John Zeitler

Note to self: put the hammer in your bag this morning; you need it for work. Totally not for the obvious reason. I’m cosplaying a Hammer Brother for Halloween this year and want to surprise people. (no, not really)

Actually, it’s a little sad for me to realize that I honestly don’t know when I should have candy ready for people showing up…. I think it would be Saturday, but I won’t be home then. Alternately, if it is actually Monday…. I probably won’t be home then, either, owing to the fact that I have (yet another) obligation added to my calendar then.

At least I still have to get up early in the mornings, meaning that Tuesday before work I can raid Giant Eagle before the half-price candy is completely picked over.

So I found out today that not only does the new office location have an Asian grocery store nearby, and not only do they have more favors of instant udon at cheaper prices than the Giant Eagle, but this grocery store also has fresh anpan and butter buns. I haven’t had a good butter bun ever– the ones at the old store were all dried out and crumbly inside, while these have insides that are more like pudding.

Did I mention that the cost of a bun and can of soda is about half the price of a meal at Taco Bell that would be only slightly less filling?

I think it bears little repeating that the way to my heart goes through my stomach, and doesn’t get out of there for quite some time.

I have to question the validity of the serving sizes on some of the foods I eat. In general I’m trying to eat less monstrously-sized portions, in an effort to again control my weight back down to reasonable levels, but at the same time when the “serving size” of a bag of tortilla chips is “6 chips”, that kind of casts into doubt either if I should be eating them at all, or what size chips these people were using.

“Enlarged to show texture” can only be used as an excuse for so many things, you know?

So, in lieu of sticking to a coherent theme or narrative structure tonight, I’ll just run down some of what’s on my mind.

First, Kurokiiro Festival is coming up, and as I’m helping to staff the Video Game Room this year (read: The Collection serves one of its intended purposes), I needed to double-check some things. The big one was getting a replacement A/V cable for the Dreamcast. Shortly after I’d picked up Twinkle Star Sprites at Otakon, I accidentally ripped the old, flimsy A/V cable out of its socket. Anyway, I’d forgotten about that incident during the move, and when it came time to unbox the retros and get them ready for transport to the festival, I found that little hiccup. Anyway, I ordered a new cable on Saturday from eStarland, a place that Slipgate had recommended on many an occasion. I have no reason to doubt him further, as the cable arrived today, and for the money it’s perfect. It’s an S-Video cable as well, meaning a somewhat nicer picture (and it looks incredible on the big screen TV). So I got my Twinkle on, then set it aside.

Next, in terms of anime, since I’ll be doing things that are not watching anime at the festival, I’ve been trying to get caught up a little more on some series that I’ve had on the stack. I mentioned to some friends that the current DVD set in the player is Slayers Next; this evening I reached the halfway point of the series. It still astonishes me to note the level of progress we’ve seen in made-for-TV animation in just fifteen years, after an equal period of stagnation. Anyway, Slayers Next is a hell of a lo of fun, even when the series is deliberately trying not to be funny. Incidentally, I can see (and hear) exactly why everyone was so happy to hear that Xellos’ voice changed in the dub for the new seasons (I’m on the English track because, quality or not, I can’t associate Lina’s character with any voice but Lisa Ortiz’s for some reason). He’s the most flaming not-really-bothering-to-hide-that-he’s-evil character ever.

Games… well, I ran across a couple of really good deals lately, including my third-ever Super Famicom cartridge. It’s bizarre that a city so far removed from any kind of an anime mecca could manage to be where I’ve collected two out of my three SF games (the third was Seiken 3, picked up at Otakon this past year). Anyway, straying from the beaten path has brought me a decent share of deals, including a game that, just going by its release date and meager print run, I should never have even seen (You Don’t Know Jack Mock 2). If this keeps up I may have to start a second row of PS1 discs. Which reminds me, as soon as I get a shelf or chest of drawers for the retros and the portables, I need to snap a photo of The Collection so you fine folks can see the glory of its new configuration.

As for yesterday’s post– yeah, the back pain is mostly due to my nocturnal contortionism, but the scientific process cannot be denied.

Finally, as it turns out, I picked up a cookbook that I wish I would have found three years ago. It’s entitled “Okay, So Now You’re A Vegetarian” and it details just what each of those scary-sounding things in the meatless section of the Market District really are, and how to use them effectively. With that in mind, I have a new mission: vegetarian gyudon (“beef bowl”), using seitan, sweet onions, and a few other ingredients. I’m sure it can be done; the question is: how? Actually, a better question is: how many fire extinguishers should I have on hand?

Night, all.

Over lunch, I went out and got a milkshake from a fairly popular, yet mostly maligned, fast food restaurant. I’ll be the first to admit that it was totally not what I should have been drinking, and that it was an extravagance in a time when I really need to be thinking about my budget and wallet. I’ll also say, for what little defense that it grants me, that I very, very seldom have milkshakes, and that I was out anyway, so whatever else I ate for lunch today probably did far more damage to me nutritionally than about twelve fluid ounces of partially-melted ice cream could ever hope to do.

Looking back at it now, you wouldn’t think it was anything particularly special, and indeed it wasn’t. But sometimes, being just a little bit special… sometimes, that’s all it takes.

Got a couple of surprises today, most of them pleasant but some unexpected. The one that I can talk about, though, is that the Asian grocery store that burned down literally weeks after I discovered it has finally re-opened, and I’ve already ingratiated myself (albeit inadvertently) to the proprietors by knowing how to handle myself inside such an establishment.

Of course they opened yesterday, and the store is still really, really bare in terms of stuff. I honestly wish I’d known it was opening soon, as it has the kind of rice cooker I was looking for all of last month (though I’m happy with what I settled on). Also, they don’t have udon yet. I mean, they have the instant kind, but not the real kind. Well, it’s still too warm for udon anyway… probably not until football starts, really. The clerk said they’d be adding more coolers soon, which I hope will contain the kinds of fixings I’d need to make udon properly… in the meantime, they also have mochiko, so if I were to undertake the making of mochi– something I certainly would like to try my own hand at– I can do so at any time.

Again, that’s probably not going to happen until after November. But for an entirely different reason.

I often say that I’ve had a busy day, but today was among the most productive I’ve had in weeks. This is mostly because I managed to find a cheap, squat portable grill and fired it up for some outdoors culinary experiments. They went remarkably well, as I made dinner for the night and lunches for most of the rest of the week. I dare say it was even fun, in its own way, and I was looking forward to doing it again, probably with the veggie hot dogs I picked up while I was out.

And then it started raining… and it’s scheduled to rain pretty much the whole week through. So yeah.

I’ve often referred to the force, whatever it may be, that created this universe as “The Great Engineer”. It’s no accident. The definition of engineering is bringing order forth from chaos; where once there stood naught but rubble and ruin, a great work has been made, eternal and enduring. Composed equally of rules and rods, structure and structures, functions and forms, the universe in which we live is the pinnacle of development– the culmination of an infinitely long development cycle, which itself is still ongoing. Creation is not finished– it’s still in the alpha phases.

I envy The Great Engineer. I can’t handle changes to my plans nearly as well, even if it’s just something as simple as “the bus driver didn’t change his route designation number”. Forget about having to deal with the free will of an infinite number of sentient beings, all it takes is one idiot to wreck my night.

On Tuesday, I discovered that there’s a small hot-dog shop near my bus stop on the way home. Given that they’re specifically a hot-dog restaurant, I figured it was highly likely they’d have veggie dogs, and the scent of hot dogs from street vendors near PNC Park was starting to really overwhelm me. Naturally I didn’t have any cash on me at the time, and no time to stop and get some. So I made an effort to be prepared this evening.

As can be expected, events conspired such that, after missing my early bus to downtown, I arrived at the shop minutes after they closed.

Pittsburgh may be the most livable city in the United States, but I personally suspect the people who made that assessment visited around lunchtime and didn’t stick around.

In reverse order, no less. I’m an hour into Final Fantasy XIII– not even through the first chapter. So far I like what I’ve played.

And last night, I tried making up a home version of the kind of breadbowl-pasta meal you could get for far cheaper at a pizza place. I’ll just say it was a valiant effort and move on for the time being.

More tomorrow, folks.