Birthdays and Bouncing

Fun week! Monday was my birthday, so all this week and the days leading up to it was distracting with the excitement. It's funny how it always seems so far off, and then BOOM! All of a sudden it's there. This year though it sort of extended all week. Sunday I saw my dad for coffee, had a nice visit and ran into a couple of friends I haven't seen in a long while (and was admonished for disappearing from Facebook, haha. It's a habit, what can I say). Monday was dinner with my mom and my aunt as well as the largest cake I think I've had yet. All chocolate, very creamy and sweet with HUGE fresh strawberries inside and on top. My only complaint is that the strawberries on top would have been more enjoyable had they been dipped in chocolate instead of whatever they had been dipped in. Still, it was very good. Sweet Paradise certainly earned its name. Tuesday I had the whole afternoon and evening to myself. It's a lot easier to focus when no one's home. Wednesday I got the first of three packages from my lovely friend Tessa who lives in the US. I didn't realize the true scope of the 'few things' that she bought and sent to me until I actually saw them.

This first package contained two magazines from Japan, both with Gackt Camui on the cover and one of which she told me about when she actually ordered it. Most of the mags she orders through a guy from Japan named Koji, who buys and resells them for a reasonable price. She's one of his most frequent buyers, and a few months ago he sent some original photos he took when Gackt made a reappearance as Uesegi Kenshin at the Kenshin festival in 2008 as a thank you. So nice. I can't read kanji (yet), but the images are nice and hey, it's incentive to get on the ball to learn Japanese. It's funny in a culture-shock kind of way the difference between our mags and some of Japan's mags. The Out of Music magazine reads much like ours in that its from left to right. The second I can't read the title of, but it appears to be a weekly mag. This one you have to read from what we would consider the 'back' of the magazine, only it's the front in this case. Yes it's a little odd, but anyone who's ever read mangas from Japan would probably not find it quite so strange since they read right to left. But you read the text in this magazine from left to right just as you would in a Canadian or American mag. There's also a map of downtown Tokyo in this mag, which will be VERY useful once I can read the names LOL

Along with the mags was a book Tessa also told me she ordered, and what I got was not what I pictured. It was BETTER. It's a beautiful hardcover photobook of Gackt as Kenshin, many which look like they were shot on the set of Fuurin Kazan. The beginning has an interview with Ogata Ken, a very well-known actor in Japan who also appeared in the drama and sadly passed away last year. It was really nice to see, Gackt always speaks very highly of him and respected him a great deal. Interspered with the many wonderful photographs is a 9-part interview with Gackt, which in true Japanese fashion you must read right to left. And the text goes from top to bottom, instead of side to side. And yes, you must read the book from 'back' to 'front'. Doesn't detract from my love of the book though, so now I just have to find an appropriate place to display it where it won't get banged up. Unfortunately the top of my only bookshelf is comprised of all my Tolkien books at the moment. I need more furniture. The last part of the first package was the booklet from the Diabolos live tour DVD.

After that, it was sort of downhill so to speak, but no less appreciated. Thursday came a stack of burned cds containing a great deal of music, a bracelet made with onyx beads and a stretch bracelet made with blue tiger's eye beads, green tiger's eye beads, onyx beads and an amethyst bead with silver spacers between them all. And today came a lovely folder that I have no plans on using from the Requiem et Reminiscence II tour as well as the single Kimi no Tameni Dekiru Koto (What I Can Do For You in english). A nice way to end my 'birthday week'.

So now I think I shall head back into Liquid Story Binder and do some more story bouncing. I keep going back and forth between Darkstorm and Redemption which is kind of weird, but hey as long as productivity happens that's ultimately the goal. There's more actual writing going on with Darkstorm however, but my main characters seem to have fallen silent. Let's hope they have some more to say once I get some points out of the way for future Redemption scenes. I think, to motivate myself, I'll match my daily productivity with the wordcount of my last journal entry. 913 words should be easy enough. Until next time!

Music of the Moment: Storm - Gackt Camui