I apologize for taking so long to post (again.) Just a sign that nothing much has been happening, but I finally did something yesterday!

Chronologically, note-worthy things that have happened since I last posted.

I was drawing on the bus and, due to the bumpiness, I was forced to use a short scribbly, pointilism style. As a result, I created one of the best eyes I've ever drawn.

Hm, maybe it's not as exciting as it seemed, but I think this might help me depart from my usual cartoony, bold lined drawing style.

Friday was Monica's birthday (also St. Patrick's Day,) so her parents had a little party/gathering at their house. We invited one of the few people who will be seen with us, a sophomore named Erica, and the entire thing was quite nice. When we first arrived, we started watching the new Dawn of the Dead (AWEOSEM, so much so that it causes me to spell incorrectly) and then ate the Italian food that her mother had prepared. It was very good. Dinner was followed, as by convention, by delicious cake and then it was present opening time.

I had already given Monica a gift the day before, so I was off the hook. Her sister gave her two cards, each containing a 1,000 yen bill, and then a bag that had about one hundred origami creations as packing and then two bags of Haribo gummies at the bottom. I was already quite amused at the two cards part, so once Monica started shoveling what seemed like an endless stream of paper cranes onto the table, I was giggling quite visibly. To top it all off, we misread the "rattle snakes" gummy label as "battle snakes." Erica: "Hm, I've never heard of battle snakes before..." Me: "Yeah, that's peculiar." When we realized that it was in fact rattle snakes, we both started to crack up so hysterically that Erica ran to the bathroom and, by the time I had finally caught my breath and gotten over the silliness (in two minutes time,) my eyes were brimming with tears. It was ridiculous.

After that came the serious presents. Monica's Thai neighbor got her a really cool standing robot clock and another family friend got her a gigantic CD carrying case. For the figurative finale (as there was a not-so-impressive gift afterward) was a 60 GB iPod Video!!! I got so excited... which was weird, because, out of shock, Monica didn't say anything. Her parents had been talking about maybe getting her an iPod, but they kept countering their suggestion with complaints about price, battery life, etc. Monica wasn't expecting one, especially the most expensive model. Ahhh. I am so glad she finally got one.

Erica, Monica and I left the house for Shibuya where we had planned to do some karaoke. Unfortunately, all of the places we looked at were either full or really overpriced. Done with our price hunting, we returned to the cheapest place, only to find that you needed at least four people to get a room. We lost hope and Erica called one of her friends, one we didn't know and didn't really have a desire to get to know. And when the friend picked up, we spotted a place that was even cheaper than the last that didn't require four people to get a room. The friend, Laura, said she would call back, and we all hoped that she wouldn't be able to come... just because it'd be kind of awkward. Laura showed up unannounced half way through our two hour session and we went home when we realized that i was already 11:40. Monica and I didn't get back to her house until midnight-thirty, which wasn't really a problem, since her parents were drunk anyway. We finished watching Dawn of the Dead and then fell soundly asleep.

Oh yeah, and, completely unrelated and out of chronological order, I'm excited! I stumbled across a site called iPodLinux.org, and found out that you can put a Linux OS on your iPod (along side the Apple one) and load it with simple games that people have programmed. Not only games, but you can play videos and stuff! I still haven't done any of this, as I don't have my cable with me right now. But soon I will! I have the software ready an all.

Wahey!

EDIT: I now have tetris, minesweeper, othello, asteroids, pong, chess, and other assorted games on my iPod. OH MY GOD. There's also a calculator and and and and oh my, I'm just so excited. Even if I post the link, it won't be helpful as, Mia, it's not yet ready for the iPod Photo and Mish, the installer is for Mac. Shorry!

DOUBLE EDIT: Well, as you can probably tell, my iPod was kicking some ass, but unfortunately, it was short lived. In fact, it got so messed up that I had to restore it. It cleared all of my files (which is sort of okay, since I backed them up), but now I have nothing to listen to tomorrow morning. Damn it!!

Got some cool screenshots though... Tetris, Space Invaders, chess, a nifty clock, and Tux, the penguin. Damn the penguin!!