Japanese Earthquake

Those who know me know what an Otaku I am. (Otaku = Japanese enthusiast.) I study Nihongo (The Japanese language), I collect Japanese antiques, my favorite music is Japanese Rock, My pets are even named partially after my favorite Japanese historical figures and partially in honor of my favorite Japanese singer Gackt.

So as you can imagine, I was devastated by the news of the Japanese quake. I mourn for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami. For the people of Japan, and also for the victims from other countries who live in Japan or were visiting Japan at the time of this tragic event. I also pray for those from all over the world who have families or friends in Japan that have been affected.

If you read this blog.. please visit http://redcross.org to donate to the disaster relief fund...

What's great about the Red Cross, on the rare occasion that they've met their donation needs for one disaster, donations will go to other disasters and disaster preparation for areas at risk (such as Haiti who suffered a tragic quake of their own in 2010.)

or visit http://www.ladygaga.com to buy a "we pray for Japan" bracelet. All proceeds from the sale goes directly to the Japan Quake relief fund.

I've already made one donation of $20 and am about to purchase a bracelet from Lady Gaga. Please open your hearts and do the same.

Recently I went to Walgreens. I had a coupon for 2 packs of bottled water (25 waters per pack) for just over $5.

If even 10 people donated $10 to the Red Cross.. can you imagine how many cases of bottled water they could secure for the people of Japan? If my math is right... lets say they went to Walgreens with a coupon for 2 cases around $5 for both.

You can get 4 cases for $10... and if 10 people donated $10 that would be 40 cases of water. 40 cases of water with 25 bottles in each case is 1000 bottles of water. can you imagine how helpful even 1000 bottles of water could be for a few families in Japan who have no usable water right now?

Remember God's golden rule... do unto others as you'd have done unto you. So open up your hearts to someone in need, as you'd want someone's heart to be open to you in your's.

Above all, if you can't afford to make a donation as we are in economic hardships... please pray for all those affected by this horrible disaster.

Tee Hee Hee

Konnichiwa all. Andrea here again. Well today was an interesting day. When I woke up and got ready to take my dogs on a walk, I wrote this on my Facebook page

have you ever had one of those feelings. You don't know why you feel that way, you don't even know if it's good or bad... it's just a feeling that kind of haunts the back of your mind... almost an excited feeling like something is going to happen, you just don't know what... that's kinda how I feel today. Hopefully something awesome is on it's way.
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well three hours later, that almost prophetic statement came true. I got a call from my oldest brother. He, his wife and my baby nephew are coming to visit on Friday. He told me that when I take my sister-in-law to Karaoke, I can't buy her a drink... cause SHE'S PREGNANT! YAY!

I'm going to be an auntie x 3 now. (They have a 1 year old son... my other brother has a 1 year old son...) so I have 2 nephews and soon I'll have another nephew or maybe a niece! it was fun news!

((**Edit**)) I'm an auntie x4. I found out just recently that my other sister-in-law is also preggers. In fact she's due before the sis-in-law I just mentioned, and she knows it's going to be a little girl. They've chosen Veronica for her name. YAY!

Then this afternoon I went to see "the Rite".

the movie is about a real priest and his real experiences that lead him to becoming an exorcist.

The movie got panned pretty hard by the critics. Me personally, as a Catholic I found it profound if not even a little frightening. Like a line in the movie... it wasn't all spinning heads and pea soup. It was a more realistic look at an exorcism.

That wasn't to say the movie didn't have it's problems. In many places it was disjointed. They'd be in one place, and with no fluidity they'd be in another. It seemed they had issues collecting point A to point B.

but the acting was good, and the story was solid.... I gave it about a 7.5 out of 10. Maybe it could eek out an 8.

however, the BEST part of the movie... We've passed the climax and are at the point where everyone breathes a sigh of relief... it's the moment we've waited for since the movie started... the resolution... the big moment where we all go "ahh, I see." suddenly the door to the theater opens...

"Kathy? Kathy so and so? Is Kathy here?"

"Yeah I'm here" I'm thinking they were going to say she had a phone call or someone was there to see her, or she left her car lights on... instead I hear...

"Aren't you done yet?"

I turn around... there's this little old lady standing in the doorway. She must have been Kathy's mother or grandmother, and probably her ride.

I'm thinking, "Do you see the credits rolling? Do you see the people on the big screen still walking around and talking? I think Kathy isn't done yet.

Everyone is desperately trying to hold back their laughter, but when one person starts choking on a giggle, it makes those around them want to giggle too. I finally was giggling so hard that tears were streaming down my face... when in peeps the little old lady again, looking around. I'm thinking, when people start leaving, the the movie is over lady. Yeesh.

It was pretty funny. Gave me a good laugh all the way home. But poor Kathy though. Only in a small town do these things happen. lol it was cute and funny. The best part it was so inappropriate considering the kind of movie we were watching.

anyhoo. its been a good day. I'm going to be an Auntie again and I got to see an interesting movie with a funny break from the tension. Now I'm home resting my ribs. (I cracked my ribs in a fall... and all that laughing kind of hurt them).

Packers going to superbowl!

Well I have a long history with the Pack. I've been a Packers fan since before I even knew what football was. I even have a picture of me as a toddler wearing green and gold. My favorite player growing up was Reggie White. My parents were big Packer fans as were my brothers. Mike Holmgren was the coach during the era I became a true Packer Backer. (the 90's). Following in the footsteps of "Saint" Vincent Lombardi. It was what football should have been.

We butted heads with Minnesota Vikings fans and Da Bears fans. It was a lot of fun "back then". And of course there was the main man Favre.

Well Holmgren left the Packers because he was treated kind of crappy. After two big superbowl wins he wanted to be head coach and general manager... but Green Bay didn't want him for whatever reason, to hold both titles, so he left for the Seattle where he was offered both titles and from what I hear, a bigger pay increase as well.

Then the Favre incident happened. It is no secret that Ted Thompson (the current GM) and the new Head Coach McCarthy basically treated him like crap and pushed for his retirement almost every year making it hard for him to want to come back. Even those who never liked Farve admitted there was no love lost between him and Thompson/McCarthy.

So Favre finally retired... but then realized it was a mistake and wanted to come back to the Packers. He didn't want to be immediately released to another team, he wanted back with his team, he was staying faithful to the pack. He wasn't even requesting his old job back, he also offered the suggestion of having him coach.

Well Thompson had finally gotten rid of him and wasn't about to let him back. But instead of saying "we don't want you... tell you what, we'll release you to another team of our choosing perhaps as a trade, or we'll let you be a free agent with conditions... and best of luck to you." Instead of saying that and cutting him loose... He says "We don't want you, but no one else will have you either. We do have a position for you with the Packers though if you want it. Its called waterboy."

Thompson acted like an ass and dragged the drama on a lot longer than it needed to have gone on... it could have ended months earlier with just a signature on a trade or release form... and in the end turned a lot of Packer fans (like me) off. First GreenBay gave Holmgren a raw deal causing him to leave, now they were treating Favre like crap too.

So many of us followed Favre to the Jets, then to the Minnesota Vikings (as painful as that was for former Green Bay fans, though not as painful as if he had gone to da bears. LOL.)

however, Farve spit in the eye of our loyalty as fans by letting his ego go out of bounds through this ordeal, and started screwing around on his wife and sexting his weenie for all to see. He decided he was so cool that he could have all these teams begging for him, and have all these fans leave their beloved team to follow him... so he could become a total sleaze.

So now a lot of us who went with Favre because we think the franchise treated him and other Packers unfairly... went BACK to the Packers. And none to soon cause they're in the SUPERBOWL BABY!

in an odd way

It's good to be home.

now what to do with my Favre tri-jersey. (It has the packers, vikings and Jets colors sewn into one jersey.)

Think God work in mysterious ways?

if you do, then you may be right.

Last night I was feeling sick and I wasn't feeling much better when I woke up this morning.

I was going through various ways I could get out of church today... cause I was the reader. I thought of having my mom go in and let them know I wouldn't be there to do the readings, then I thought of just going in and saying I was too sick to be there then I'd go right home. Well, the good Catholic that I am... I started feeling guilty, so I thought, well maybe I'll just do the readings and leave right after the second reading. But then I thought, if I'm going to have to read I may as well do the intentions to as I'm suppose to do after the homily, and THEN I'd leave.

So I get there and I find the cantor wasn't going to show up. Well being a cantor myself, they asked if I could cantor as well. Well there goes the whole leaving early thing, but at least I knew all the songs so I figured, it's just one hour. I can go home and sleep after mass. I figured it wouldn't hurt to help out. If I hadn't showed up they would have been stuck without a singer or reader. Since I stayed I did both.

Was it ever lucky I decided not to just sleep in and not show up myself.

Well, then my mom decides she wants to go to the casino. I wasn't feeling good and didn't really want to go... but my mom really wanted to go and she won't go alone. So I sucked it up and figured I could sleep after the casino. I figured it wouldn't hurt to do something nice for my mom.

Was it ever lucky I decided not to sleep after mass and went with my mom...

I went to the casino, sat down at a penny slot machine... plopped in $20, hit the button... and immediately got a bonus round. In the bonus round the three middle columns were wild. When the three middle columns are wild, you won't win any less than $20 a spin.

when all was said and done I won $150 in one bonus round. (Technically 1 spin.) I cashed out cause you will never win that big twice in a row (and a it stood, the 2 people who sat there after me didn't win anything.) so I took my original $20 and went to play black jack. I doubled that $20 and walked out of the casino with $200 which is exactly what I needed to put on one of my bills.

So I thought about it a bit now that I finally am in bed and relaxing. God really does work in mysterious ways.

I didn't want to go to Church cause I was sick, but I went and luckily I did because I also had to sing since the cantor didn't show up. Then I didn't want to go to the casino but I went because my mom really wanted me to, and I ended up $200 richer. It was almost like a thank you from God. Like he knew I was sick, but I did things I didn't feel up to doing anyway because I wanted to be helpful, and the money that I can put towards my bill was like a thank you.

you never know.

I think my dogs are spoiled

My dogs get home cooked dinner and breakfasts. They don't eat dog food. They only way they'll eat dog food is if it's the pricier high quality canned food, and covered in bacon bits. But it can't be the cheaper bacon flavored bits... they have to be the $2.50 a small packet worth of the REAL bacon bacon bits... and they DO know the difference.

Just like when I give them cheese as a treat or to give them their meds if they have to take a pill for any reason. it has to be Kraft American singles cheese. If it's not the Kraft brand, they will spit it out and stare at you with this look of... "seriously? you want me to eat that?"

They have a special ice-cream made specially for dogs. My dogs won't touch it, but they will eat a child sized vanilla ice-cream cone from Dairy Queen (cone and all). And it has to be dairy queen. I got them a cone at McDonald's once when it was really hot outside, and they wanted nothing to do with it.

They sleep in bed with me... but they can't JUST sleep in the bed... they have to have their own blankets folded at the bottom of the bed for them to snuggle into. And it can't be just any blanket. It has to be the fuzzy kind. I even bought expensive dog beds for $70 each thinking they'd like them since they were soft and fluffy. I sold them at a rummage for $5 each.

They can't go outside in the cold without their booties and sweaters, and they've never had to stay in a kennel. When I go on vacation I take them with me and stay at pet friendly hotels.

2x a year they get professional photos taken at a photography studio... I have TWO scrapbooks of pictures of my dogs. (going on 3).

I'd like to say my dogs are well trained, but something tells me they have ME trained. but they're worth it. LOL

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Happy New Years everyone!

I had a lot of fun. I was looking cute...

so that was a good thing.











I spent the new year's playing slots and blackjack at the casino! woot woot!

My favorite slot is the 2 cent phantom of the opera game (like the one below)

its pretty fun... Phantom masks are wild... three or more phantoms in play will get you the phantom bonus game. You pick a candle (sometimes 2 candles) and either win a certain number of points, or a chance to play a bonus in the bonus game. that game takes you into the phantom's lair and you have to touch the spinning circles to try to get to Christine and win a bigger bonus prize.

Four Christine's scattered, 4 wild phantom masks, or a Christine with Phantom masks (as long as there are at least 4) give you the rose bonus game. You can pick between three roses. (credit prizes are based on how many Christine/masks you are able to get, and how much you're betting.) I usually play all 9 lines x 3 (27 cents a spin). The first rose is a guaranteed 500 credits. The second rose you can get anything between 18 credits and 1200 credits... and the third rose you can get anything from 250 credits to 810 credits.

it's a fun game really.

I won $60 playing phantom.

I got up to go potty and get a soda... when I came back someone jumped on my game. So I moved on to black jack.

There I took $25 and turned it into $55... just as I was getting ready to leave with what I won and move on to another slot game... I won a $25 drawing just for playing Blackjack. So that turned the $55 into $80.

I walked around a bit, drank some soda, and decided to sit and play blackjack some more. lost $20, so played with another $20 and ended up winning the $20 I lost plus another $45.

I checked on my mother who I brought with me.. (yes, I took my mommy. she needs to have a little fun on new year's too. Plus I'm single and living in an area where there are more people my mom's age than mine, so who else was I going to take? Lol)

She had lost $40 by about 10pm, so she sat at a nickle slot machine game and was able to play that till midnight. While she kept playing that, I took $5 and played phantom again, but I lost it.

So I took $10 and played this new gem game. I'm not sure how, but I won $25. So I won the $5 back plus $10.

In the end I came out $140 ahead of the game! Weeeee My mom still came out in the hole, but $25 in the whole, rather than $40.

Got home and fell asleep at about 2:30am.

so it was a fun night, a very lucky light, and a prosperous night. Perhaps that's a sign that 2011 will be fun, lucky and prosperous. Fingers crossed!

Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

My Christmas Eve was pretty cool.

Decorated house?

Check.

Presents under the tree?

Check!

Christmas Eclair made and ready to serve?

Check-er-roonie

Me looking adorable?

Check and Check!





Christmas Eve was fun. My brother, his wife, their puppy and my baby nephew came to visit. My other brother, his wife and baby were suppose to come as well... but first my brother came down with a bug, which passed to my other baby nephew, which passed to my sister-in-law. So instead of risking spreading it to everyone else... we just teleconferenced online.

It was a bummer they couldn't come, but it was cool to at least be able to talk to them and see my other nephew. on the plus side, they've recovered from their bug. And by the time they come up at the end of January, they'll be over the contagious stage of the bug.

Our tradition is to open our gifts on Christmas Eve... so that's what we did tonight. my mom desperately needed a new laptop, so that's what me and my brothers bought her. the brother that was able to make it up is big into Ghost hunting, so I bought him the official K-II meter used by professional ghost hunters in investigations... plus a book written by the hosts of the Syfy show "Ghost Hunters".

My sister-in-law got an imported Japanese Black Pearl necklace from me. She really liked it so I was happy.

I bought my nephew a slide and a twilight turtle... I bought the exact same thing for my other nephew, but he won't get them until my brother heads home taking my other brother's family's gifts home with him. I bought myself a twilight ladybug because they are so totally cute! lol

I got the very gift I wanted from my brothers and my mom...

Man I can't wait to get out and try this camera! I'm so excited. My brother's wife also saw this and thought of me. It's too cute. I've named him Ken-ichi

Of course the puppies weren't forgotten. I bought Dojo and Yoshi toys and my brother and his wife bought them cookies.

I bought my brother's dog a bunch of chews. After presents I had a dancing contest with my baby nephew (who just learned to walk)

naturally, my nephew won. Lol

It was a very nice Christmas Eve. My brother fell asleep watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and the rest of us also turned in early because we have church tomorrow at 10am.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Talk to you soon!

Phantom of the Opera hidden object game

(Spoilers included)

I love those hidden object games... so when I found one with the Phantom of the Opera storyline, I thought, "Awesome!"

The game is from Big fish Games, and it takes place after Christine escapes from the Phantom's lair with Raoul. They since married and now have a daughter named Eveline (who I believe is about the age Christine was during the whole phantom time line.) though it's not specified.

She received a note that turns out to be written by the phantom, and she is dragged into the nightmarish Paris Opera house that is the Phantom's domain. And thus begins her story as she tries to escape from the Opera house and from the clutches of the Phantom (who at this time believes she is Christine returned to him)

To help her find her way out, the player encounters many hidden object search games, and various puzzles (such as turning the opera house lights on by fixing the fuses in a certain order. If you don't get the order right, you obviously have to try again.)

Through the game, you'll get entries for your journal that will give you clues to how a certain puzzle is solved. So pay close attention to your journal. If you really can't figure it out... you can hit the button below the hint mirror and it will tell you how to solve the puzzle, or where to find the next item needed to solve the puzzle.

The game is pretty fun. It's not too easy, but it's not so hard that it's impossible to finish. It is perfectly balanced.

The graphics are pretty good. The art work is beautiful. The Phantom looks totally cool. So much cooler than the typical half white mask guy in a tux.

However, despite how great everything was... the ending kind of ruined it. (spoiler here)

It ends with Eveline being kidnapped by the phantom. He now realizes who she is, and it's even better than if she were Christine, because she looks like Christine. So he has his muse... and his revenge on Christine and Raoul.

The end...

Thanks for playing.

There is a bonus game if you get the collector's edition... but that also does not resolve the story. As it stands, Christine's daughter is still trapped with the Phantom. And there is no word on if there will even be a sequel. It didn't end with "To be continued" it just ended with "thanks for playing".

That would suck.

The phantom was never unmasked... we don't know if Christine or Raoul go to rescue their daughter... we don't know if the daughter escapes.

I can't imagine that they wouldn't make a sequel... but if they don't, the ending kind of ruins the whole game. You invest so many hours, and then it doesn't actually end... that would suck.

So for the most part, game play was an A+ till the end.

if they plan on a sequel... the game gets an A+... if they don't plan a sequel, the ending gets an F which means the game drops from an A+ to a D+/D. which would be a shame.

My wish is that they would do a sequel, and possibly work on a prequel that takes place during the events of the original phantom storyline.

Check out the game

All in all though... if they complete this story with a sequel... it will be pretty awesome.

With some tweeking to this story to fit the ending of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, this would have been a better musical sequel then the current "Love Never Dies" fiasco. Just my opinion tho.

I got a really cool gift for Christmas

Christmas is not quite here, but I already got a pretty cool gift.

As most people know, I'm Catholic. For a long time I wasn't even a good Catholic. I'd miss mass frequently, mostly because I was too lazy to get up in the morning to go to church. When I did go, I use to leave early, right after the 'our father'.

So I'm trying to be a better Catholic... I volunteer now to do readings during mass, and on other weeks, sing. It's nice because I have an obligation to go and stay the whole mass, and I'm giving back to the church because the church needs readers and singers to donate their time to mass. So I'm trying to be a more faithful Catholic.

Well I decided to do a little more this year. Most Catholic churches have 'giving trees' every Christmas Season. For the first part of Advent... the giving tree is decorated with little cards that have the gender and age of children in need of gifts for Christmas... some will tell you what are being asked for... some just say by an age appropriate gift for x amount.

I took a card for a 15 year old girl (who I bought a panda bear jewel necklace for. It was $100 but I got it on sale.) and I got one for a baby 0-6 months (who I bought a night light projector for). Then you bring the gifts to the church and they distribute them as needed.

I felt pretty good doing something nice for kids who needed something special for Christmas. However, I didn't know just how much it meant to the people receiving the gifts until today.

The second half of advent when the gifts for children has ended, the tree is refilled with cards with the names of the elderly who are home bound or in nursing homes. They ask that you send a card with a special message for the person on the card... and that you mail it, or even better, hand deliver it.

I decided it was very close to Christmas and it may not make it in the mail on time so today I decided to deliver the card to the nursing home of the elderly lady's name I picked off the tree. I also decided since I was going in person, to bring some Christmas cookies I picked up at the bakery with me, and some Christmas chocolates.

When I got to the nursing home, the lady whose name I picked was sitting in a corner all by herself in her wheelchair, hunched over staring at her feet. She looked surprised when the nurse said I was there to see her, and even more surprised to see I had cookies and a card for her.

When she saw I was there to hand deliver a Christmas greeting just for her, you could see her eyes tearing up. She took my hand and thanked me. I told her the picture card was actually a picture of my puppies, Dojo and Yoshi, that I had turned into a Christmas card, and that I hoped it would make her smile. She seemed truly grateful to know that a complete stranger would do something like that for her.

As I was leaving she told me "God bless you", and then she had the nurse help her open the card and read it to her. It felt really good to do something for someone else, but to see their reaction and just how much it meant to them that someone would go out of their way for them... that felt even better.

The reason I posted this is not to say "hey look at what a good Christian I am." Its because of that feeling I got when I saw the look of surprise and happiness on her face. I wanted to share the story and encourage everyone to do something like that this Christmas season. It's not too late, there's still 5 days till Christmas Day, so there's plenty of time to do something nice for someone who needs it.

if you're not Catholic, perhaps a Catholic church will allow you to take a card from their giving tree if there are any left... or you could go to a nursing home and ask if there is anyone living there who especially could use a little Christmas cheer... then personally deliver a card or gift to them. Donate a toy to tots, or go to a local church and drop off toys and ask if they know of any children in the area in need of gifts for Christmas.

You'll make someone else very happy... but even more so, you will be surprised how great you'll feel inside.

Merry Christmas everyone

the 411 on my call to 911

Ok here's basically the 411 on my 911 call.

I was coming home from the grocery store... and there was this one car on this side street who wasn't even watching where he was going. He blew his stop sign and started making his turn, right into my car.

I started swerving to avoid getting hit, but the more I swerved the more he was running me off the road, like he couldn't see cherry red SUV sticking out like an inflamed Zit on the face of the white snow...

The ditch I was swerving into had a deep dip which would have caused my SUV to flip over and roll, so finally I laid on my horn and threw my hands up in a "WHAT THE HELL DUDE" gesture.

He gestured back with what looked like the one finger salute. I just drove in front of him and started heading for home like, 'whatever. idiot driver.'

Well I noticed that he followed me up the street, down a side street, up another street than down the main road. That didn't bug me too much cause lots of people take that way.

then he followed me up another side street. I still wasn't concerned, but It was starting to look less like a coincidence cause this wasn't a highly trafficked street. So then I decided to test it. I was going to drive up a side street, then back up another towards the main road I just turned off of, making a big square.

That's when I realized this guy was intentionally chasing me down. Now we didn't actually get into the accident because I kept swerving to avoid his erratic driving and eventually when I laid on the horn he stopped... so it wasn't like he needed to chase me down to exchange insurance information... and he was still driving erratically, so it wasn't a good situation to be in. I knew if I stopped to find out what he wanted, it wasn't going to end up good. So I kept driving trying to lose him.

then he started driving a little more intimidating, catching up to me, making every turn I made, revving his engine. Finally I had enough. After about 10+ minutes of him chasing me, and driving erratically... I decided to blow a stop sign myself, which he did as well, and I headed for a crowded parking lot. He saw me in the parking lot, turned around and took off, probably because there was lots of people and I could report him. (stupid me didn't have my cell on me or I'd have called the cops.)

I had no idea why he was chasing me. HE almost caused the accident by running the stop sign, and I was driving away, it was over. I don't know if he was drunk, if it was a case of road rage, if it was both... or if he got a good look in my car and saw that I was a young woman in the car alone. I don't know.

I never got a license plate cause he was behind me, and there was no front plate on his car. After he took off... I took a bunch of side streets to get home. By this time I was bawling and having a panic attack. I hid my car in the garage and ran to tell my mom what happened as calmly as someone crying hysterically can.

She told me to call the police. Even though I didn't know the plate #, I could describe the car type and color, and the fact that the middle aged male driver was the only occupant in the car. This way if he does this to someone else, they have my complaint on record.

The 9-11 operator told me several times I needed to calm down cause I was literally ready to crap my pants I was so scared. I'm calming down a little now... (I took some cough syrup that makes you a little drowsy, so it's kind of relaxing me.)

but I'm in a lot of pain. When he almost hit me, my body tensed up completely to brace for impact... and then when I realized he was chasing me, I got really tense... so now I feel like I have whiplash and the small of my back is so sore and occasionally I get these spasms in my back... I may go to the ER tomorrow and see if I can get a muscle relaxer if the back spasms don't calm down.

but yeah. that's what happened. I'm still shaken up, but I'm starting to calm down a bit more. So yeah... not a fun day.