Toradora

Toradora is an anime that I just finished watching. Not only did I really enjoy it but after trying to explain to a friend what kind of anime it is it helped me realize the type of genre I seem to enjoy the most.

I explained to my friend that it is a comedy about a teenage guy Ryūji (who is viewed as a delinquent for his appearance even though he's a nice guy) and a short tempered girl named Taiga. Each misunderstood in their own way and can't really stand each other either. But once they find out that they both have crushes of the other's best friend they decide to help each other woo their respective crushes. So while it has comedic elements it's also very dramatic and sad. Then I realized the best way to describe it.

Slice of Life.

That seems to be my anime of choice. Sure I enjoy Bleach, I grew up on DBZ, and am desperately trying to catch up on Naruto so I can watch Shippuden. But besides that most of the fighting anime just aren't my style and I think most people believe that this is what most anime is like. And that is really sad.

I think the reason I REALLY got into anime a few years back was because of anime like this. It's just more real. The Japanese aren't afraid to animate something that could easily be done live action. They take their animation more seriously and I love that. If something animated can really pull certain emotions out of me then you must be doing something right.

I watched all of Toradora in the span on a few days. 25 episodes in all. I had actually put another anime on hold to do so, called Clannad, because it was starting to get to me a bit. Clannad is a great example of something that can make you laugh hysterically and then tear up a bit the next. I thought Toradora would be a nice little pick me up but then that would get sad at times too. But the relationship between the two main characters really grabbed me. And let's face it, Taiga is adorable...

All in all I thought it was a great show and am glad I stumbled upon it. I had more to write but I realize it's now 3am and I want to watch at least one episode of Battlestar Galactica before bed. Perhaps I will add to this next post.

Until next time...

My Anime List

So the other day I was perusing through various anime blogs and came across one, http://www.animoe.net/ where the guy was writing about a website called My Anime List.

Naturally I checked it out and it's really sweet. It's an online database where you can keep track of all the anime you have watched, are watching, and plan on watching. Since I had just made my own list a month ago or so it was a lot easier to go through their database and add everything I've seen by looking at my list.

My favorite part is the "Currently Watching" section because I have a few that I'm watching right now and this allows me to keep track of what episode I am on each show. You can also blog, make recommendations, write reviews, join groups. It also compares your anime compatibility with others. Kinda like Facebook for anime peoples.

Can't believe I'm just finding this thing now.

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seantaku

Netflix

I love Netflix. Don't get me wrong. But as genius as it is, I have to deal with the one factor that upsets me most.

It's been previously handled my morons...

Before I got Netflix I would just constantly buy new DVD's at Best Buy. Sure it was expensive, but if I knew it was good and I knew I would re-watch it, then why not buy it for keeps? One of the other main reasons was that I seem to be one of the few people on this planet who is capable of maintaining the quality of a DVD. The other person would be my father.

It's quite simple. You take it out of the case, put it in your DVD player, and when the movie is over guess what you do?? You take it out of the player and put it back in it's protective shielding. That way, the disc doesn't get scratched and you are able to view it multiple times.

Sadly with Netflix I have to deal with the fact that most people take the DVD out of their player and use it as a frisbee, coaster, or just simply to wipe their ass with it. I have found that using the Windex and cleaning the disc works wonders. But the times it doesn't work, that's just bad news. The reason I am so upset right now is the fact that most of the stuff I get on Netflix is ongoing series such as anime and other television shows. I get three DVD's at a time. That's my subscription. So I put in disc one and it's scratched to shit. Now I have to send out the damaged disc. Can I pop in the other 2 discs? Ummm, no because I haven't watched the first yet.

I dedicated the end of my night tonight to watching the final two episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 2. I was going to watch them last night but it was too late and I needed to sleep. I figured, it's best to stop here and leave the suspense for tomorrow night. Had I not had that thought I could have watched 12 minutes into the episode and realized this disc was damaged goods and had it sent out this morning.

So seriously people. It's a friggin DVD. Take care of them. It is sooooooooo incredibly simple.

Can't wait to watch these Battlestar episode on Monday/Tuesday...

Headphones

I got an iPod recently and I love it. Especially for the podcasts. But the moment I bought it I knew that I would have a problem with the "headphones" that they give you.

OK, I know we're going for small and sleek, something barely noticeable than two giant Princess Leia buns on your head, but I hate these friggin "ear plugs" as I call them. They just don't fit for me.

I remember my first encounter with these ear plugs as a kid. My dad bought them for my original Gameboy. All the other kids were able to place it in the ear with ease. I would stick them in sideways with the tip sticking straight out like a retard because it was the only way to keep them in. I am kind of having the same problem now only this time the right ear is fine and the left ear is rejecting it. I thought maybe it was the earpiece so I switched them and sadly neither fits.

I have a gimp right ear. Lame.

And what's even more sad is that less than two weeks of having the ear plugs, one of them has already decided to stop working (sadly the right side, the one I need!!). I can only hear from one side. Thanks Apple!! This is why I normally steer clear of you.

Sean signing off...

Bank fun

Yesterday I had to go to the bank to turn in a buttload of change. Turned out to be a good amount of cash too! At least, enough to last me til payday at the end of the week.

So I go to the teller and give her my receipt from the coin machine. For whatever reason it takes her FOREVER to fill out the form. Apparently they can't just take the receipt and give you the cash. They must first deposit the money into your account, then you have to withdrawal it. It's annoying, but it's a hell of a lot better than using CoinStar since they take out a percentage of the cash to keep for themselves. A convenience fee of sorts?

So as the teller lady is finishing up the form she sneezes, twice. Into her hands. I say "Bless You" because it's always polite and I'm hoping she's going to do something to clean those hands before man handling my money. She does not. In fact, she messes up the first time and has to count it out twice. I'm trying very hard not to let her see me shudder. She slides me my money and I very carefully put it in my wallet trying really hard to touch it as little as possible.

I'm sorry but that's just gross. I'm not a Germaphobe or anything, but there are times at work when I'm handling cash I can only imagine where this money has been. But I put it out of my mind. But when I see it happening right in front of me, that's a different story.

All I could think about was Seinfeld when Poppie doesn't wash his hands after using the toilet and then procedes to hand prepare Jerry's food. When the lady was handing me my money I jsut wanted to keep shaking my head "no" like Jerry does to his date.

Given the fact that I am also just coming down from the flu (or Las Plagas as my friends believed I had) I'm not trying to get something else from snot covered monies!

Gross...

Paintballing

I went paintballing yesterday for my friends birthday. We had done it the previous year and decided we liked it so much why not do it again this year. Although last year was like playing in a muddy pig pen it was still amazing and everyone (I think) had a great time.

I think this year was even better, mostly due to the weather and the fact that since I already had some experience I knew what I was getting into and decided to play more aggressively. All in all I had a great time and I was glad I got to participate. Also we reserved private time for ourselves so that we didn't have to play with other paintballers. Which brings me to my next point.

The one thing I hate about paintball is the people that play paintball.

Getting to just play with my friends is awesome but I don't know if I could handle playing with strangers. Not because they could light me up (I know they can, I'm not that experienced) but because there all so smug. They can read n00b all over you the moment you walk in and give you the cockeyed "I'm better than you" grin. During the safety speech if someone asks a question they kind of snicker like "What a fucking moron" to which I want to reply "The girl is like 15, let her ask a damn question"

Now I know not everybody is like that. I have friends who go paintballing all the time. But through my experience, and I've been to two different places in Virginia, a good amount of the people AND staff, are pretty damn rude. I really hope it's just that area. My one friend and I got there pretty early and were both extremely irritated by listening to most of these people talk. Esspecially the one guy who briefed us on Safety. Just a loud, obnoxious guy who later was flirting with two of my female friends. *shudder* Dude was so creepy...

So if you are a casual paintballer I reccomend getting a group of friends together and just getting some private time. You probably won't have any fun joining a random game since these guys will immediately try to light your ass up. Rental equipment = n00b. Once your shot you are out for the round. I don't know about you but I'd rather not spend $50 to play for about a minute or so each round before getting shot.

Til next time...

So messed up...

For those who don't know I live in a Condo Development. So instead of a mailbox sitting at the end of my lawn with a red flag I have a tiny little compartment surrounded by 20 other little compartments. Though that's not what really bothers me. What bothers me is that to send out Outgoing Mail there is a small basket set on top of the "Mailbox Unit". You place your mail in here and use a safety pin to clip it to the basket. I never really trust this thing because I've seen mail get rained on (even though there is almost no way possible for rain to reach it) and I don't trust putting my bills there over night. Same with my Netflix. There have been times I have wondered why people don't just go up and nap these things. Free movie! But my brother and I are the youngest people in our neighborhood, besides children, so I figure everybody is an adult here and trustworthy.

Until today...

Now I normally use the Mailbox that we have at the entrance to our neighborhood. One of those big blue ones . That thing I trust. So I will normally jus drop off my mail there on the way to work. Well today I was going to the grocery store and decided to check my mailbox before I left. I placed my Nexflix envelope's ontop of the "Unit" while I glanced through my mail. Noticing some important documents I decided to run them back upstairts to my place so I wouldn't forget. I run back downstairs and run back to my car. I do the Tri-Tap (tap all pockets to make sure I have keys, cell phone, and wallet) and as I'm about to get in my car I realize I don't have my Netflix envelopes. SO I run back over to the mailbox and thankfully they're still there. BUT in the 3 minutes I had left it there somebody opened it up, pulled out the DVD, decided they weren't interested in BattleStar Galactica Season 2.0 discs 2 and 3, and put them back into their respective envelopes.

WTF?? That is so incredibly rude. Had they actually taken it that's shit I'd have to pay for and it's exactly why I NEVER leave my mail up there. Today was a fluke.

There are these somewhat new people in our complex who are probably in their 30's and have like 3-4 cars outside with Virginia Tech stickers. If I was to guess I would say it's them because everyone else in the complex is between 50-80. I also discovered recently someone was mooching off my wireless internet. I think that was them too but I'm not going to jump to conclusions.

Anyway, just had to vent. I gotta go walk the dog. I got paintballing tomorrow in celebration of my friends birthday. Though I still feel pretty damn sick I'm not gonna let it stop me.