Preparations

Miss Caitlin has finished her finals and returned to her parents' house. Miss Caitlin's Father is ill, and both Miss Caitlin and her Mother hope to avoid catching his illness.

Preparations for our departure are now being made in earnest, as we depart for Greece on Tuesday. Miss Caitlin is doing laundry and figuring what to pack. She has set aside some books for reading while there, including the first few Harry Potter books. Caitlin claims it is necessary for her job as a camp counselor to read them (again) in preparation for the new book's release. In addition, she feels the need to come up with a costume design for the release date, with her eye on winning the costume contest. This does not excite me as much as you would suppose.

In any event, a few items remain to be purchased, but they will be seen to in the next few days. Miss Caitlin also has to secure a set of traveler's checks so that she can purchase gifts while on her trip.

Miss Adrien and the esteemed Deirdre remain at University for a week before departing for China. I have offered to put up pictures from their journey on our blog, but I am not sure that it will be possible for us to do that until after we return home.

Tipsy has spent all of the last few days complaining that Sauinkoku has been licensed and is no longer available. Miss Caitlin promised Tipsy that she would buy the second season if it comes out next year. Depending on how much it costs, she might even buy the first season when it is released in the fall. And yet, Tipsy still continues to complain. I hope this does not continue through our trip to Greece. It is too long of a plane ride to put up with that.

Boring

Cat's got Finals coming up. It means she's really boring. She and Snibbly have been reading these plays by a dead guy called Euripides and some other ones making fun of this dead guy called Euripides. She has to write a paper about it for Monday or something . . .

In unrelated news, we're going to Greece! Soon! She's started making lists and stuff of what to buy and what to bring (we're at the top of the list). I'm really excited! I get to see some place that's not school, home, or Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Grandparents' house. Not that those places aren't nice - but Greece is DIFFERENT! Cat says that Adrien is going to China - I wonder if she's taking Deirdre. That'd be awesome! She'd get to go somewhere DIFFERENT too!

Before I forget, Snibbly and I both want to say sorry to Wolfgang von Bear (also known as Cat's soul) and Eeyore, because they weren't in the picture but we made it sound like they guys in the picture were our only friends at Cat's home house and that's not true. We have a lot of friends that didn't make it into the picture. So sorry guys, we love you too.

Sauinkoku's second seasons started, but it hasn't been translated yet. It makes me sad.

Easter

Cat took us home for Easter. The train was not very fun because no one she knows came home on the same day. She listened to a lot of music. When we got home, Caitlin gave the dress she had been working on to Comfort, one of her oldest friends (Comfort is old enough to vote if it wasn't for the unfair discrimination against Cabbage Patch Dolls). The jumper and hat Cat made for her are the first new clothes that Comfort has gotten since before Clinton was President. Comfort is especially excited about the hat - the boys had hats, but Comfort never did. Here's a picture of her in her pretty new clothes. Cat made a shirt for herself out of the fabric and she used the scraps for the dress and hat.


Here's a picture of most of our friends at Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's House. There's (from left to rightish) Baby, Panya, Sully (the dog), Sheepy, Percy, Lord King Reggie, Me, Snibbly, and Dog.

We're having a pretty good time. Cat got new shoes (so she can walk us around in Greece) and she's going to go for a walk with Mr. Cat's Dad later to start breaking them in. I guess breaking shoes in is pretty important. She's also going to have to do her taxes, which sounds like a mystical activity.

Saiunkoku Monogatari is over and I'm sad . . . Until Season Two starts! If they didn't have a second season, I would be really sad because there was still a lot of lose ends. In fact, there was no real conclusion. I guess the second season starts really soon.

Soundtrack to the Movie of Cat's Life

I was scared that Seiran was going to die in Sauinkoku, but Stupidhead died instead so it's all good.

Clem got the play the DnD group's baby silver dragon. He has this to say: "I like game. My friends come to play. I like to be with friends. I helped my friends to play the game. I like game."

. . . So I guess while he fluently speaks pig (obviously), cow, sheep, and dog, Clem's English is a little rusty. Anyway, you can tell that Clem enjoyed socializing with Cat's friends - it always makes him happy.

So Adrien's rommy Kitty gave Cat a thing to figure out the "soundtrack to the movie of your life." You stick all the music on your comp on a playlist, hit the randomizer, and write the songs down in order into these categories. Cat did it three times and took the best, because she kept getting things that were totally wrong for a spot. Here's what it looked like.

Opening Credits: "Hey, That's no Way to Say Goodbye" by the Johnstons - a Leonard Cohen song not sung by Leonard Cohen - always appropriate for movie openings, but a little weak.
Waking up: "Raise the Roof" by Carbon Leaf - not the best Carbon Leaf song to wake up to, but a nice, peppy, solid one
First Day at School: "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" by Cat Stevens - Theme song of Harold and Maude, and an appropriate choice.
Falling in Love: This one came up with three good choices, so they all make it here: "New Horizons" by the Moody Blues, "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, and "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Fight Song: "Story in Your Eyes" by the Moody Blues - possibly the best Moody Blues song for a fight scene, and an all around good choice: Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Who Loves the Sun" by Velvet Underground - this is a song Cat didn't even know she had on her computer. Apparently it comes from the Soundtrack of High Fidelity - I don't remember hearing the song in the movie . . . hmm . . . anyway, it sounds really light and cheery, but has really sad lyrics. It'd make a real contrast between happy sound and sad action - make the audience feel uncomfortable - not a bad effect overall.
LIFE: "Stay Home" by Self - yeah Cat's lazy and introverted so this song makes pretty good sense here.
Mental Breakdown: "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor - not perfect for this category, but a lot better than the other choices.
Driving: "Losing my Religion" by REM - not the best driving tune by REM, but much better than the two traditional ballads that fell in this spot on the other lists - Cat reads to those; she'd fall asleep if she tried to drive to them!
Flashback: "I Don't Know Where I Stand" by Fairport Convention - this is a tricky spot, because it depends on what the flashback is off. This was the least weird choice for it . . .
Getting Back Together: "Coming Back to You" by Martin L. Gore - 'Nother Leonard-Cohen-Song-Not-Sung-By-Leonard-Cohen.
Wedding: "For My Lady" by the Moody Blues - third and last time they make it onto this list.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - apparently Mr. Cat's Dad sang this to her when she was a baby, so she was happy. Wonder if she'd be equally happy with a Christmas Carol, since he also sang those to her . . .
Final Battle: "Life" by Yui - This was an ending song for Bleach in the third season. It's not really rocking enough to really be a fight song (which made it lame as a end song for Bleach) but it's a cool song and all the other songs were worse.
Death: "Gaudete" by the Medieaval Baebes - this is actually a Christmas song in Latin about how we should rejoice that Jesus is born the the Virgin, but it's done a capella and with all sorts of harmony and it's real serious, so it makes a pretty sweet song to die to.
Funeral Song: "Let Your Troubles Role By" by Carbon Leaf - A pretty sweet song to have your funeral to.
End Credits: "Dover, Delaware" by the Duhks - It's soft and pretty, kinda thoughtful. It was the most appropriate for a movie that ends with a death (since apparently it does . . . Cat's).

These were all well and good, but I decided that I would make my own list, picking things out instead of doing things random.
Opening Credits: This is a tie (maybe the credits are long . . . ) "Don't be Shy" by Cat Stevens, and "Turn" by Great Big Sea - "Turn" is an awesome and pretty song; "Don't be Shy" was the opening to Harold and Maude, and not released as anything else for a long time after that, so most people would recognize it as that (if, you know, they recognized it at all), and then we could make Harold and Maude references through the movies, and that'd be cool, since Cat's family is really in to that movie.
Waking up: "Take on Me" by Aha - there are a lot of songs that could go here. Cat has a whole CD of them. But I chose this one because I've been listening to Cat's 80's mix a lot lately and this one's my favorite.
First Day at School: Another tie: "Song of the Elves" by John Simon and "Nice to be Here" by the Moody Blues - both are fun, whimsical, and carry strong childhood memories for Cat. Good luck finding any info on "Song of the Elves" . . .
Falling in Love: "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel - I copped out, I know.
Fight Song: "Bad Reputation by" Half-cocked - Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Forever Autumn" - Single Cut by Justin Hayward. Is pretty and sad.
LIFE: "No Rain" by Blind Melon and "The Actor" by the Moody Blues - Both capture a lot of Cat's life and life philosophy. And "The Actor" has the line "put out your problems with your cat" - awesome line!
Mental Breakdown: "Everybody Hurts" by REM - yeah, can't get too much more melancholy than that.
Driving: "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads - great driving song. Enough said.
Bonus Section: Train Travel: "America" by Simon and Garfunkel - I know, I know, it's about being on a greyhound bus, but it works well for trains too! And so pretty . . .
Flashback: "Hey Ho" by the Minstrels of Mayhem - this is a group that shows up at Cat's favorite Renaissance Faire - they did a round of two folk songs on one of their cds, and one of the songs Cat sings at Camp! And it's slow, sad, not very distracting, pretty good for a flashback.
Getting Back Together: "Call and Answer" by Barenaked Ladies - it's about patching up a relationship. Really long though - we'll have to cut it short for the scene in our movie.
Wedding: :You're so True" by Joseph Arthur - This is really sweet and perky. It comes from the Shrek 2 soundtrack and I'm attached to it.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - No change - the randomizer was too perfect for this one!
Final Battle: "Hall of the Mountain King" but the Who - well, it claims to be by the Who. Not sure I believe it. It's really rocking anyway - good battle material.
Death: "Trouble" by Cat Stevens - It's especially appropriate if we use "Don't be Shy" to start the movie. Nice Harold and Maude symmetry. But likely no Jag for Cat . . "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan was also a high contender. The random songs in different languages by the Medieaval Baebes would be good material too, but I couldn't pick one since I couldn't read their titles . . .
Funeral Song: "Anabel" by the Duhks - dead girl song. . this is in addition to "Let Your Troubles Roll By" by Carbon Leaf from the earlier list.
End Credits: "Once I Was" by Tim Buckly - Sad, thoughtful, pretty, but not something most people want to listen to. Got to hustle people out to begin the next showing and all that.

So, great list, huh? I thought so . . . Snibbly's probably going to think it's lame, but he's not paying attention now, since he borrowed some reading on Egypt so he can have something to talk about the Deirdre next time her sees her (lame LAME!).

Chilling cause it's cold

It's really cold. It's alright in the apartment, as long as you're not on the floor near the air conditioner unit. But all and all, really cold.

Cat says the play is going along alright. It's two weeks until the show goes up! Cat's looking forward to when it will all be over (and then she'll have a ridiculous amount of free time). She just has to survive and get her assignments done by then.

Deirdre is still visiting. Cat's not so mean as to take her back to her house when it's so cold. That's alright because I like her. I can't talk to much though because I've been put in charge of an important duty - I must watch over Cat's train tickets for going home for spring break, and I can't let them be confused with the ones for Easter. It's tricky, but I will not let Cat down.

Saiunkoku Monogatari updated not once, not twice, but FOUR times in the last two weeks. If that's not exciting, I don't know what is. Seiran still hasn't kicked the new guy's butt (turns out he is evil - in fact, sorta sadistic), but I'm confident that he'll get around to it.

The Visitor and Other News

Deirdre came over on Monday after I posted. She's very nice. She made a nest in Cat's headphones, since Cat doesn't use them much. She has a pretty necklace, and she likes my earing. She likes books and stuff, but she doesn't make fun of me for watching anime. She says she likes Dr. Who better, but anime is fun too. She says Miss Adrien's roommates watch anime too. It made me remember that it was those girls that got Cat into anime when she roomed with them last fall. I'd forgotten because I came to live with Cat last spring, and she was in the campus apartment then, and already watching anime. But anyway, Deirdre doesn't mind anime.

Last night was a short rehearsal for Cat because they were only running through Act I. The actors were supposed to be off book. Some of them had to be scolded because they weren't. They're running Act II tonight - hopefully it will be better this time.

Cat's Mom linked to us from her blog! She writes about her needlework stuff mostly. This time she put up some pictures Cat took of the ice from the ice storm. Cat's a little disappointed that Mom forgot to take pictures of the christening gown that she made for Cat's baby cousin. Cat had to come to school and work on the play, so she didn't get to go to the christening or see the gown when it was finished. But maybe someone will send Mom a nice picture of it and she'll put it up.

It's pretty warm today (pretty warm means above freezing). Cat says the trees throw pieces of ice when the wind blows. She says it's like the Old Forest in Fellowship of the Ring, when the trees throw leaves and twigs and pieces of bark because they don't like the hobbits. Deirdre and Snibbly thought this was funny, but I didn't since I haven't read that book. Cat says she'll read it again this summer, so I can read it with her then. I feel I should, because those books are very important to Cat.

Cat's been watching anime for a reward when she gets what she's supposed to done. It's been hard for her to fit time for herself in with rehearsal, so this is a good way for her to unwind. Code Geass is getting really interesting. We're starting to like that one a lot. Bleach has also been awesome lately. We started watching Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, (there's a mouthful for you) which is very good. It's about the last few Samurai in the 1800's. There's a lot of politics and history stuff, so we're watching them again to try and follow that since neither of us know a lot about Japanese history at that time (we're also trying figure out everyone's name this time through). The main plot's pretty good too. Adrien's coming over today to watch Hana Yori Dango 2 with us. It's the second season of a Japanese drama. We watched the first season last year. It's not an anime, but it did come from a manga. It's kinda hokey, but that's what makes it so much fun.

Saiunkoku Monogatari . . .

. . . hasn't updated. Poo. However, I can now answer Cat and Hannah's pressing question. I was able to do a little research to find that the actor who voices Kouyuu does not in fact voice Renji. He does however voice another Bleach character. According to Anime News Network, Nobuyuki Hiyama voices both Kouyuu on Saiunkoku Monogatari and Ikkaku the third officer in the eleventh squad on Bleach. But Kentaou Itou, the actor who voices Renji, does voice a character on Saiunkoku Monogatari. He voices Rou Ensei, everyone's favorite rouge. Cat and I can hear the similarity between Kouyuu and Ikkaku, but Rou Ensei and Renji sound completely different! I guess that means he's a good actor or something . . .

Here's hoping for our favorite fansubs update tomorrow . . .

Back Home

No Saiunkoku Monogatari. Though we did get some Code Geass. That's not as good but it's an otay Christmas present

We went to visit Relatives. That meant Grandparents' house where everyone comes to visit. This meant that Cat and her Bother - I mean Brother - had to amuse her teen-aged cousins. This wasn't too hard because they like anime and they play cards. Cat likes both of these past-times, though she lost pretty bad at cards this time. That's otay, someone has to lose and her luck should change for next time. Supposedly. Sagittariuses are supposed to be lucky, but Cat's never been especially. But usually she manages alright at cards.

Anyway, they watched a lot of Bleach and Hannah (the girl cousin who's like 16 and very sensible) watched Saiukoku Monogatari with us. She liked it. Though she didn't watch enough the decide who she thought Shuurei should end up with. That's really the most important part of the series. It's a romance story really, though it's kinda fantasy too. It takes place in a country, Saiukoku (which means Country of the Colored Clouds or something - we have to take other people's word for it since we don't speak Japanese), that's kind of like ancient China (except not) where a great Emperor in the past united the eight provinces with the help of the Eight Enlightened Ones, who were each named after colors and so that's how they named the provinces and the rulers of the provinces too. This makes identifying characters somewhat easier since the main nobles are all color coded. Anyway, Shuurei is the daughter of a noble who is in charge of the library of the palace. Since his job doesn't bring in lots of money, they're pretty poor. So for a pile of cash to keep her family fed, the bright Shuurei agrees to become consort of the new emperor who is young and not particularly motivated. Her task is to make him an emperor worthy of following and then I guess she doesn't have to be consort anymore (cos suddenly in the series she decides she's not . . . ). Her family's retainer, Seiran, is made a bodyguard to the emperor. And so they go to the palace, meet Ryuuki the emperor and of course he falls in love with her, because she's smart and capable and she's nice to him. But Seiran's already in love with her, but he's really passive about it and she's totally oblivious to him so he's getting no where fast, while Ryuuki makes his intentions pretty clear. But I think Seiran will win out because he's a loyal and they've known each other forever and just because he's slow doesn't mean he doesn't love her - because he does - he relies on her and it makes him sad when she won't cry to him anymore. Anyway, Cat thinks she'll end up with Ryuuki. She sites My Fair Lady for evidence. She says Liza ends up with Pickering cos he needs her more, and it's the same with Ryuuki. I don't know about that . . . Hannah didn't have an opinion yet, since she only saw the first 8 or so.

They watched a lot of early Bleach. Well, middle Bleach. Early compared to the recent stuff. The boy cousin watched that too. Hannah and Cat spent a lot of time wondering if the guy who voices Renji also voices Li Kouyuu in Saiunkoku Monogatari. They still couldn't figure it out. I haven't been able to find anything about either online. Sigh. We may never know.

Anyway a good time was had by all.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Lots of stuff is stirring at the Family's house. The Family went to Mass at 6:00 to avoid the mobs of people that feel the need to go at 4:00 and the gallons of incense that they feel the need to use at Vigil. Cat says there weren't a lot of people there, but a few people they did know.

Clem's still doing the Christmas Pig thing, a job that now seems to consist of shaking all the presents under the tree, never mind who they're addressed to. Anyway, no one seems to mind and he hasn't been told not to so he's busy playing with presents. I think tomorrow, he'll be busy playing with wrapping paper. And the day after that we go visit Relatives! See, all sorts of things are going on for Christmas.

What I want for Christmas won't fit under the tree. I want a fansub for Saiunkoku Monogatari episode number 24. They put number 23 up on the 11th and haven't put one out since. It's not fair! That's our favorite. And other translators are doing it now, but they've either just started, or they're on like 22. We HAVE those, we WANT 24! So all I want for Christmas is a fansub, but they'll probably not do it for some lame reason like it's the holidays and they're busy celebrating with their family which is dumb. Cause this cow wants her anime. Cat's being a little more patient, but she has other things she can do. You know, she has family things. Maybe I'll bully Snibbly into helping me play a video game. I can't manage all the buttons myself you see. Or maybe I'll declare myself the Christmas Cow and rattle presents with Clem. Hmm. Decisions, decisions . . .

Merry Christmas!!!

Chirstmasness

Look! Snibbly and I figured out how to set up two logins! Now I don't have to listen to his stupidheadness when I write.And I can write all pretty!

Christmas is coming, so the Family put up a tree for it. It looks really cool. I've never done Christmas before. I think it's pretty cool. Cat played with the zoom and flash on her new camera by taking pictures of us and the tree. She took pictures of Clem too (the sweater got put in the laundry so he can't mess with it right now). He's here now and he wants to say that Christmas is awesome, because he gets to be the Christmas Pig. I guess that's pretty important . . . to Clem at least. And he says HI!!!

I guess a few days ago the Family got a letter from a college friend of Cat's Mom and Cat's Dad. They call him and his family the Perfect Family, because in their letter at Christmas, everything's perfect. They have two perfect twin sons about Cat's Brother's age and a daughter a few years older than that. And after talking about Mrs. Perfect breaking her perfect arm in four perfect places, and Mr. Perfect's perfect gall bladder surgery, they talk about Daughter Perfect getting perfectly stung by bees and then they get to the best part. I quote (this is still talking about the Perfect Daughter)

"In Arkansas, she was both stung again and chased by cows."

That's it?! No telling what she did to provoke those cows - probably a perfectly reasonable bunch - into they chasing her?! No vivid description of the chase and how she got away?! No gripping tale of cow revenge?! What kind of letter is this?! It's certainly not a perfect letter! I think the Family should send it back and tell them to fix it. And this time, it should be about the cows, and cow rights. I feel the cows have been misrepresented in this incident. Maybe it was a hate crime, a protestation against cow abuse and tipping! But we'll never know . . . sigh . . .

Only Code Geass updated last night, and nothing updated today that we watch. We're still not sure that we like Code Geass, but they're finally getting past introducing everyone and everything and actually moving on the plot. I guess that's good. I withhold judgment anyway.

Pompous-butt wants to write too so I'll let him. Later.