japan trip 2007 8 Comments

Planning the Ultimate Schnuth Vacation

Former travellers to Japan, please complete the following sentence:

“I can’t believe you’re planning a trip to Japan and you’re not planning to go to                !”

That’s right, fellow readers, we’re taking the plunge and heading off to Japan, most likely in May. My lowest APR credit card just so happens to be able to swing airfare and hotel for a week in the Land of the Rising Sun. It’s not the best financial decision we could make, but it’s one of those things that I think we’d regret not having done when we had the chance.

We’re going to sit down soon (probably this weekend) and think about things we really MUST do while we’re in Japan, particularly Tokyo. We may have to forego our tour of southern Japan, just due to funding issues. We’ll see. At any rate, we already have some destinations on the potential to-do-in-Japan list:

I’m sure there’s a lot more we’d like to do, including visiting a shrine and just walking around the city, but that’s all I can come up with right this moment. Anyone have any additions, especially within a decent subway-ride of Tokyo?

I’ve also heard that it won’t matter that we’re not fluent in Japanese. Actually, only Sheryl has told me that, and she’s one of about three people I know (other than friends of friends) who have been to Japan. Who else wants to chime in on this one? Will I be OK asking how much this costs, how do I get to [insert place here], knowing my right from my left, counting to ten (and higher if I think really hard), and basic shit like that? Has everyone else had Sheryl’s same experience of dealing with English-speakers in all the important places? What words do I need to be able to *read*, if any?

(Aaron’s not too good with languages, and I’m cool with that. If one of us has to go take a crash course on Japanese, I’m it. Bring on the vidcasts and websites and CDs.)

I am SO stoked for this. I haven’t been this excited about a trip in a long, long time.

otaku

Video Skillz

For your viewing pleasure… Anime Punch 2006, as presented by the Weekly Anime Review Podcast.

In March of 2006, Aaron and I attended Anime Punch (aka The Armageddicon) in Columbus, and we brought the old-school 8mm videocamera for shits and giggles. I played videographer and taped a few panels, some musical guests, and some otaku milling about in the hotel lobby for ambience. Aaron finally happened upon the source footage tapes last week, and captured them to his computer, setting into motion the process of video making. Also known as “Oh, shit — I’m certified in defunct non-linear video editing software, and now I have to translate that knowledge to a more basic yet more pirateable prevalent program.”

I acted mainly as technical consultant, showing Aaron the basics of nonlinear video editing — take your giant source file, make little clips of the stuff you want to use, then string those clips together on the timeline. We learned some things together, like how to apply audio and video transitions in Premiere. He was the main artistic force behind the project, deciding which clips to use, whether to keep the ambient sound, things like that. I put together the images for the intro, suggested the basic wipe as a non-annoying transition (“Is that like what they used in Star Wars?” “Yeah.” “OK, that sounds good.”), and showed Aaron the ropes of video editing, so to speak.

Both of us decided that we’re feeling a little better about someday making an AMV — well, I have about 10 seconds of one put together, but I feel like I might be able to finish the next minute and a half of my short song without crashing and burning.

But, yeah. Good times. Aaron wants to buy a digital video camera now. 🙂

ruminations

Stream of Consciousness Wrap-Up

I’ve been putting off chronicling the events of Friday the 19th in my personal, offline journal. I need to do it, though, even if just for historical purposes (rather than cathartic and psychological ones). I hate it when I go searching for a major life event in my old journals — say, my first period, or when Mom and Tom separated, or something like that — and all I get is a big gap between dates and an entry that starts, “It’s been a while since I’ve written. X thing happened, and now I’m in an entirely new setting, and I’m totally done freaking the fuck out.”

I want to have the option of going back and remembering that hectic and tragic day, and how we tried in vain to take our minds off things later that weekend.

Along the same vein… Aaron and I spent some time thinking about this second chance we now have to do something wild and/or expensive before having kids. Before doing any number-crunching, we thought about visiting Japan, or the UK, or attending DragonCon over Labor Day weekend, or even just taking a cruise or doing the all-inclusive resort thing. When we sat down in front of Travelocity and priced plane tickets, though, we realized that we may just be waaaay out of our league. Plunking down over three grand on a Japan trip would take us in the opposite direction we want to go with our credit card debt.

As much as I want to do something fun and slightly financially irresponsible before we have kids, I know we should really be focusing on saving money and paying down our debts instead. But, damn, when else are we going to be able to drop everything and go on a kick-ass international vacation? Ah, well. We’ve had big ideas that fell through before, and I’m sure we’ll have them again. As for this one, we’ll see where it goes, if anywhere. We might just end up… hell, I don’t know *where* we’ll end up.

Speaking of second chances, I’ve started rewatching my PUSH workout DVDs from disc #2. The first workout on disc #2 successfully kicked my butt this evening. I am highly embarrassed by this, considering that I got seven discs total during my subscription, and made it through four before I started to slack. The thing is, though, that I was forbidden from exercising while I was pregnant, and I really missed it. That last week, I wasn’t even allowed to take my daily walks, and ended up chilling out on a quiet couch during my lunch hours instead. (Not that it helped, of course.)

Now, I have the opportunity to take a few months to tone myself and get myself back into halfway-decent shape, lose another ten pounds, firm up my abs, and do all that physical training that I found myself wishing I’d done before I conceived. It’s like a do-over of sorts.

All right. Enough. I’ll see if I can’t manage to blog about something else in the near future. I’ll at least get back into weekly diet and exercise updates for ya. As always, though, I can’t promise that I won’t randomly sink into a bout of depression. That’s par for the course where I’m concerned. 🙂

randomness 1 Comment

Back To “Normal”

I feel like I’m having the typical winter almost-February depression. I’m not sure if it makes things better or worse that I can point to a source of the depression, for once. It doesn’t change anything, knowing there’s a reason I feel this way now.

I feel like blogging is kind of pointless, too. I’m either going to be a typical “woe is me, look at how much my life sucks right now” blogger, or I’ll be blogging about something absolutely pointless, like games or work or what I fucking ate for lunch (homemade macaroni salad, if you care).

Of course, it’s not like I’m going to find anything better to do, like working up my new portfolio site or washing dishes or some shit. I’ll just end up sprawled out on the couch, reading the same Star Trek book I’ve read literally innumerable times since before I was in Junior High, and raiding the refrigerator before next week’s renewed weight-loss push talking to Amy on the phone for over two hours.

Depression sucks. Strangely enough, though, it also feels normal. Friday night, alone, with some food and a book and my own personal raincloud to hover over me. I’ve been here before.

pregnancy 2 Comments

Better Than Yesterday

Not as preoccupied. Can count on only one hand the number of times my day came to a grinding halt and I stared off into space in sorrowful contemplation. Smiled. Laughed. Am eating and sleeping fine. Made it through the follow-up consult with my OBGYN with no problems. Discussed future baby-take-two plans with Mom over the phone.

Still feeling odd about finally feeling like myself again.

I feel weird about feeling almost OK. I’m sure it’s only temporary.