The view from in-between...

Back from Dragon*Con

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:18:48 GMT

*whew* Back from the Con... It was friggin' awesome! The costumes, the panels, the general weirdness!! I do hate flying though... The hotels were packed and people kept getting in trouble for stopping to take pictures of all of the costumed people (like anything was going to stop them). It was spread out between 3 separate hotels so it was a bit of a pain to keep going from on to the other.

Saw a bunch of panels on various topics (B5, game programming and stuff). They had stuff on making costumes, movies, every program/book/comic in existence (nearly). Loads of fun!

I'll pop the pics up once I have them sorted out and probably on my homepage or something. Well, gonna grab some sleep and get things sorted out down here in Ft. Myers. Gotta drive back up tomorrow sometime.

Getting ready for DragonCon and other... random stuff

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:22:44 GMT

Man, I hate packing. Trying to get ready for a six day trip is annoying at best. (probably more so for the ladies, but still...) Trying to stuff so much stuff into one suitcase (for guys, this is usually enough) is always a challenge. At least I get to look forward to a cool Con from what I hear. I'll try to update you guys while I'm up there! ^.^

On another note, I'd just about forgotten what it was like to try to woo someone. It's been so long since I've tried that I feel like I'm stumbling around like an idiot. Then again, that's not so much of a change from usual. o.o;

Oh, yeah, last Sunday, I made Japanese 食パン (shokupan)!! I know most people don't think bread baking is such a big deal, but if you've tried shokupan, you'd be drooling right about now! I think I have a picture here somewhere... *digs around a bit* Ah! Here we are...

That would be Mio next to the breads! She's a baker extraordinaire working at the Chocolate Pi cake shop here in Tampa. Check it out at www.chocolatepi.com

In return for showing me how to make Super-Mega-Awesome bread, I cooked dinner for her and her family. No pics of the food though... sorry, but I made Hiyashi Chuuka noodles for lunch, Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner and Japanese flan (purin) for dessert. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, so I'll call it a success.

Well, off to finish packing...

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:46:12 GMT

*blech*

Spent most of the day trying to figure out what to do with a personal website. I guess I've avoided it long enough.

You'd think that as an IT dork, I should have my hands in more of the latest things like blogging and all that cr@p, but I'm really more of a hardware junkie than a blog/vlog/website junkie. I mean, I still enjoy programming, but I like building computers almost more than using them.

Actually, once I've finished building the shelves and desk for my room, I'll probably build an entertainment system for my house that will be completely integrated and controlled by one small PC and a single remote. TVs, audio receivers, DVD player, maybe even the lights!

Yup, tech-geek. All the way. Got to do something with my hands besides... well, anyway, I suppose I can do the generic "this is who I am" kind of thing, but that seems boring. I guess I can try to find some random personal homepages and see what's being done...

Any thoughts, anyone?

sigh and it ain't over yet...

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 23:38:35 GMT

Ok, so after a couple of weekends working on the room, I've made some progress. The room has been primed and painted, and the first set of shelves have been built, stained and mounted on the wall. Of course, this means the second set of shelves and the desk underneath still need to be built... -.-;;

At first, I thought, they make this look so easy on tv like on Trading Spaces, While You Were Out and such, but then I remembered, I'm doing this by myself. No one helping other than to hold something in place for a few seconds. I pretty much mounted the shelves by myself which was a bit of a chore, but it got done!

Before:

After (so far with a few cool books to give it character!):

Now, the current furniture will disappear after I've built replacements for them so they'll pop up in the pics in the meantime. Not sure what that white dot is in the After pic since it's not really on the wall...

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:46:40 GMT

Yikes, almost let the day get away from me without saying...

お誕生日　おめでとう、twitchylizardーちゃん！
(Happy Birthday, twitchylizard!)

Let's pretend to have MAD_SKILLZ!!

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:00:34 GMT

Ok, so the plans for this weekend have diverted considerably from the simple baking and cooking I had planned. I'll actually be... *takes deep breath*

Taking all of the furniture out of the little 10x12x8 room in the front of the house, repainting the walls and building a three tiered set of floating shelves (6ft on one wall connected to a 4.5 ft section on the adjacent wall)

*pant, pant, pant* Man, tired already and that was only talking about it...

Anyway, the shelves will eventually float above a desk/entertainment center that I'll build on another weekend. (little steps, little steps) *looks at the above paragraph... shakes head*

I'll be happy if I can finish painting and get the shelves put together and stained. I can actually mount them on the wall some other day, but that's the plan. So setting the baking skills aside and diving into the woodworking skills. (Why do I feel like I'm talking about EverCrack?!)

Wish me luck! Anyone willing to help? *looks for raised hands*

Tadaa!!

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:37:09 GMT

Ok, so the "Weekend Bake-O-Rama" is complete and I almost didn't get pictures of all of what I baked up. They were going pretty fast (and I kind of forgot my camera...)! Well, thankfully, hyanan had her camera handy.

These are the シュークリーム and クリームパン (cream puffs and custard rolls). The puffs had regular custard and also a strawberry custard with a drizzle of strawberry sauce added on top. (thank you benschingel for the sauce)

This was an attempt at ベーコンエピ which is just soft roll dough with a slice of bacon baked inside. I think next time I'll add some cheese to it. It looked pretty plain but tasted pretty good. You can actually see one little bit left from the attacking hordes only moments before the rest was devoured! Sorry, I didn't present it all plated up but I figured, take the pic and get out of the way!!

The rest of the time was spent as usual. Watching movies, playing games, ordering Chinese and doing homework (blech!). hyanan, benschingel, nenaluna and Ben's brother Nick were over to indulge in the pastries and seemed to enjoy them (since none of the baked goods lasted more than a day), so I'll call this edition of "Bake-O-Rama" a resounding success.

On a side note, Ben and I have finished reading the newest and last(?) Harry Potter book and are now waiting for
hyanan to finish so we can talk about it without hiding from everybody, but for now, with the exception of only a couple of parts, two thumbs up!

Cookin' up the goodies

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:29:40 GMT

I know I seldom post to the journals outside of commenting on other people's lives, but I thought maybe I would try putting my thoughts into writing. Probably not too exciting to most, but we'll see. Here goes...

To start with, I don't think I've baked so much as I have over the last week and this weekend probably won't be much different. We all have our little outlets when we feel stressed or bored, and while most people I know seem to take a more artistic approach, I have taken the "time to make some comfort food!" approach.

I'll truly make an effort to start posting pictures and comments on the stuff I make since I really enjoy cooking/baking up stuff I remember from Japan. You can always describe a building or a scene but you can't truly describe a flavor. It's kind of like describing a color to a blind person or a song to someone who is deaf. I think I just like to make these things because aromas and flavors are the strongest cues for memories and I really miss being in Japan.

Anyway, this weekend will probably consist of シュークリーム(custard cream puffs) and/or クリームパン. まんじゅう will likely be on the menu too, but not sure what kind. I'll probably do some other things too but that'll be as the mood strikes. Maybe some プリン, too...

I'll let you know how they turn out!

As I had always feared...

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 07:06:33 GMT

Well, anyone who really knows me knows that my patience is vast. Being passed up for promotion at work for the third time brought an end to that patience and started turning it into frustration. That, of course, gave way at being passed up for the fifth time. So, in a move that got me fired from a previous job due to a very insecure manager, I went over my supervisor's head to the department manager to find out what it was I was or was not doing to warrant this treatment and the answer was...

"Well, Brian, I apologize but they [referring to some of the supervisors, including mine... yay... -_-;] still don't really know what they're doing yet. I'm doing what I can to get them up to speed and I'll see that you're submitted for the next available position."

I so fear for the future of my company. There's so much potential and awesome benefits that I don't want to leave, but when management has so little respect for the supervisors as to put them down to the regular employees... Very tough decisions ahead...

Although, I guess it's just more incentive I suppose to hurry up and finish my degree and RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! I only hope that whatever training I manage to eke out of this place will be enough with my degree to land me a job in Japan. I can't wait to go back home. *sniff, sniff*

Finally, a nice respite

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 06:27:17 GMT

Whew, after finishing finals last weekend (yes, I'm back in school) and moving all of my crap yet again (long boring story), I finally have some time to have a little fun and since my schedule is staggered off from pretty much everyone else's, I have to do most of it alone...

At any rate, I spent my day off, on a holiday no less, fixing crap around the house. I can't seem to get away from fixing things and getting multiple, annoying comments from people who seem to think I can't fix anything in spite of the fact that much of the house has already been fixed by yours truly. *sigh*

Well, in an attempt to treat myself to a little indulgence, I tried to find the Death Note movie on our the internet (aah, the internet! friend. companion. *secret lover* oops, did I say that out loud?!?) Alas, my search was to no avail. I'm sure it will be out soon enough (but if anyone knows of where it might already be, there would be much "owe-ing-ness" to follow the passing of such information)

I'll have to send a note (not a death one) to my cousin to have her send the remaining Death Note novels to me. Of course, I'll probably have to have hyanan ask since she seems to communicate with my family more they do with me...

So, if anyone actually reads these things, let me know if you find anything on the Death Note movie!

Getting ready to 'screw the pooch'

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 07:26:53 GMT

Well, this has truly been an interesting day. I often complain about family (as I think most everyone does), but so rarely do they do so much to justify my fears that they are as inept and self-serving as I always hope they aren't.

I can only hope the fates have no more to take from me as after a carefully composed e-mail, I may have given up the 'next to last thing' I have left. (Willingly, I might add.)

Ok, so this is a bit cryptic, but no one really reads this crap, do they? Well, besides Hyanan. But she always has the inside scoop over here anyway.

after a long absence

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 06:47:35 GMT

Well, someone (whose name will not be mentioned here, but is readily viewable in my last post) indicated that I seem to have left my LJ to die. I didn't mean to. Really.

It's just that things are starting to spin a little bit too far out of my control and I'm quickly running out of patience and strength. Which is quite a task with someone like me. Just ask anyone who's know me for a while.

Well, I had a huge rant going on here but decided against posting it all up for the world to see. Sometimes I just wish I could drink my problems away. Of course, with my amazingly low alcohol tolerance I couldn't drink enough to be really satisfying. It would be nice to let it all go, if only for a little while. As a song put it, 男の嘆きはほろ酔いで酒場の隅に置いて行く

Generally, I don't rant. As a matter of culture (or possibly just stupid prideful thinking), I try to help other people without burdening them. (Kind of martyr-y, isn't it? Kind of pathetic too...)

Well, at any rate, from here on, I'll try a little harder to keep up with my friends here on LJ. And for those of you who I have promised but not followed through, I apologize. I'll get on it right away.

Here's to the hope of brighter days. Until next time...

Denizens of The Black Pit....

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 05:55:08 GMT

Well, I thought today, how cool is it that I can see dolphins swimming not more than 50 yards away from me on my drive into work?

Then, of course, marveling at the dolphins I'd seen earlier in the day, on the way home, I was freaked out by some weird looking birds that seemed to be dive-bombing my car... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!! I mean, really! What kind of freaky birds, fly at a car at night?!?

As long as I've lived here, there are still things that make me really scratch my head and wonder what the heck is wrong with this place... *sigh (-_-;)

oh, well... back to your regularly scheduled program *click

Just a little teaser...

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 06:20:44 GMT

Ok, well, tomorrow, if all goes well, I will be trying out a recipe for a dessert that I absolutely loved growing up in Japan.

クリーム　パン！！ (kuriimu pan, for those japanese font challenged folks) It's a kind of custard cream baked into a sweet roll. All kinds of soft and sweet goodness!!

For those of you who are going to the Orlando Con in August, I'll bake up a batch for you to feast upon. I'm still trying to decide what else I might be able to whip up, but unfortunately, if I'm there, I can't make as much as I did last time so I'll try to make up for it in sheer goodness! ;^)

Many thanks to hyanan and benschingel for allowing me to use their oven (since mine can't hold a constant temperature.) :^(

trinity_threat, you aren't going to miss this one too, are you? You'll miss the food AGAIN if you do! ;^D

This could be trouble...

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 07:18:09 GMT

I've come to the realization that I can be more myself in this Live Journal thingy than I usually care to be in public. That could be problematic since most of my comments and quips usually come off pretty funny in person, but seem to come off a little bit cocky and arrogant in typed text... (O.o;)

Now, granted, I am a little bit cocky and arrogant (as my ex would attest to) (^_~), but I generally don't like to sound that way.

So, I hope that anyone who ends up reading whatever weirdness comes out of my keyboard knows to laugh WITH me because I would never be so mean as to laugh AT anyone...

really... (^_^;)

I wouldn't... (O_o;)

(ok, maybe, sometimes, but don't tell anyone, ok?) <(^o^) - Oohohohoho~~!

Kinda cool, I guess...

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 06:17:26 GMT

hmm, well, I suppose this LJ thing is kinda cool, but it does get kinda boring when no one is really reading what you enter. Also, when you respond to stuff and get no replies back...

I dunno. I'll probably keep typing stuff until it becomes overly tedious. We'll see.

hmm, pretty close

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:09:54 GMT

You Are 70% American

Most times you are proud to be an American.
Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe
Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home.
You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

I won't tell them I'd prefer to live in Japan... ;)

The Final Frontier (?)

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 16:09:36 GMT

*sigh

Well, even though I've been working out regularly for the last month now, I've been hesitating in the last step in getting back into shape... food management.

For someone like me to have to keep better track of what I eat is going to be painful. My friends, hyanan and benschingel, are helping me out with this part, but it's going to be difficult. Considering we get together nearly every weekend to cook up some awesome Japanese food, it might be tough to stick to the diet. Well, they seem to do pretty well, so I'll give it a shot too.

I'll have to start posting what we actually make on the weekends to show you how tough it will be to stick to any diet.

Stay tuned!

It's a TRAP!!

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 20:50:46 GMT

Well, it's a horrible way to start a journal, but I'm stuck at work on a holiday. There's nothing to do and no place to go. Trapped in a cubicle jungle with little hope for escape. All for a little extra money. (hmm, not sure when I started ho-ing myself out like this...)

*sigh, well, hopefully it'll be worth it.

Somebody rescue me... *whimper