Random notes + more top 5 lists

[oyceter]

Woe. Am at work. Oh well, should not complain, am going on vacation soon anyway.

Yay! Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are going to the Olympics! Ok, probably no one knows what I'm talking about, but they are a nifty cool ice dancing team that I like a lot and weren't sure if Tanith Belbin would get her US citizenship in time to make it to the Olympics. Unfortunately, basketball is evil and ran overtime so my Tivo only got a few of the ice dancing/pairs skating US Nationals and I missed them. And I can't find a rerun! Booooooo to sports that go overtime and cut into my TV schedule!

I am wearing my new knee-high boots today and feeling very cool. Also somewhat wobbly because the heels are higher than I am used to. But still.

I am not allowed to buy yarn for any new projects until I have reduced my stash somewhat. This makes me sad because I've already spotted at least two or three things I want to make out of Loop-d-Loop.

I am not allowed to spend more money on books for a while (manga doesn't count. Nor do gift certificates) because I need to save up for bookshelves so that all the homeless books that are currently randomly stacked around the house will have somewhere to live. Also, need to cut down since I probably haven't read about 50% of the books that I do own.

I am bored, probably because there's a ton of stuff I should do before I leave on Friday but don't particularly feel like doing. Sigh.

And now, more top five lists!

I'm just picking a few from the lists thomasyan suggested because I am lazy.

Five favorite shoujo manga series for thomasyan

Again, I'm changing this from "best" to "favorite" because I feel like I haven't read enough shoujo to judge.

1. Nana by Yazawa Ai - Wow, I bet no one would have ever guessed that I would put this one down ;). I like it because it's about friendship first and romance second, because I like watching Nana Komatsu grow up and develop, and just because despite the punk rock band storyline, it is more about the emotional lives of the characters and less about cracktastic plot elements. Also, Yazawa Ai has gorgeous art.

2. KareKano by Tsuda Masami - Ok, to be honest, this would be up here even if the manga sucked, just because I love Tsuda's asides and little columns that much! If she had an LJ, I would so read it. But the manga is just as good, and I like it because it's about growing into yourself and finding friends and all that.

3. Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai by Yazawa Ai - Sadly, this hasn't been licensed for the US, and I'm not even sure if there are scanlations. Anyway, it's the first Yazawa Ai manga I read, and I only read it because my friends and sister kept saying how good it was. The art in the first volume is really horrible -- people look like they don't have joints. Later on, Yazawa Ai starts finding her style more. But I adore the story of this one, which is rather simple on the outside. It's just a girl and her friends going through high school, and her crush, and how her relationships develop.

4. Fruits Basket by Takaya Natsuki - well, I've only read up to vol. 5, but I like it so far and it is consuming most of my income, so that's a good sign! And oh, the layout is just so easy to read!

5. Ok, I'm running out now. I also read Angel Sanctuary, X, Mars and some others, but it's either been so long since I've read them or something that I can't actually count them as favorites yet. Also, I feel bad because it's not like this is an obscure list or what. This means I should read more, of course ;).

5 Most Embarrassing Moments You're Willing to Share for thomasyan

1. The time my pants betrayed me and made me spend fifteen minutes in the bathroom at work desperately trying to make my zipper zip so no one could see my bright striped underwear.

2. The second time my pants betrayed me and nearly slid off at work.

3. The time I almost bumped into someone at a store and then apologized to them, and only then realized that it had been my own reflection.

4. The time I couldn't figure out how to open a door at Taco Bell (pushed and pushed, then pulled and pulled, then looked up only to realize that I was attempting to push open the side with hinges, pushed and pushed again, then finally, someone took pity on me and pulled the door open).

5. And oh, there are so many more, largely consisting of tripping and falling, the inability to open doors, walking into walls, walking into doors, opening the door into myself, and etc.

Not necessarily drop dead from mortification moments, but things that were rather horrifyingly funny as they happened.


Top five reasons to have rats for gwyneira:

1. They are small and easy to take care of -- weekly cage cleaning and general playtime, and just making sure that they have enough food and water.

2. They are friendlier (and smarter!) than most other rodenty critters. They can be trained, they will beg for treats, they will lick your nose, they adore climbing on you and sniffing around, they like being petted and scritched, and mine have never bit me (except when I wear BPAL perfume). My mice would never let me pet them =(. And the boy's old hamster would chomp on my fingers.

3. They are absolutely adorable and have cute fuzzy faces and itty bitty paws and whiskers and sniff around!

4. They are smart! Eh, I said this before, but they are! Well, smart enough to figure out what noises mean "food" and to beg for food and rachelmanija even trained hers to jump through hoops, literally! I have only trained mine to dance and stand on their hind legs, but that is through the rat mom's lack, not the rats'. They know when I'm coming home and will beg to be taken out too.

5. Did I mention that they are absolutely adorable??

Five books I wish more of my flist would read and/or discuss for gwyneira:

Eh, this is rather hard because my flist discusses a lot of books (or at least, mostly discusses the books I've read)

1. Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis - I don't know how many people have read it, but I think everyone should and talk to me about it because I like it.

2. Journey to the West, so I can pick their brains about Saiyuki and parallels and see their reactions, because right now I'm too lazy to actually reread it.

3. Against Depression by Peter Kramer, because I would be interested in what people would say about it and because I've heard many opinions on his Listening to Prozac (which sounds like something that I may not like) but not much on this one.

4. More romances in general, because I am greedy and want more recs. Asian romances or black romances or etc. double plus good.

5. Ummm... I keep running out at #5 for some reason. Ok, Saiyuki! One, because I want to pimp it to everyone so they will go out and write fic. Two, because I feel like I missed what discussion there was and still want to squee about things.

Five ways to cast on for mamculuna:

I actually only have used two ways to cast on before...

1. Long-tail cast on (I think that's the "general" one, yah?), in which you make a slip knot and just sort of keep making it with the loops around the index finger and thumb.

2. Tubular cast on, which I like because it's pretty but is horribly time-consuming and not so pretty for anything besides 1x1 rib. I figured out how to do 2x2 rib but it's still horribly time-consuming and doesn't look half as nice.

3. Hrm, I guess technically I use three... provisional cast on, so I can start my tubular cast on. Basically crochet on to your needle and knit from there. It's really cool pulling off the crochet stitches in the end!

Comments

[oyceter]

I keep seeing Tenshi Ja Nai in the bookstore and thinking it's Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai and celebrating, and then realizing it isn't. It's sort of sad how often this has happened to me ;).