interi

I just woke up from a rather long nap, no doubt driven by a distinct lack of caffeine ingestion today. The last couple of days in particular have been kinda crazy for cog motive. We finished a rush print job, and while overall it didn’t take very long there was a lot of hustling and then waiting. Not my favorite two activities to combine.

So, I kinda crashed today. We still have plenty of work to do, but I don’t feel rushed at the moment. That is partially why I am going over July events, so I get an idea of what is coming up.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out on the 15th. I hardly ever watch blockbusters on their release day, and as you can below I will be busy for the days after it, so I am not sure when I will be getting out to see it. However, seeing the wicked people on the side of buses is exciting, and I am looking forward to magic-broom/smoke-balls of darkness scenes that I saw in the preview. I haven’t read the books, and I don’t think much about Harry Potter outside of the theater, so it is just fun and quick entertainment for me.

On the 17th I have a date with a judge in Oakland. I will leave there and head to the DMV to get an ID with my new name on it. maiki interi is how I’ve introduced myself to people for years, so not much will change, except for the awkward moments at convention name tag pick-up tables.

That weekend (18th and 19th) I will be at the Community Leadership Summit in San Jose. I missed Fanime this year, so I guess I decided to go that convention center with hundreds of other people in the middle summer in San Jose due to some sick sense of consistency. Seriously though, I heard about the event through a few different channels, and it is being thrown together by Jono Bacon, community manager for Ubuntu, and overall nice guy. Tim is going with me, the other cogs having other obligations that weekend (or avoiding the sun, which is understandable).

The next Friday (24th), Ponyo will be showing at UC Berkeley. Susan got tickets as soon as she heard about it. Studio Ghibli films are some of my favorites to see in theaters, and by looking at the seating chart for Zellerbach Hall, it should be quite the event. It was like opera seating, so I almost want to dress up for it.

A week after that on the 31st we are having a winter holiday celebration for a variety of reasons. This will include the purchase of an evergreen (or something) tree to decorate with strings if lights. I don’t know the specifics at the moment, but I am trying something new with regard to holiday observance. I am sure photos will follow that event.

These events, combined with weekly evenings for role-playing and media consumption (anime, select TV shows, and video gaming) will keep me busy. Additionally, I am going to try to get out more in a social capacity. My pendulum is swinging back towards extrovert. I read about all these dinners and cafe hangout sessions on the SFBay-Poly list, and I have promised more than a handful of people that we would have a dinner party at Highwind, so I will have to work those in somehow. ^_^

I was getting some water when I noticed the moon coming up over the Berkeley Hills. So I got the tripod and camera out and snapped a few pics. I should study night photography, since I always see magnificent things in the dark.

Earlier today I went and saw Moon. I liked it.

I hate it when spam makes me feel guilty about not blogging enough?

Hello. I think the article is really interesting. I am even interested in reading more. How soon will you update your blog?

How did they know?!

Last night I was talking to Susan and Tim about a webcomic I had read yesterday. I started from the beginning and read the entire thing (as I often do). Normally, if a comic is interesting enough for me to read I will share it. This one I was a little hesitant, though I don’t really know why. I guess the idea of me spending a couple of hours reading a shoujo-esque romantic drama gets a reaction from my brain saying, “hey, maybe you should, you know, keep that to yourself.”

After thinking about it for a moment, and remembering how I found myself tearing up more than a few times while reading it, I decided that my initial reaction simply wasn’t justified. So, I began to describe it:

“It is a great story about all kinds of relationships between different people, taking place primarily in high school, with characters and stories carrying over into college, as well as with the parents. I know it sounds kinda odd, but it actually starts out with an arranged marriage.”

At this point, Tim, who was eating a cookie, stops chewing and looks at me sideways. I am thinking I have something on my face. Instead, “wait, are you talking about Red String?”

Turns out there are least two fans in this place (which hasn’t been named yet, c9th was our last home)!

Red String is as I described it above. It is about love, mostly. The best comparison I can think of is DramaCon by Svetlana Chmakova (who has a pretty website, by the way). It isn’t actually that “best”, it is more like if DramaCon was a tri-weekly webcomic with a lot more time for character development (Svetlana’s FAQ says that she wants to continue the story, happy news to me!). If you happen to be an informed connoisseur of this genre that I can’t quite peg down, please drop some suggested reading in the comments.

Anyhow, if you are curious about Red String just pop over and start reading (at the beginning, of course). Red String is created by Gina Biggs, and is part of a collective of romantic comic artists called Strawberry Comics. There are six comics produced there (I started a couple of the other ones, I will write them up sometime soon). The interesting thing about Red String is that it is published (printed) by Dark Horse! That should tell you something about the quality write there.

I put it on my comic shopping list. One would think that linking to a webcomic is the easiest way to get people to read something, but I have found that placing the wooden rectangle in their hand is much more effective. ^_^