By Ruben(nerd) Schade, a UTS university student and IT guy in Sydney and Singapore. c.2004
From the illustrious Vadim this morning, here we have a #Double-You-Vectors contest entry by ~asdf12324qwerty on DeviantArt. Mugi-chan from K-on!
Vadim likes using vectors for folder icons, but my current thing is using them with scenery pr0n to create desktop backgrounds.
From AmiAmi.com, we have this Mitsumetronics K-On! Photo Frame Coin Bank! You can have any of the girls from HTT, but naturally you'd want to get this one ^^.
With her watching me save, I could imagine doing it more often! I could have phrased that better.
So last night we were Twittering my attempts to eat pizza with chopsticks. I also unabashedly invented the title of UTS Anime Club Moeblob Liaison Officer for myself. Somehow, these two conversations folded into one, and we decided if I were to have a badge it should be of Mugi-chan... eating with chopsticks.
Needless to say, our art director wasted no time sketching up a concept, after I'd already gone to sleep! That she could do that at an ungodly hour of the night and have it look like the character so much it's uncanny only confirms the fact the Anime club voted for the right person for art director. I'm just saying :)
In brief, if you buy an IKEA VÄTE lamp, make sure you buy a narrow bulb to fit it!
(The above photo is of Kotobuki Tsumugi (aka my beloved Mugi-chan!) from K-On, and Tokiha Mai from My HiME. An odd pairing to say the least, but they're the only two I have of the smaller scale. I was trying to create the feeling of a warm bonfire, with obviously mixed results!)
So this afternoon I was with the family to procure some drawers for my sister. She has a lot of junk, and has been using her lack of storage space as her excuse for not having a tidy abode. While I'd be remiss not taking the opportunity to point out that previous rooms she had messed up were awash with drawers and cupboards, in this case I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, it gave me an excuse to visit my favourite shop in the universe, so I wasn't complaining!
Upon arrival in the lamps department -- my favourite department in my favourite shop in the universe -- I noticed the VATE lamps were on special for under $20. Delighted at the thought of revelling in some childhood nostalgia (our old houses in Melbourne and Brisbane before we moved to Singapore were full of these delicate paper and wire lights), I procured said lamp.
In a bold black square (how's that for some brilliant alliteration brilliance?) the box specified the bulb required for the enclosed lamp was an E14. Paroozing the department for a compatible luminary device, I chanced upon a energy saving bulb with E14 printed in friendly letters on its cover.
Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo below (no wait, above), after arriving home and gleefully assembling my toy, I realised the otherwise compatible bulb I'd purchased to provide the light was simply too wide to fit between the wire stand and the lamp base. And not by an inconsequential amount either, the bulb was at least three times that size.
So far I've worked in a Hitchhikers reference and a Zoolander reference. IN THE COMPUTER, you could say.
Fortunately, we were able to locate (read: I stole one from another lamp in the house) another bulb which was narrow enough to fit, and now I have the handsome and fully operational lamp you see in the image above. Well, in the first image above, not in the image immediently above.
Illustration by 機助 on Pixiv. Granted this birthday image would have been more appropriate, but this was just too cute to pass up!
For those who don't watch/read K-On, Tsumugi is the one with the legendary eyebrows.
When things are looking blue, what more do you need than Mugi, Azusa and Yui, having a sandwich hug? My favourite three characters!. I suppose some matching drive icons would also be in order... one step at a time ^^;
From the Bureau of Ruben Has Been Blogging Too Much About K-On we have this poll by the Otaku no Podcast folks over who people's favourite characters are.
The results are encouraging, it seems I'm the only one who has voted for Mugi-chan, which means she's mine by default :3! Of course I'm also dismayed at the same time, as this implies she didn't receive any votes before I came along, when the others did! Fight Mugi, fight!
With my chronic sleeping problems, I've decided to try cutting back on coffee and replace it with tea. Ritsu is SHOCKED! And Mugi is... hold on, I'm distracted again.
Much like a smoker who has oral fixation after quitting, I realised as much as I need the bean it's the experience of having a steaming hot beverage while I'm programming or doing other work that I miss when I'm not having coffee, so tea is a really good analog. Except I program computers which are digital.
I'm the only one in the family who likes it, but I love Earl Grey tea. I'd make Jean Luc Picard proud, and disappoint Janeway ;). English Breakfast, Chai and Green are my other favourites, depending on my mood and the time of day. While we were in Ireland I also became quite partial to Irish Breakfast, but the supermarkets here don't stock it.
Twinings is the staple around here (cue Bakemonogatari reference), but Dilmah makes a mean green tea. I had some Oxfam English Breakfast from Australia which made me feel all warm and fuzzy, but I'm not sure if they have shops here.
For those who aren't bored of the story already, back when I was in school my mum would often have chemotherapy early in the morning so we weren't in the oncology ward during the busy hours of the day. To the frustration of Ms Sameuls, my high school year coordinator who called me a "part time student" on several occasions behind my back, I would always go with her to the hospital to keep her company, even if it meant skipping morning classes or taking whole days off when she'd have to go to the ICU which occured more frequently as the years went by.
Because it was so early in the morning, we got into the habit of having me go upstars to Delifrance to buy takeaway coffee and "medicial cakey substances", to use her lingo. She was the most epically awesome person, so of course The God(s) had to take her out while keeping people like Bush alive. Karma is bunk.
Anyway getting back on track, I got into the habit of having one cup, then two, then three to stay awake in those early hours, and eventially it became a dependency. I was up to seven a day a few years ago (which ironically helped my abnormally low blood pressure!), but I've since cut back to four. It's my hope by drinking more tea to have that down to two or three a day. Here's hoping I can pull it off!
If Mugi and Jean Luc Picard (or Mugi's seiyuu and Patrick Stewart!) came over to help me drink more tea. I'd ask Yui to serve it, but she'd probally spill it everywhere. Or Mikuru, that works :).
Usually I'm okay with flights, but the combined jetlag from a turbulent redeye and a late morning connection rendered me utterly incapable of doing anything productive. I try to blog at least once a day though, so I decided to comment on this K-On image now circulating.
I ask you, how can you possibly have Shine without Mugi?! She's the best character! Perhaps she's holding the camera. Can you get handheld piano cameras? I suppose that'd be an accordion camcorder, or an accamcorder. Hey, I like that, accamcorder. I should write an accamcorder iPhone app.
