Callistonian.net

Once upon a time, in a far away land…

I encountered a strange man on the street. He was thin and average-looking. His eyes were small and dark; his hair was graying.

I ran into him mid-quest. What was I questing for? Stationery, of course. In true RPG-fashion, my friend sidekick, the Luigi to my Mario, and I had just finished asking everyone we saw for quest information (directions) because we were lost…

Anyway, as we closed in on our place of interest and as we approached the stranger, he placed the tips of his fingers in the middle of his head, and made a heart.

(Straight from the source, page 26 of my journal:)

I’m easily amused. :) To that stranger, I would like to say, “Thanks, for making that day even more entertaining.”

Has a stranger ever gestured interestingly at you?

Even with my walk, I’m giving you hints
I’m not immodest
(Don’t Stop!) I’m not a child
°C-ute’s Tokaikko Junjou

I am not prudish but, seriously, °C-ute’s cover is a bit much. Isn’t it far more sexy than it is cute? The group’s name is °C-ute, so they should stick to being cute. When they get a bit older, they can change their name to °S-exy and sing things like, “Don’t stop! I’m not a child,” but until then they should avoid such inappropriateness.

You may think I’ve lost it, and that I’m really going too far when I label the cover inappropriate. They’re not showing any clevage; their expressions aren’t exceedingly sultry; they don’t have on a lot of makeup.

A combination of things (their ages, their clothes/makeup/poses, and their fanbase), not one thing, leads me to believe that this cover is inappropriate. The second girl from the left, the one rocking the lovely golden peep-toe heels, turned TWELVE last month. The others are a bit older, but they’re all under 17. What are pre-teens going to think, when they look at their role models and see them dressed like this?

Honestly, I don’t know if this group has a lot of young girl fans. They must have some fans their age and younger, but it’s hard to spot them at °C-ute events. What’s easy to spot? The hordes of older men.  Watch the first few seconds of this video and look at the crowd.

Their latest cover seems to discourage younger fans and  to encourage older men to join the already existent mob of older men fans. For various reasons, I’m not entirely comfortable with the group going more in that direction.

What do you think? Is the cover inappropriate?

Traditionally, the Ides of March—RIP Caesar— has treated me poorly. If there’s ever a day when I’m late to work, it will be March 15th. If there’s ever a day when my car breaks down, it will be March 15th. If there’s ever a day when I drop my cell phone and it shatters into a bajillion pieces, it will be March 15th.

What’s gone wrong today?

I forgot my dear drunken panda umbrella somewhere. It’s irreplaceable!  I’m hoping that I left it behind at work. It’s cute, so I doubt that any of my coworkers or students will see past the deceptive pandas… If someone does, I’m sure that (s)he’ll be properly perplexed by the pandas’ cutesy inappropriateness.

Oh—and once on March 15th, I was rushed to the doctor and got 19 stitches. That was fun. :(

I hate March 15th; I want my umbrella back. But I’m not pessimistic or superstitious, so the rest of the day is going to be wonderful, seriously.  Today is my sister’s birthday. XD

Happy Birthday Cynthia! ♥

Pranksters— Prank calling is for __ ? The immature? The bored? The easily amused? Radio DJs? I hardly know. But, in my area, some radio DJs have moved on from terrorizing people on the telephone with gibberish and ridiculous antics.

Have they become more mature? No. Do they still terrorize people on the phone? Absolutely. Now, though, instead of speaking gibberish, they delight in making their prey feel stupid by asking random questions.

DJ: Hello?
Prey: Hello?
DJ: Yeah, I’m sorry—I was wondering if you could help me with something. I have a question.
Prey: Erm… okay.
DJ: Which continent is North America?
Prey: ??? T_T

In the situtation above, the integrity of the person being sacrificed for humor could have been easily saved—I mean, seriously … ! BUT perhaps while putting someone on the spot, asking her to respond to the trick question with “North America is a continent” is asking too much?

Either way, answers such as “Canada” and “4 or 5″ are unacceptable. :( At the time, I couldn’t believe that no one, out of about 10 people, dealt with the question acceptably.

Test— At any rate, I have a test for you.¹ It’s not to make you feel stupid. It’s to make you feel clever. If you handle it well, you’re cleverer than most. ♥

Let’s pretend that the images represent cards. If each card has a vowel on one side, then it has an odd number on the other side. The preceding if statement may or may not be true. So, in order to test this if statement, which card(s) should be turned over?

Here’s the solution. Did you get it wrong or right?

LENE— Have you ever had someone surprise you with something incredibly sweet? Lene sent me a completely unexpected package for my birthday. There were lots of nice things in it including: the cutest little unicorn and material to feed my addictions (a notebook! and stationery!). Thanks so much, Lene. ♥^∞

¹ This test is based on the Wason Selection Task

The one thing I dislike about traveling is hauling around luggage. If it were possible to stuff five months’ worth of stuff (and a white Vespa) into a purse, wouldn’t that be pleasant? Amazing? Taking any suitcase anywhere, much less a 50 pound suitcase with a destination on the opposite side of the Earth or on the fourth floor of an elevator-less building, is bloody annoying. So I hate suitcases; I hate dragging them around.

If I were skilled when it came to packing, I imagine that my animosity towards suitcases would be less severe. But, I always pack extra clothes; I always take my laptop; I always take books; I always take notebooks; I always take more than one pair of shoes; I always… I always take a lot of stuff.

Regardless, the next time I go somewhere, I think I’ll do better: I won’t weigh myself down or stuff things in my suitcases to the point where I must sit on those suitcases to get them to close. Because, first, I wear a lot more skirts than I used to—skirts take up less space than jeans. :) Second, my Kindle eliminates the need for books. Third, my new laptop is much smaller and much less brick like than my old one. Fourth and finally, the thought of lugging a fifty pound abomination up multiple flights of stairs makes me think twice about putting non-necessities inside it…

Is there anything about traveling you dislike?

In other news, yesterday was my birthday. Thanks so much to everyone who sent me email, wrote on my Facebook wall, or posted birthday messages on Snark. ♥