Freebirds

Had a Freedirds burrito today. Like Chipotle, it's not as good as they claim and overpriced. So here's my laydown on those upscale fast food joints.

1) Lower your expectations. In general, they don't taste as good as their cheaper fast food brethren.
2) Do bring an appetite. The entree is usually much bigger hence the higher price.
3) Don't bother with chips unless you like to overstuff yourself.
4) The staff are generally from the wannabe 'chic' crowd. Pompous with attitude. Expect flak if you give them any trouble such as slowing down the line, etc.
5) Research and decide what you want BEFORE entering the store. See above. :p

Seems these upscale fast food is more of a fad than anything serious. They don't have any food really worth the higher price. Only exception I found of the ones I've tried so far is Wingstop which actually has pretty good food. Not very healthy though so you shouldn't eat there often.

Back & Forth

For a while I quit AT&T as my internet provider and went with Clear to try them out. But Clear had numerous problems that were pretty serious. The phone connection was occasionally bad in the morning. The internet speed was spotty at times. The weirdest one has to do with Photobucket; for some reason, it was difficult to view pictures on Photobucket even though I can connect to the website itself easily enough. To be frank, I was disappointed with the reliability of their service. So when AT&T called giving me an offer to go back, I pretty much jumped on it. I don't regret trying out Clear since that's what prompted AT&T to give me a better offer than what I had before however I am still disappointed that Clear's service was as bad as it was.

work worries and baby-sitting

It always scares me that people have dark malice in their hearts, self included. However what scares me even more is that people seem to be more than willing to give into that malice than reel it in for the better good of self and others. It's one of the reasons I don't like working with other people as it's hard to judge how good people are in today's corrupt society. There was a former coworker who would find a way to bring down other people if they find some fault in his workmanship, even legitimate ones that he should pay more attention to. While he's okay to get along with, I would not want to ever work on the same team with him as there is no doubt he would bring down the quality and integrity of our work.

I'm currently help taking care of someone who had foot surgery, a bunionectomy. For various reasons, she went through several doctors but she finally settled on one and had her surgery so now she's going through the several months it's going for her foot to heal up. So far, it seems fine and haven't given her any problems but you never know what might happen with these things.

Movies, just add water.

Watched Princess and the Frog and Ponyo. I like the first film; it's definitely a return to the classic Disney-style animated film with songs & recycled fairy-tale storyline. What's good about this one is it has a contemporary taste to it. It's a bit more modern in its sensibilities and the setting isn't the typical fairytale world but real world New Orleans, albeit several decades ago. The film was definitely enjoyable; I liked it better than Ponyo, likely because it has more mature themes combined with the contemporary aspects. Ponyo, while enjoyable, definitely felt like a kiddy film even compared to other Ghibli films I've watched such such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. And the animation looks almost like it's stuttering after having watched the smooth Disney animation of Princess and the Frog. Not bad but not something worth rushing out to see.

My DSL router got fried...

My AT&T router broke so I used that as an excuse to sign up with Clear internet. Some websites load much faster than before but not all. For some reason my yahoo homepage is slow; maybe because my yahoo's merged with my AT&T account (I can tell the split's going to be messy). Downloads are definitely much faster; more hentai in less than half the time!! \(^o^)/

Yee-haa!!

Long time since my last update. I finished Otoboku2 but also started reading Negima so haven't done much for a while. So the arrival of SMG Mana provided a good excuse to finally update. I also have other stuff I should post about such as Masterpiece Grimlock which I recently got as well. I'll likely post about that soon as well.

PS: Is it just me or is my writing really shitty today like I'm drunk or something?

mid-life crisis?

Haven't updated in a while. Been busy with getting back into the job market and playing Otoboku 2 so just haven't made time to go back to the blog. Anyways, I had an interview and tried out a job only to be booted out really quickly which is very annoying. I think I'm going to try doing a bit more self-searching to see what I want to do and what I should be looking for rather than a blind search from before. While it was fun doing various jobs, it ultimately did little to really bring in a feel of the different jobs out there (other than maybe a stint at a casual dining restaurant).

Sometimes it's better not to know... :p

I just discovered that Sofmap is clearancing both 1st print Saki DVD 2 and 7 for 2980 yen. This kinda ticks me off since I bought both of them for near MSRP. If I could have held out just a little bit longer...*sigh*. It especially nags me because the quality of the covers are pretty shabby even compared to the ones included with the magazines and if I had gotten them at the current Sofmap price, it would have been worth it but now I'm just feeling like I ripped myself off buying the DVD's at the price I did. Buying both again at the current price definitely won't save me any money at this point and flipping them on eBay won't give me much profit either especially with all those bootleg dakimakuras out on the eBay market.

eroge purchasing plans

I was thinking of getting Okiba ga Nai but due to the Akabeisoft2's net activation, I'll be skipping it. If I can't connect to their website without a proxy then chances are the same for net activation and having to use a proxy for that is a pain. I kinda wanted that Shannon figure but we don't know who the maker is so the quality is up in the air.

On a similar note, I think I'll be skipping the RuiTomo games for the same reasons. They also have net activation and it seems both software teams are headed by the same company or something similar; at the very least I remember seeing Akabeisoft2's name somewhere in the 1st RuiTomo's OP credits. The Tomo Nendo looks disappointing. Seems only to support the poses they've shown so far so there's not much you can do with him compared to other Nendos. The fandisk isn't worth it just for that.

Doujinshi shop annoyances...

Thanks to Tenso, there's a few more Japanese online stores you can order from as well as order some things you may not have been able to before due to certain restrictions. However, 2 major stores seems to be adamant against selling to people outside of Japan: the doujinshi shops Tora no Ana and Melon Books. Tora no Ana emailed me saying they won't ship to Tenso and Melon has a specific clause in their TOC saying they're against the use of services like Tenso and proxies. It really annoys me to no end that they would restrict foreigners who have legitimate interest in their products; not only is it a potential source of revenue but totally blocking off that market promotes online piracy as it becomes the only other way of being able to read the doujinshi one would want to read outside of living or flying to Japan.

The toy box is full...

I've bought too many toys lately and floor downstairs is littered with shipping boxes as I sort through and decide on what boxes to empty first and what boxes to put away. Since I'm soon to be out of a job, I think it's a good time to decide on figures and toys that I should sell off. I also don't want to open up too many boxes at once since I won't be buying much imports after the summer and I don't want to spend the rest of the year without new toys to open up.

Jinx?

Last time I'm saying "I'm going to stop doing so and so..." because everytime I do, something even worse happens. XD So no more. I'll just wait for the horror to stop. As mentioned in the other blog, I got a huge package of loot. Very nice stuff too and at good prices considering the goods. I'm definitely happy.

However there is a dark ominous cloud over the horizon. I've been notified that the place I work at is shutting down so I now have a brief period of time in which to find my next gig or I won't have anymore spare income for upcoming toys and figures. Unemployment simply isn't enough and savings will run out quick so it'll be a busy month ahead for me as I search for the next thing to do.

Fuwa Fuwa Time!

I just started watching K-On! I can see why it's popular. It's cute, funny, and full of moe! I like all the girls but my favorite has to be popular Mio! She's straight and serious but she's shy and doesn't like being at center of attention yet she's 健気 enough to do what it takes to get things done!　可愛いなぁ、この娘達は！ *^^*

As mentioned in the previous post, I've bought way too much toys & figures during the past few months and I'm planning to buy some eroge during the next few months. However, that's pretty much it for my crazy purchasing. This is just one of those crazy buying phases for me and I'll be breathing a huge sigh of relief when it's over. At least I have enough money not to go into debt again but that's a story for another time.

Is this color too tacky for this blog?

I haven't visited this blog in a while. I think I'll use this one for behind the scenes stuff and general minor updates while putting the big or juicy stuff in 2D-ism.

I got a lot of stuff in the mail this past week. Mega Size Gundam arrived from Amiami. The shipping was forced into EMS so I knew it was going to be a big or heavy package but when the box arrived, I was shocked. Huge box is HUGE! I'm definitely taking a size comparison pic of this one. I also got another mouse pad and other stuff. The mouse is a Nico Robin oppai mouse pad which is the one I currently use. What happened to Kanu? She had some problems; not surprising considering the constant problems they have with their outfits. :p I'll outline the problems when I discuss the Nico mouse pad in 2D-ism. I've also come to realize I'm ordering way too many toys and other stuff. I've really am spending more this year than in any other time in my life. Months of savings down the drain, that kind of stuff. Thankfully, I'm pretty much dried up in my toy & figure spending however I've got a new upcoming expenditure which is eroge! I have some big ones coming in summer such as maybe OTBK2 but I've also made my first order from Sofmap! This is big and could mean great things. Although I may be partial against big expenditures on toys, I don't have such qualms when it comes to eroge (well maybe a little)! Assuming everything goes as planned I'll expect some yummy eroge goodies to come to my doorstep during summer. Mwa-hahahaha-!!

I'm a rabbit but in reality, I'm a turtle.

I spend waaaaay too much time on composing and editing a post. *sigh*

I've just spent roughly 2 hours composing a single post. I wrote most of my post, searched for some images, resized them, uploaded them, decided they weren't good, re-edited the images, re-uploaded them, edited the links, wrote the rest of my post, posted it, edited it, and edited it yet again until I'm finally satisfied. And the post was regarding a perverted fetish of mine and my favorite eromanga artist who draws a lot of that stuff. o_O;

My energy is definitely directed towards the wrong places... ^^;;

Ah screw this

Seems like monetization would require more work than I am willing to put into it so I'm no longer going to put much focus on it. However I will continue to put links as I feel suits the contents of my blogs. The blogs are still far from finished too. I need time to put up the pictures from couple weeks ago. Not enough time in a day to do everything I want to do (including slacking off :p).

Monetization blues

I've been thinking about this for a while now but to monetize successfully pretty much requires you to become sort of a web celebrity which is definitely not what I want to be. This really bites. Guess a semi-hikkii, anti-social like me can't really do squat in this kind of society, is there? Danny Choo's promoted blog monetization quite heavily but it really won't work for most people unless they hit really popular status. Anyways I shouldn't whine too much. :p

One thing I've discovered while writing and choosing ads widgets for my blog is that I lose my sense of authenticity when I go overboard on the widgets. It'll definitely be a while before I arrive at the monetization arrangement that I'll be happy with but until then expect some more mess in 2D-ism, lol.

The cold snap

A cold snap is currently hitting Houston. The brunt of it hit on Thursday and will last through the weekend although the daytime shouldn't be nearly as bad as it was on Thur and Fri. Even though it's cold as hell outside, I do still plan to go outside at the very least to test my new camera (see my other blog for details :p). As bad as it is here in Houston, I'm sure it's worse for much of the rest of the US which is why I'm glad I'm in Houston although I'm sure I'd be even happier in Hawaii or Okinawa even. I'm a warm-weather person and I really hate the cold.

New Year, New Wishes

It's the start of the New Year and I expect to do things a bit different this year. The blogs I hope to update at least once a week, there should be enough stuff in my life to do at least that much. As for what I want to do with the blogs, the blogs will serve as kinda self-therapy for me since I'm kinda lost about my direction in life at the moment. I'm at what you can consider more or less a dead end, low income job. It pays better than fast food but you don't learn any real practical skills like you can on the floor of a food establishment. But while I'm out of ideas, I want to do at least something productive and hopefully my blogs will give me insight into what I need to do. This kinda reminds me of the song "Show Me What I'm Looking For" by Carolina Liar. I'm not Christian but I do like some Christian pop like that. Which reminds me, I used to hate all forms of Country but lately it seems I'm starting to like a few, at least the ones that border on rock/pop like some of the Shania Twain stuff. Anyways, nice non-sequitur there. :p

To any that might read this blog, Happy New Year.
And do check out my other blog right here.