This has been a rather depressing week, filled with obsessions, tardy passes, costume issues (which still have not been resolved), and the thought of early morning P.E. (gasp). I did learn a lot about Japan though. Did you know that it holds 377,835 square km of land? Or that there were 127,333,002 people in the 2004 count? I’m sure you didn’t know that Japanese, a Japonic language, is thought to be a descendant of the older more general language Proto-Japonic. Some theories state that it is from a larger group of languages called the Fuyu languages, which also include the Fuyu and Baekje languages. Others say that both Korean and the Japonic languages came from a larger group because of the near identical grammar structure, though there is little lexical similarities. There is a very controversial theory that states that all of these come from a larger group called the Altaic languages. The fact remains however that Japanese is very distinct from any other language in use today. Also, Japanese is a language that uses Morae. These Morae are chunks of sound that often include a starting consonant, middle vowel, and ending consonant. The kana used in Japanese follow this famously, and makes Japanese and excellent example of the Morae languages.

There, hoped you liked a little lesson in Japanese history. There’s plenty more where that came from, but I’ll spare you the boredom. On a lighter note, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind will be released in 9 days!

Ah, Super Bowl Sunday. One of the deadliest drunk driving days of the year, the day TiVo actually pays attention to when you hit that instant-replay button, the day men actually go to the supermarket (despite them only buying frozen pizza and Dr. Pepper). Of course I don’t know who’s playing this year. The extent of my sports knowledge is what we’re forced to learn for our current events tests in History. I just honestly don’t see the appeal. The only cool thing about it is the fluorescent line the camera’s paint on the screen. No, I’m going to spend tonight writing about Phi, the Homeridae, and mourning the fact that Amanda Tapping is signing autographs at this very moment and I’m nowhere to be found. But that’s ok, because I have stockpiles of Pocky and Hi-Chew (Japanese candy for those of us who’s extent of international trade consists of Old Navy). So, for those of you who will be watching the Super Bowl tonight (it may have already started, for all I know), go ahead and turn on the tv. Let them know you’re watching so the commercials are more expensive, let’s go ahead and widen the financial gap between the corporations and the rest of us. But me, I’ll be setting my TiVo to the Monk marathon in protest. Take that, Nielsen! By the way, congratulations Tony Shalhoub on the SAG award!

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Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (I’m not even going to say the acronym, it’s become too much of a cliche for me) are becoming more and more popular as an increase in the number of free online games gets more people hooked on them. I’ve had my share of online RPG obsessions, though I now am unable to see how anyone has time for them. But what happens when you need to go? Do you just say, I’ve got to go now, and when the impending “why?” question is asked by an unfriendly 11-year-old that doesn’t have any clue as to how a person could have a life outside of the computer (bad example - I have no life even on the computer), what do you say? Sure, you could be boring and tell the truth (”I’m sick of listening to how you did on your English test”), or come up with an original excuse.

Here are my favorite excuses for getting out of online obligations (though I admit I haven’t used any of them):

1. “Gotta go, time for supper”. This one works for anyone, since everyone has to eat (at least I think so…)

2. “Baby’s crying”. That will only work if you have a specific age your supposed to be while online (notice I don’t say you actually are that age). This won’t work so well for the 40-something male.

3. “Ooh, I’ve got a date. Better go make sure my grooves on”. I sincerely apologize for that one, you can ignore it if you like.

4. “Low battery”. Well, someone will believe it, right? You could also sign off without giving any excuse and calling it a power failure, but it’ll only work if your back on within 20 minutes or so.

5. “My cat just threw up”. A stroke of genius on my part, if I may say so. Then again, it may not work unless your pretending to a be a 24-year-old named Adriana Mitchell who has two cats and enjoys Bob Dylan music.

I will try to contain my excitement. Right now, as in this very minute, I am the closest I will likely ever be to Amanda Tapping and Michael Shanks. Because you see, there is a Stargate convention happening in Arlington right now. Oh, how much I wish I was there. Guest speakers, autographs, pointless memorabilia to waste money on - it’s a dream! Then again, I probably wouldn’t go even if I did get the chance, and Christopher Judge and Richard Dean Anderson aren’t there anyway (so really, what’s the point besides having a laugh at there being a Michael and Amanda on stage?), but it’s still really awesome to think about. Ah, to dream.

Lovely new blog I found, this time hailing from Ontario, Canada (I’m personally partial to Toronto, but I have my own reasons). Synecdoche is, well… it doesn’t fit into a specific category, but it’s all around good. Later,

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