For anyone who's curious, ( the current state of my shopping list )

I went with my mom and some of her friends to a tea party at Tudor House yesterday. We had three different kinds of tea; one was Darjeeling (supposedly a really high quality one, but honestly my taste buds aren't discerning enough to tell, I think). One was an Earl Grey/Sencha blend (called "Earl Green"), which was so good; very light and refreshing. I'm not that big a fan of Earl Grey, but I really liked this one. And the last one we had was called Maté Tiramisu. This is the catalogue description: "Decadent, new and improved blend of Rooibos, Maté, cocoa, white and dark chocolate, fruit peels, brittle bits, pistachios, almonds, macadamia nuts, pink peppercorns and our secret tiramisu flavor." Sound amazing? Well, it was. Almost like a very light coffee, but kind of sweet and spicy (not as spicy as chai, though), definitely meant to be taken with (or as) dessert. It was good just plain, but then I put cream and sugar in mine and it was positively heavenly.

And what is tea without cakes? We had scones and breads and fruits and something called "naughty cake" (Mmmmmm), with various toppings (lemon flavored whipped cream, chocolate honey [this was gone before we even finished, haha], cinnamon honey), and we were all stuffed by the end. So good!

Unfortunately Mom and I had to leave early so we didn't get to buy anything, but I definitely want to go back. Besides the ones we had yesterday, there are some others in the catalogue I'd like to try, like Kyoto Cherry Rose (by itself and in the Cherry Blossom drink on the recipes page), and I bet the fruit flavors would make really good iced tea.

I'm not even that much of a tea drinker, but I think I could become one with some of these blends.

Unrelated: "Cats 'exploit' humans by purring"? Dude, I could have told you that. Heck, ANY cat owner could have told you that.

When I was living in Japan and had plenty of money, I started buying the pretty hardcover versions of Tsubasa. Then, when I moved back to the States and didn't have so much money, I stopped buying them, figuring I would put it off until later. So now I'm stuck with 15 volumes of the hardcover, and 24 volumes of the paperback, and I don't even know if I really like the series anymore. So, time for everyone's favorite game!


Poll #1423364 Keep or Sell?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What should I do with my hardcover copies of Tsubasa?

Is it lame to want this shirt when one is not a resident of Iowa?

Koushounin wa Furikaeru is the third book in the Koushounin series; see here for ye olde refresher course.



Our Heroes, Mebuki and Hyoudou. Mebuki appears to be in chains. Probably not a good sign.

( summary, scans, squee, etc (NSFW) )

Going through the July manga release list:

07/下　　新書館　　オトダマ−音霊−　２　　新田　祐克

...Nitta Yuuka is back? Did I miss the fanfare, or wasn't there any?

For anyone who migrated to Dreamwidth, I decided to mirror this journal over there. (Still wednesday_10_00, of course.) Unless something drastic happens and everyone I know leaves LJ, this will still be my primary account (because, hello, permanent), but I figured there might be some people with DW accounts who would prefer to read over there, so.

I'm unsure if this article about "m/m romance" (really, we don't have a better name than that?) makes me want to laugh or headdesk. Possibly both, simultaneously. I mean:

The movie version of Brokeback Mountain is credited with ushering in this twist. Beecroft's publisher, Running Press, wrote in the book's publicity material, "The success of 2005's Brokeback Mountain demonstrated the lure of the subject for a female audience." Or maybe it demonstrated the lure of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Informal polls of straight women in the Baltimore/Washington area--i.e. conversations at parties attended by this writer--revealed that they loved the movie, but didn't feel aroused by it.

1. Started with Brokeback Mountain, what?
2. We were supposed to be turned on by Brokeback Mountain? Really? well ok, there was that one kiss, but

Come on, guys, try harder. I can think of about a million possible gateways into slash/BL/whatever you want to call it (except m/m romance, I mean seriously, what), and Brokeback Mountain is like the LAST thing that comes to mind. If you had asked one, just ONE fan of the genre, you would have learned this. (I guess this is too much to hope for, since the rest of the article makes it clear the author doesn't know fans of the genre exist.)

Also:

It seems strange on the surface--gay male romance novels for straight women--but maybe this is just the latest iteration of the age-old against-the-odds, forbidden fruit love story.

Um, no?

Basically, this article embodies most everything I don't like about "outsiders" trying to come into the fandom sandbox and understand it. I'm a fandom curmudgeon.

Someday I will stop spamming you with cats. Today is not that day.



(I guess I lied about it being JUST Choco's tail, but anyway you can see it in the beginning.)

( alskh;dfoijs;l )
I will say, though, that I'm relieved to see that the story's not over. I was a little worried this might be the last volume.

mangaroo gave me the old "pics or it didn't happen" complaint, with a specific request of the cats' favorite sleeping spots. I already have (many) pictures that fill this requirement in my LJ scrapbook, but I felt like it was cheating to post old pictures, so I turned to my parents' computer to find some new ones.

( cut for picspam )

I want there to be some sort of getting-to-know-you type meme, but for your cats. And, honestly, there probably is such a thing out there in the big, wide internets, but I'm too lazy to look, so I just made one up myself. why am I such a dork

( Part one of a four part series: Better Know Denise's Cats )

Anyone with cats (or dogs, or other pets) can play along! not that anyone would want to

"And when it's all said and done? I'm probably going to need a new job," Jules told him. "If my marriage is recognized in California after November...I may be knocking on your door."

*cries*

...I don't know why all this Prop 8 bullshit is affecting me so much. I mean, it sucks, obviously, but why does it feel so much worse than when it happened to Michigan? Is it because I was out of the country when it passed here? Because I perceive California as being so much more liberal that it shouldn't happen there? Because it had been legal there, making this feel like a ginormous leap backwards? Whatever the reason(s), it's depressing the hell out of me.


PS: I'm not a big believer in internet petitions, but hey, it can't hurt, right? Don't fire Lt. Dan Choi

Light arrived on my doorstop this week (thank you, kataren!). I promptly put his sulky face on and chained him to L. Now they will sulk together on my bookshelf forevermore.

So, after reading this rec, I decided to give the series a go. In the beginning, I was a little worried that I had, I dunno, been replaced by some sort of bizarro Denise, like, what the heck, am I really reading het romance in English (gasp, shock) and liking it this much? But when I finally got to the Jules/Robin stuff, I felt reassured: yep, nothing does it for me like hot guys gettin' it on. So, having read all but three of the books in the series now, I can say that while it is possible to take an extreme minimalist approach to the series (as the linked reccer suggests), only reading Hot Target, Force of Nature and All Through the Night to get just the Jules/Robin romance, I don't think the books would be as good that way. So! In case anyone is interested in this couple (and you should be!), I've written little bits about each book and rated them with a "skipability index" from 0 to 10; 0 being read this book, omg and 10 being I wish I hadn't read this book, ugh. Since Jules is like, THE BEST CHARACTER EVER, OMG, the index is heavily biased for his level of involvement, but also factors in the main story/couple of the book.

( Without further ado... )

Talked to a very nice woman from Netflix customer service, who basically told me there wasn't any way to get my disc back. Discs are removed from their sleeves when they come in, and since the difference between the Avatar single discs and collection discs is so subtle, my disc almost certainly got put back with their other Avatar DVDs, rather than their stock of "discs we don't carry sent to us by moron customers." However, they did give me a $10 credit, which is kind of nice, since I wasn't expecting anything like that.

I'm now considering xparrot's suggestion to request the Avatar disc I lost, and then keep that and send back Hamlet 2. Is this dishonest? Netlfix has my disc, so it's not like they've lost anything. (Well, OK, 10 bucks. But they keep the same number of Avatar: Book 2, disc 1 DVDs, is my point.) On the other hand, Netflix DVDs are not always in the best of shape, so I might be better off just using my $10 to buy a new one (it's almost enough to cover it).

ETA: Queue updated. I wonder how many copies of Avatar they have at my hub? Do I have a one in two chance of getting my own disc back, or one in twenty?

So yesterday I discovered that I accidentally sent in one of my Avatar (Book 2) discs instead of the Netflix DVD I was trying to send. (Yes, I am just THAT stupid.) So, now my options are:

1. Send pathetic plea for help to Netflix.

(According to their FAQ:

Q: I accidentally returned a personal CD or DVD. How do I get it back?
A: If we can identify that a CD or DVD does not belong to us, and we recognize the customer who sent it, we will automatically return the disc.
If you return a personal DVD of a movie we carry in our own inventory, our systems unfortunately will not recognize the disc as belonging to you and we regrettably will not be able to return it.

mangaroo, didn't you say you thought Netflix carried the Avatar singles, and not the collections? If so, then they might be able to identify my disc, which means I might be able to get it back.)

2. Lottery! Request same DVD again, hoping they send sleeve containing my DVD. (How many copies of Hamlet 2 could they have?) Could backfire if they actually check the sleeve before it goes out and replace it with the correct disc, discarding mine.

3. Give up, just buy single of missing DVD; cry every time I open case and see non-matching disc. (But hey, I now own Hamlet 2!)


*comment of pathetic self-loathing censored* I may stop at the bookstore on the way home tonight. Retail therapy makes everything better!

I just spent about an hour researching seahorses. Like, as pets. I think the idea has been in the back of my mind since I got to touch one in Hawaii, but for some reason I started really thinking about it this morning. One thing I found:

The first pair of captive-bred seahorses I ever owned were Mustangs, and my 'stangs quickly learned to recognize me as their feeder, whereupon they would often meet me at their feeding station and interact with me at dinnertime by turning on their greeting colors and parading around in all their finery.

...I LOVE this. I think seahorses would make totally adorable pets. But I'm not really sure it's worth the time and expense. In particular, an initial startup expense of ~$1000 is pretty daunting (and definitely means I won't be doing it anytime soon). Also, is this just a phase? Will I get bored and not take good care of them? Cats are so low-maintenance that it's made me a little spoiled.


Maybe I should just get myself some Sea Ponies. ._.