The Goldfish's Logbook

School is going well. Most of the courses are push-overs. The only one that gives me any difficulty is the 100% online one. It's just so . . . meta and meaningless; as if it's a federally-mandated course that sounds good on paper but is so abstract or intangible that no professor wants to teach it, nor does anyone really have an idea of what it should amount to. At least, that's the impression that I get. Or maybe some tenured professor invented this class as their sole piece of territory to maintain their own relevance. Or something.
Anyways, yeah, that's class. I've also joined the anime and k-pop clubs. The anime club is large, but I don't agree with the format. They do a lot of things (not all related to anime), so I applaud them for being ambitious, but I feel that some members may be discouraged or disinterested due to that (I know I am). I joined the K-Pop club to expand what little exposure I've had to it. It's a tiny club that's still trying to establish it's place in the acknowledged student clubs. I've got homework to listen to some recommended artists. We'll see how that goes.
I've been looking for work ever since my school and student teaching schedule stabilized earlier this month. I tried at places that I was both interested in and thought I might have something to offer, such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Jo-Ann's, and CostCo. I didn't hear back from any of those dozens of applications. I applied at Chipotle and got hammered with responses. I suppose Food Service is always hungry for fresh meat. So I interviewed there yesterday and was offered a position immediately. Yay. I mean, I'd prefer not to work in a restaurant, but I applied with this company because it's the sole food chain that I respect enough to be part of. So I think it'll be fine. Though, I was reading through the employee's handbook tonight and was slightly displeased to find that I can't participate in a 401K until I've been there for a year. Boo. I suppose I could re-invest in my old 401K on my own, but that takes a bit more discipline and initiative. Although that's a small hurdle, it might still be large enough to trip me up.
This job really came in the nick of time too. A couple weeks ago would've been ideal though. My savings are all tapped out and I have to decide whether I want to dip into my retirement again to bridge this shortfall till my first paycheck. I probably will, just to ease the tightness and avoid defaulting on any obligation. I'm just wary of becoming too familiar with using this 'last resort' option.
Student teaching is a bit frustrating. I'm only there one afternoon a week, which isn't enough to build any rapport with the students or the teacher I'm assisting. Three weeks in and not even the teacher knows my name yet. Plus, I'm there as more of an observer than a teacher or disciplinarian; I can't really take the initiative for either without usurping the teacher's own authority. And with these middle school kids, she's already fending off enough challenges to her control of the classroom. I just wish I could participate more. Oh well. Just six more visits and that'll be that.
I found out that this certification will take longer than I anticipated. Although the coursework will only take me two semesters to complete, I can't perform my actual student teaching (as opposed to this 'early field experience' stuff) until I've completed my coursework. So it'll be two semesters of coursework followed by a semester of student teaching and THEN I'll have my certification. So three semesters all told. It's no big deal I suppose. I'm comfortable living with Cameron and I can work fast food for a year and a half. Plus, this development may actually be in my favor. I'll finish everything up and begin my job searching at the end of the school year. Before, I would've been trying to get a job halfway through the school year, which isn't the most opportune time to do so.

So I had some idle time this afternoon and noticed the folder of "Genshiken - Season 2" that's been sitting on my desktop for a few months now. I started the first episode thinking, "Am I gonna watch this stuff or delete it? I finished reading the manga over a year ago. Hmm. I wonder if Oguie's in this season." Then ten seconds later, BOOM! She walks into the scene. No intro, no lead-in, just boom, there she is! Home run! I'm watching this whole season now!
Also, I finally beat Disgaea _2_ this weekend. Yeah, I'm that far behind. I don't even keep a list of games I want to play anymore, because there's no way I'll ever get to them all. Yeah, I'm getting to be an old man.
I think for Christmas I'll ask for a GameBoy so I can play that game Tetris that all my friends are talking about.
;)

Just got back from watching "Paprika". Woo hoo hoo. That was one trippy film, even for a Satoshi Kon flick, and that's saying alot. Don't worry, there won't be any spoilers here . . . because I barely understood what was going on in that movie! Ha ha ha. It's one of those movies where you have to stay alert and focused the whole time or else it just becomes incomprehensible.
Perhaps it's not my favorite Kon movie, but it's still good. The characters were well-crafted as always and the animation, visuals, and music were great too. And in my opinion, Megumi Hayashibara is still the queen of all seiyuu with that omni-versatile voice of hers. It's just too bad that her reign is now in it's twilight. *shrug*

I went with ACDF to the anime club last night for their "Halloween" costume contest. We had a pretty big group this time around. After we grabbed dinner we went to campus and changed into costume. I was the only one without a costume; I'd exhausted my cosplay wardrobe as of Halloween. By the time we got into the room, there was only one episode left before the break. Our group virtually eclipsed the anime club costumers. Well actually, our group was only slightly bigger than the number of anime club costumers, but our costumes were significantly more advanced. Although, Amanda and Tiffany looked pretty good in their costumes and there was one Bleach cosplayer who did a pretty good job too. All the others were kinda average.
I think the "contest" could've been run better. I mean, they basically just lined everyone up in the front of the room and made them stand there for like 15 minutes, like livestock at some auction or something. And then they decided the winner by applause. Like that ever really works. But our CN with her "Turkey" Tifa won; her costume WAS very good. And she won some manga for her efforts.
And again, as soon as the anime restarted, we ducked out. *shrug* We decided to do ice cream again, this time at a place within walking distance. The group headed out, but I had to move my truck off campus, since they'd start towing at midnight because of tommorrow's football game. Because of the one way streets, I almost ended up running over Tricky and the rest of the gang. Like something out of Mad Max, they swarmed my truck and forced me to take them to ice cream. I was kinda nervous, considering I didn't have my license and had eleven people in weird outfits in my truck, singing Pokemon crap and making all sorts of noise. Fortunately, we made it to the ice cream joint without incident. We took up a collection to get Danzik and Kimba some ice cream, since they were broke. Everyone managed to get something. We had fun, but I can't remember anything outstanding about the conversation. Oh, except for the fact that The Clash is the best, apparently. Then we went to the toy store next door and farted around there. They closed like 30 minutes after we got there, but not before I bought a robot arm; I've always wanted one of those.
Then we went back to the ice cream parking lot and everyone piled into my truck to head back to campus, but no one seemed ready to call it quits just yet. But people were broke and/or underage, so we couldn't think of anything that everyone could do. So instead we ended up hanging out in the parking lot for a good hour or two. And the colder and later it got, the nuttier everyone became. Oh, my poor new truck. I tried to be cool and not be the grumpy old man, but in the back of my thoughts I'm thinking, "Stop jumping! My shocks can't take 6 people jumping up and down in the bed!" or "Don't bang on the glass!" or "Don't jump on the hood! I've got 57 more payments to make on this thing!" Other than that, we had a groovy lil pow-wow. About seven people in the back, all huddled together, talking about random crap. One thing that amused me was that CN, as the petite gal of the group, had sat in the little . . . cubby hole in the truck cab (between the seats and back window), since she was the smallest. When we got back to the truck she had automatically gone back there. But when it became obvious we weren't leaving, she stayed there; maybe she was cold. Anyways, she was sitting on the floor and only her head could be seen through the window. She was having fun in there with the other cold people and she looked like a little cute Tifa in a petshop window or something. (She's probably gotten enough compliments on her cuteness to last a lifetime, but she WAS cute.) We were joking, "Feed the Tifa for a dollar," or "Don't tap on the glass, Tifas are irritable," etc. Then I found out what the people inside the truck were all laughing about. They were playing with everything inside my truck. Most of it was odds and ends from cosplay stuff, but CN found some manga I had bought that afternoon (and had yet to read). It was "I's" by Masakazu Katsura. Ecchi at times, but a good manga nonetheless. But CN manages to find a two-page spread of a mostly nude gal character and smashes it up against the back window for everyone to see. I was all, "Don't abuse my manga! You're breaking the spine!" before I realized "Oh wait, now it looks like I'm a hentai freak. Well maybe I am, but they don't need to know that!" And she's the proclaimed queen of yaoi so I don't know who she is to judge. Heh heh. I made her agree to bring some of her yaoi next time though, so that way we'll be even. We'll see who's got the smuttier collection.

Some of the nutty people


And the Tifa in a jar (the only pic where she WASN'T going nuts)

Watched Coyote Ragtime . . . whatever. I'm trying to find new stuff to watch and a few people had recommended it, so I tried it. The opening scene of the space and spaceliner got my hopes up. I was like, "Ooo! A sci-fi anime! Maybe like Planetes or Cowboy Bebop!" But within a few minutes, it went downhill. To me basically it seemed a cross between Cowboy Bebop and Noir. It lacked the freshness of Cowboy Bebop, but attempted to match the style (even the titles are sorta the same), and it had the same empty, heavy "action" sequences of Noir. What really reminded me of Noir were all the sloppy details hanging all over the place. Man, Noir used to piss me off. Anyone who's used a firearm could see that most of the things that they did in that show were either impossible or just flat out stupid. It's hard for me to take a show seriously when the main concern is making it look cool/stylish, rather than believable and authentic. And it isn't just the guns, it's alot of things. But the guns are where the staff's ignorance often is most pronounced. Anywho, from the first episode I assume that this series is going to be a cat-and-mouse show, ala Lupin, but nowhere near as interesting/fun. I'm biased against any mystery/detective/suspense shows, I'll admit. From CSI to Columbo to Death Note, It irritates me how every clue is perfectly preserved and presented at just the right time for the character to make a deduction so amazing that it borders on the omniscient. Their theories are never incorrect or prejudiced, they never waste time one dead-ends or bad leads (except for when it conveniently gives their antagonist time to plan/act/escape), and each of them is a genius of human psychology, even the "normal" characters. It's ridiculous.
But I'm going off on a tangent here. I dunno, CRS didn't seem to have any true originality to it. Alot of the scenes and plot points I've seen before in other anime and shows, which kept me two steps ahead of the story the whole time. "Lemme guess, that's not the real bomb team." "Hmm, lemme guess, those sisters aren't human." "Lemme guess, the cute blonde is gonna be her assistant, providing exposition and comedy relief, and will probably get kidnapped once or twice." And what was up with her appetite? That damn woman's a moose! There's a slim chance that her and Mister's crazy metabolism has a purpose/meaning, but I'd bet it's just to please the fans with oral fixations.
Well, it would be easy to rip CRS up one side and down the other, but I'll stop there. I might watch another episode or two to give it a chance to redeem itself/prove me wrong. But I don't expect much.

Good thing they're suit-seeking bullets, or else she'd be dead! Stupid Noir!