I have a crisis on my hands.

Every year, the month of October rolls around. This generally means two things to me:

• Halloween returns
• Peanut Butter kisses resurface with the rest of the halloween candy

Not this year, though. Last night I went on a Peanut Butter Kiss hunt and returned empty-handed. Their black and orange wax paper wrappers eluded me and it seemed to me that their day, perhaps, was done. That they were doomed to slip into the past unnoticed and unwanted by the bulk of the community at large.

If you know where I can find the buggers, let me know. It's very very very very important that I have a chance to make myself utterly sick of them again this year. Else my autumn will will ring hollow for want of Peanut Butter Kisses.

That is all.

The past week has been unremarkable, journally speaking. I have done virtually nothing with my spare time that doesn't somehow relate to Japanese class (even when I went out to Andrea's this week, we discussed japanese and our outstanding vocabulary items).

But darn it all if my grades don't reflect that!

I also really don't like Blitzball. But Chris has convinced me that I need to beat the Goers before continuing on with the story in Final Fantasy X. You hear that Chris?

Well, Ed and Steph were wed this yestersunday. It was a good wedding and I'm glad to have been there to witness the event.

In any case... Life forges onward. Writing is currently slow, taking a back seat to homework and general homework-induced vegging.

Sometime last year I made something of a resolution that I would purchase no new games until I beat older ones (that I feel are nessecary to finish). Given that $50 is a lot of money for something that sits on the shelf gathering dust, then gets sold back for a fraction of it's original cost unfinished.

As a result, I'm once again playing Final Fantasy X due to the release of Kindom Hearts. Also Andrea maintains that video games are nessecary vegging tools for the academic year.

She's right. So I veg.

Today, I'm rediscovering my love of Nutter Butters! Quite possibly the sexiest food in existence! Oh blessed are the feet of the personage who stocks the vending machine, for they hath bestowed upon me Nutter Butters!

I like Nutter Butters!

A lot!

Sometimes I like to eat a 3 course meal of only Nutter Butters, because they're so good! And coffee. Flavored coffee with real Nutter Butter flavoring, because coffee goes well with a steaming dish of Nutter Butters!

Yummy des ne!

Hope is the thing with feathers...

Life is quickly becoming a thing of school, work and sleep. Which is unfortunate because there are a great many video games coming down the pipeline this fall that I'd like to have the time to play (or, rather, I'd like to be able to play without committing the time it would take to do so).

On the positive side, I think I aced the hiragana writing quiz last night.

Someone was playing Madonna: Like a Prayer over the sound system at the Espresso Royale yesterday and I felt all nostalgic.

And I'm embarassed to admit it, but I like Pearl Jam's new radio song... I'm such a sheep. ^_-

I think what I enjoy most about Mr. Charles DeLint's Newford stories is the way he glorifies ordinary life-- awakens the mystery about common things. And how, while I'm reading any of his stuff, I'm looking around myself for that mystery to present itself in the common things around me.

When my eyes are open like that, I see more than I normally do.

Currently I am reading The Ivory and Horn.

Finished A Clockwork Orange last night. It's impressive how the inclusion of Burgess' original final chapter changes the message of the book. I'm not sure it's better with or without it, but I like having the opportunity to decide.

I certainly think the movie ended better without the last chapter. Too many complicated messages and themes have a tendency to dilute a movie, where they only enrich a book.

But I think the deleted chapter adds a much needed sense of perspective to the book. It allows you to look back at the rest of the book and see a bit of the point Burgess was trying to make.

Yesterday, Comcast was responsible for a power outage on our end of the apartment complex. It always amazes me how much of my life revolves around having electricity when bereft of it. Especially at 10.30pm.

What does one do when one is cut off from modern conveniences?

First, complain. Then, go to sleep early.

I had a number of things that I was going to do after class last night and all of them required light.

But at least we got to meet more of our neighbors, although I didn't see any of their faces. And the emergency flashlight run was a sort of adventure.

Once again, Japanese is fun and exciting. Fujiwara-sensei is a good teacher!

Learning a new language is an interesting experience. It's especially mind-altering for having an entirely alien system of writing for me.

There are many analogies that can be made between learning a new spoken language and learning a new programming language. I've heard that many schools will accept a programming language class (such as C++, JAVA, etc.) to fulfill a student's foreign language requirement.

But there are differences (the alternate writing system, for instance). And a spoken language need not be as structured as a programming language. It need not make sense logically.

Perhaps a computer that could follow plain-language instructions would inherently be able to think for itself. It's an interesting thought.

Friday evening, while rooting around in the trade racks at the Underworld, I pulled something of mild interest (I forget what) off the shelf and two other closely packed books fell with it... One of which was the trade of Andi Watson's Geisha (which is currently out of print).

It was a very happy chance discovery.

Japanese class began yestereve. It's kinda fun to be classing again. Turns out two people I know from various dealings over the last few years are in class with Chris and myself. This is looking to be an extremely positive experience.

It's also kinda kooky how much more friendly EMU students are than UofM students (and WCC students, to hear Chris tell it) on the initial pass. 0_0

Also, today I was introduced to a group of students artfully sticking it to The Man.

Okay. This just looks freaking pretty. And it's about the monkey king. I am very tempted to watch for it. I've given western comics the slight for far longer than they deserve.

Newsarama should be using Movable Type. :P

Also... another fine sculpture from Mr. Eric Harshbarger. Damn, that rocks.

Need a new Free Email server? Why not try Weedmail?

A new discovery of mine at the Espresso Royale is the Chocolate Chai. Which is kinda like a mocha only with chai instead of coffee. Not an every-day drink. But definitely another option.

In other news... My girlfriend is famous (read Seraphim's post).

Time is never time at all. And you'll never ever leave Without leaving a piece of youth. -Smashing Pumpkins

Jorge Luis Borges reads more like an essay of philosopy than fiction.

Labor day was nice. Japanese starts this week and I am nervous for some reason. I still haven't had time to finish either FFX or Warcraft. I still haven't finished my 2nd short story. Alex is an Evil Bastard. I am beginning the design process on a JSP/Struts-based book blog.

I miss the summer already. ^_^