff that I actually didn't pay attention to. This may have been the cause somehow. Never update Windows, everyone.
Every time I tried to run Steam, the login would come up, I would login, then it would sometimes say 'Updating Steam' and sometimes not.
But whatever it said, after the login box disappeared, nothing would happen.

So at first I thought maybe it just auto-minimized to the task bar for some reason. Nope.
Looked in Task Manager, (ctrl-alt-delete) and nope, nothing.
It wasn't running at all.

So after trying some junk off the forums and some advice from my computer technician father (none of which made any difference at all, sadly), I finally rick clicked the icon for Steam and found that I could run it in 'Compatability Mode' for many versions of Windows etc.
I changed it to Window 7 Compatability Mode and it started first time. SWEEETTTTTT!

SUCK IT FORUMS
I
FIXED
IT
MAHSELF
Y'ALL
YEEEEAAAAHHHH

Anyway, it turns out I am more amazing than even I thought.
And I mean, I am my own biggest fan.

The only person who adores me more than me; is my Eevee that I brought to my Alpha game from Diamond.
His name is Jack.
I say he adores me but he hates me actually.
Because I won't let him evolve, and we lose battles all the time.
He is level 65 and he still gets stomped by level 40-ish Pokemon.
I kind of find it endearing, but I doubt he agrees.
So I am now going to Pokemon Amie him with my current AS incarnation and hopefully he will no longer hate me.
And I just wanted to brag about my favourite Pokemon.
Because all of us who have more than one gen game know that we have that one or more Pokemon we had to migrate over, right?
You just get attached.
For whatever reason.

I have actually migrated a LOT of my old Pokemon over, but not as many as I thought I would.
Still, I have plenty of time to do that.

What was I talking about?
Oh yes, I named him Jack because of Jack from Titanic.
Jack!!!!! NOOOO!!!! Don't die! Again!
I dunno why I love to say that, every time he faints.
I need to use him in a sea battle so he can sink slowly into the water.... My name isn't Rose though.
Maybe I'm being silly but life is silly.
We should all be silly more often.