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Dec. 23rd, 2003 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2Well the party on Saturday turned out great, as all of my friends know. I slept in and got up late, and around 2:30 I went out to get some last-minute presents. At this point I was just buying gift certificates for the three people I had left on my list. I drove towards the Northgate Mall to get in the freeway and boy was that a mistake. Traffic was backed up more than a mile from the mall. Finally I made it down to Barnes & Noble in the University District, where I picked up 2 gift certificates, and also 2 anime graphic novels for me (Battle Angel Alita: Last Order #2, which I've been waiting for to come out forever, and Please Save My Earth #1, which is very exciting that they're doing the manga of this because the anime was one of those 4 episode animes done for a lengthy manga, so they just about manage to introduce the characters and plot before they stop). I also got another anime graphic novel that I don't know anything about except that it takes place in space... that was for Jeff. I hope it's interesting. ^_^
Then back into traffic to Northgate, where I visited Suncoast, who failed to have anything I was thinking of buying as a present so I got another gift certificate. I went over to Toytropolis and picked up a stuffed pony for Katie (the kind that I've bought for each of my nieces and one for myself as well, becuase they're so soft and cuddly and cute). I bought a stuffed cat for my younger niece Ella. Up to this point I had been shopping for my friends for the party, and putting off shopping for my relatives because those gifts didn't have to be purchased by Saturday evening.
Well I was quite glad to fight my way out of the parking lot and get away from the mall. I didn't want to go near another mall until after Christmas. I made it back home a little after 4 pm, and was able to wrap presents while Gene and Mike and then Julie and Mike Two were unloading stuff and setting up.
I won't go into the party that much... it was fun. There was tons of food and presents. I recieved some very nice ones, but I'll only mention a couple of them here. First, my roommate got me a Hawaiian Pidgin translation of the new testament, called "Da Jesus Book". Here's a taste, from the Christmas story of the angels appearing before the shepherds in the field:
Da SHeep Farmas An Da Angel Messenja Guys
Dat nite, ova dea inside da fields, get sheep famas taking care dea sheeps. Right den and dea one angel messenja guy from da Boss Up Dea Inside Da SKy come by dem. All aroun dem one awesome light wen shine from da Boss. An dey wen come real scared. But da angel guy say, "No scared. I come to tell you guys Good Stuff From God dat goin make you guys an all day peopo stay good inside. Dis day Inside King David's town, one boy wen born dat goin take you guys outa da bad kine stuff you stay doing. He da Christ Guy, da Spesho Guy God Wen Send. He da Boss. Dis how you goin know him. You goin find one baby dat sta wrap up inside plenny clothes, lying down inside one ting for hold da cows food."
Right den uku paila angel guys from da sky wen show up wit da first angel guy. Dey saying good stuff bout God lidis:
"Up inside da sky wea God stay,
He stay awesome!
And ova hea on top da earth,
If God like wat peopo doing,
He goin make dea heart rest inside."
Den da angel guys wen go way from dem and go back by God inside da sky. Da sheep farmas tell each odda, "Eh brahs, we go Betlehem fo see dis ting wen happen, dat da Boss Up Dea Inside Da Sky wen tell us."
As you might imagine, this is currently my favorite Bible translation to read. ^_^
Chuck got me a book called "But I Digress" which is a collection of Peter David's essays and columns for the Comic Buyer's Guide. I've been reading through some of it. Like any essayist, I don't always agree with Peter's points and he writes from what I would call a very superhero comic oriented point of view -- I was never too deeply into superhero comics myself -- but he's a very intelligent and logical thinker, and has a lot of good stuff to say. So far it's been very interesting.
But, for example, he writes one column about how female leads don't sell. This is the basis of his whole argument, because he goes on to explain why this is. His comments work well as far as American superhero comics and Hollywood movies go... and it's a column from ten years ago, I realize... but Japanese manga are rife with female leads, both shoujo or girl's comics of course, but even a lot of shonen or boy's comics have girl protagonists. I guess you might say it's a cultural thing that stories like this work so well in Japan... except that they seem to be doing quite well over here too. Anime and manga continue to explode. As I said, I picked up a Battle Angel graphic novel and a Please Save My Earth graphic novel in Barnes & Noble. One is very much a shonen comic (and quite violent) but with a female protagonist, the other is a shoujo story told from several viewpoints (as far as I can remember) but the main protagonist is again female.
So I wonder what Peter David would make of that. As far as I can tell, it's not that female leads don't sell... it's that no American knew how to sell them. But perhaps it also reflects a generational change, I don't know.
So... Sunday. I slept in late again but I needed to get some more Christmas shopping done. I was dreading going back to the mall, and anyway I goofed off and didn't really get going until late and it was already past 6 pm before I decided to actually go out. Keith dropped by around 4 pm to get a backpack that he'd left, and gave me 2 late presents, because apparently I didn't get anything from him and Juli at the party (I hadn't even realized this heh).
So anyway I finally realized that what my nephew and niece wanted, I could easily find at my local Fred Meyers. This was good because I knew they were open late, and they weren't near any malls. So I goofed off some more, then finally I drove down there and bought a My Scene Barbie with a scooter (the one Blair specified) and a Zoids Commander Wolf (the one Austin specified). Now, as long as nobody else buys these two items for them, I'll be looking good. ^_^
Out in the entryway I could smell hot dogs and saurkraut, and that sounded wonderful because I hadn't had anything to eat, and didn't want more leftover ham and potatoes which were back in the fridge. But the guy said they were done with hot dogs for the evening. Grrr! My favorite Mexican place, Gordito's, was closed, as was Chef at Wok. It was just about 9 pm on a Sunday. I ran over to Ivar's and got some cajun fish and a cup of salmon chowder. Afterwards I realized that someone (Keith I think?) had given me coupons for Ivar's, including "a free cup of chowder with any entree". DOH! Oh well there's always next time.
Monday I left for work a half hour early, because I still had one present to buy. After checking things out online and writing down exactly what he wanted, I planned to swing by CompUSA and grab it while on my way to work.
The big flaw in this plan, which I totally failed to anticipate, was that CompUSA, while not in a mall, was right NEXT to Southcenter Mall. It took me nearly half an hour just to get from the freeway exit to the parking lot. By this point I realized I was going to be late, but I was damned if I wasn't going to come away with my present so that I didn't have to come back.
My dad wanted an HP PhotoPrint 7260v printer, which I'd determined was around $100 and thus not out of the realm of me actually buying one for him. However, what I found in the store was only an HP PhotoPrint 7260, without the little v. Clearly they were nearly the same printer, but I wasn't sure what the difference actually was, or if it really mattered. After consulting with the print expert (more time wasted) I was able to determine that A) The 'v' likely indicated an added feature of some sort, but nobody knew what, B) They don't seem to make the 7260v anymore anyway, and C) For all we know the added feature that the 'v' had might be on the current version of the 7260.
Or basically... we don't really know anything.
So I got a 2 year replacement agreement, not because I would do that for myself, but because I know that's what my dad would do. More time wasted as the checkout clerk asked her coworkers which agreement that was, how much to charge for it, when you said it's the pamphlet, did you mean this one or that one?
And then I fought my way through traffic to get away from the mall. This took another 20 minutes, and I was 30 minutes late for work. Bleah.
But no more shopping for me, I'm done.
Then back into traffic to Northgate, where I visited Suncoast, who failed to have anything I was thinking of buying as a present so I got another gift certificate. I went over to Toytropolis and picked up a stuffed pony for Katie (the kind that I've bought for each of my nieces and one for myself as well, becuase they're so soft and cuddly and cute). I bought a stuffed cat for my younger niece Ella. Up to this point I had been shopping for my friends for the party, and putting off shopping for my relatives because those gifts didn't have to be purchased by Saturday evening.
Well I was quite glad to fight my way out of the parking lot and get away from the mall. I didn't want to go near another mall until after Christmas. I made it back home a little after 4 pm, and was able to wrap presents while Gene and Mike and then Julie and Mike Two were unloading stuff and setting up.
I won't go into the party that much... it was fun. There was tons of food and presents. I recieved some very nice ones, but I'll only mention a couple of them here. First, my roommate got me a Hawaiian Pidgin translation of the new testament, called "Da Jesus Book". Here's a taste, from the Christmas story of the angels appearing before the shepherds in the field:
Da SHeep Farmas An Da Angel Messenja Guys
Dat nite, ova dea inside da fields, get sheep famas taking care dea sheeps. Right den and dea one angel messenja guy from da Boss Up Dea Inside Da SKy come by dem. All aroun dem one awesome light wen shine from da Boss. An dey wen come real scared. But da angel guy say, "No scared. I come to tell you guys Good Stuff From God dat goin make you guys an all day peopo stay good inside. Dis day Inside King David's town, one boy wen born dat goin take you guys outa da bad kine stuff you stay doing. He da Christ Guy, da Spesho Guy God Wen Send. He da Boss. Dis how you goin know him. You goin find one baby dat sta wrap up inside plenny clothes, lying down inside one ting for hold da cows food."
Right den uku paila angel guys from da sky wen show up wit da first angel guy. Dey saying good stuff bout God lidis:
"Up inside da sky wea God stay,
He stay awesome!
And ova hea on top da earth,
If God like wat peopo doing,
He goin make dea heart rest inside."
Den da angel guys wen go way from dem and go back by God inside da sky. Da sheep farmas tell each odda, "Eh brahs, we go Betlehem fo see dis ting wen happen, dat da Boss Up Dea Inside Da Sky wen tell us."
As you might imagine, this is currently my favorite Bible translation to read. ^_^
Chuck got me a book called "But I Digress" which is a collection of Peter David's essays and columns for the Comic Buyer's Guide. I've been reading through some of it. Like any essayist, I don't always agree with Peter's points and he writes from what I would call a very superhero comic oriented point of view -- I was never too deeply into superhero comics myself -- but he's a very intelligent and logical thinker, and has a lot of good stuff to say. So far it's been very interesting.
But, for example, he writes one column about how female leads don't sell. This is the basis of his whole argument, because he goes on to explain why this is. His comments work well as far as American superhero comics and Hollywood movies go... and it's a column from ten years ago, I realize... but Japanese manga are rife with female leads, both shoujo or girl's comics of course, but even a lot of shonen or boy's comics have girl protagonists. I guess you might say it's a cultural thing that stories like this work so well in Japan... except that they seem to be doing quite well over here too. Anime and manga continue to explode. As I said, I picked up a Battle Angel graphic novel and a Please Save My Earth graphic novel in Barnes & Noble. One is very much a shonen comic (and quite violent) but with a female protagonist, the other is a shoujo story told from several viewpoints (as far as I can remember) but the main protagonist is again female.
So I wonder what Peter David would make of that. As far as I can tell, it's not that female leads don't sell... it's that no American knew how to sell them. But perhaps it also reflects a generational change, I don't know.
So... Sunday. I slept in late again but I needed to get some more Christmas shopping done. I was dreading going back to the mall, and anyway I goofed off and didn't really get going until late and it was already past 6 pm before I decided to actually go out. Keith dropped by around 4 pm to get a backpack that he'd left, and gave me 2 late presents, because apparently I didn't get anything from him and Juli at the party (I hadn't even realized this heh).
So anyway I finally realized that what my nephew and niece wanted, I could easily find at my local Fred Meyers. This was good because I knew they were open late, and they weren't near any malls. So I goofed off some more, then finally I drove down there and bought a My Scene Barbie with a scooter (the one Blair specified) and a Zoids Commander Wolf (the one Austin specified). Now, as long as nobody else buys these two items for them, I'll be looking good. ^_^
Out in the entryway I could smell hot dogs and saurkraut, and that sounded wonderful because I hadn't had anything to eat, and didn't want more leftover ham and potatoes which were back in the fridge. But the guy said they were done with hot dogs for the evening. Grrr! My favorite Mexican place, Gordito's, was closed, as was Chef at Wok. It was just about 9 pm on a Sunday. I ran over to Ivar's and got some cajun fish and a cup of salmon chowder. Afterwards I realized that someone (Keith I think?) had given me coupons for Ivar's, including "a free cup of chowder with any entree". DOH! Oh well there's always next time.
Monday I left for work a half hour early, because I still had one present to buy. After checking things out online and writing down exactly what he wanted, I planned to swing by CompUSA and grab it while on my way to work.
The big flaw in this plan, which I totally failed to anticipate, was that CompUSA, while not in a mall, was right NEXT to Southcenter Mall. It took me nearly half an hour just to get from the freeway exit to the parking lot. By this point I realized I was going to be late, but I was damned if I wasn't going to come away with my present so that I didn't have to come back.
My dad wanted an HP PhotoPrint 7260v printer, which I'd determined was around $100 and thus not out of the realm of me actually buying one for him. However, what I found in the store was only an HP PhotoPrint 7260, without the little v. Clearly they were nearly the same printer, but I wasn't sure what the difference actually was, or if it really mattered. After consulting with the print expert (more time wasted) I was able to determine that A) The 'v' likely indicated an added feature of some sort, but nobody knew what, B) They don't seem to make the 7260v anymore anyway, and C) For all we know the added feature that the 'v' had might be on the current version of the 7260.
Or basically... we don't really know anything.
So I got a 2 year replacement agreement, not because I would do that for myself, but because I know that's what my dad would do. More time wasted as the checkout clerk asked her coworkers which agreement that was, how much to charge for it, when you said it's the pamphlet, did you mean this one or that one?
And then I fought my way through traffic to get away from the mall. This took another 20 minutes, and I was 30 minutes late for work. Bleah.
But no more shopping for me, I'm done.
