Crane Attacks

I was late to my own birthday party because of this. Wow scary! Imagine a giant construction block dropped from the sky!!! It's a miracle that no one got killed! I was all puzzled when L train got a little crazy, and I was waiting for a long time in the station. After finally getting on one, it bypass 2 stations. When I get to the surface in Union Sq, 14 street is a mess with tons of police and road blocks. Lucky I was just a little late and I still have a great time. More on the party later~ :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

:)

Streets of Hong Kong

I come across this post about streets of Hong Kong, and how it could be a model for NYC. It's a good read, not a whole lot into details, but the one that caught my eyes are the comparison pictures, the before & after shots. The pictures really remind me why I felt so different when I was in HK last year compared to what I remembered from when I was little! It's the streets! There are wider sidewalks and less "streets"!

Do you think it will work here in NYC? maybe in Chinatown? or Soho? I want to believe it will work, I would love to see less car and more space, but given American's crazy car culture, I highly doubt it.

Can we trust them?

According to this article, there will be no more weekend shutdowns for the L train.

"Long-suffering L riders can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There will be no more weekend shutdowns between Manhattan and Brooklyn on the Canarsie line, the MTA says. And there's more good news: the long-promised information system that will give real-time arrival times of trains will be running within eight weeks."

I just don't buy it because in the same article, there is this:

"There will still be weeknight service outages, however, and one more planned weekend disruption in Brooklyn because of the high-tech train signal project. Brooklyn riders will also continue to have disruptions because of unrelated work on the Myrtle/Wyckoff Station."

and this:

"The TA is waiting for the delivery of 660 new R-160 cars. Some will be deployed to the L line at the end of 2007, when the weekend and evening service disruptions are expected to continue again when all the old signals are finally removed for good."

SO how is this "back on track" and "no more shutdowns?" I ain't trusting what MTA said.

yummy seafood place

For the kick off of my birthday celebration this year, I went to this restaurant that I have been wanting to try out for a while - Lure Fish Bar on Prince St. I always pass by the place whenever I go to the Apple Store Soho, so obviously I pass by there A LOT~ The place is expensive, I admit that, but it's not crazy expensive, there are many places that are worst and the food isn't even up to the level. This place is awesome! decor is cool because it's like you are inside a ship. Then there's pretty host and handsome waiter. It's a Wednesday and it was almost full! Food is delicious with capital D! I love seafood, so a seafood restaurant fusion with Japanese food is something that would steal my heart. We ordered a calamari for appetizer, which a lot of Japanese places would have, but this is by far the best. And then there is oh-so-goodlooking Salmon Tartare (pic). For entrees W ordered salmon, R ordered yellowfin tuna, I ordered the special of the night - lobster tempura roll. Then for dessert we had coconut crepes and warm chocolate cake. I didn't really take any picture since it's kinda weird when it's just the three of us, but it's a memorable night with good food that I would remember.

Video encoder program

I found this awesome free multi-platform program that can re-encode all kind of video format. It's easy to install, easy to use, many formats to choose from, and Fast! Best of all is that it's free! (actually it's a shareware, fully functional unless u do DVD>DVD4GB or SVCD>DVD, in that case u need to donate $15) The name is called ffmpegX. I have about 100 of mpeg music videos on my computer in iTunes and they are mostly ranged in 40-50MB each, with ffmpegX, I could encode them using H.264 to mp4 that shrink the size down to around 8-15MB and can also play on my ipod without losting noticeable quality. Other ppl probably want to shrink a dvd movie into a small file to watch in a portable device, this program will be great for that purpose too. But for me, I am just using it to save space for now.

Official Birthday Celebration Starts Tomorrow

My official birthday celebration starts tomorrow and will go on well into next week! The first thing that I could think of is how do I look! is my skin clean enough to take pictures? (better than a few weeks ago when I didn't even want to see ppl, but not to the point that I am satisfy, but o well, nothing a few air-brush in Photoshop won't cover) What should I wear for all these celebration dinners and lunches? (This year I didn't buy new clothes for my birthday!)
I am not sure what I will be wear yet, but I have a few ideas after going through my closet today. (hint: dark) Whatever it is, I will be taking a lot of pictures with everyone that attend my parties. I have been doing big parties like these for the past 3 birthdays and the pictures always makes me happy whenever I look at them. They really bring back the memories. So yeah, expect me to go nuts with my camera.

Work Anniversary

Tomorrow I'll be working in this library for 2 years to be exact. Wow, two years already! I can't believe it~ My former-coworkers can't either~ (I went back to the college library to visit them last week) It's funny and sweet that after two years my name is still floating around over there from phone extension to login name to the forms and files that I created~ I dunno how much of an impact I will make here in my current job. I surely hope when I leave one day this place will miss me as much as my old job. Anyway, happy anniversary to me!

Works like a charm

Back to normal! finally! I am not placing blame on this whole HD saga, instead I am gonna praise OSX's awesome tools that make it so easy to recover from any mistakes. The migration assistant is first class! As long as you have your data backup in a bootable external drive, this assistant just get to work in a few steps and bring everything back to your main HD, not only files, but wallpaper settings, programs, passwords in keychain, iTunes settings, iPhoto, Address book, Safari bookmarks, Photoshop, Mail, everything is A-OK!! It's awesome! seriously the time it took me to install a clean copy of OSX, updated it, and migrate my data, it's an hour and 45 mins only! You can't even finish installing Windows XP with that amount of time! Every computer system can crash, every hard drive might die, (even from Apple~) but to think of and implement a flawless recovery system like that, only Apple can do! OSX rules!

HD saga

I spoken too soon about being smart, or am i? So after I was all happy about "fixing" my Powerbook, that night my chat program Adium started to crash, then every slow to a dying halt. Naturally I restart the machine, well after that I can't boot it back up. I was like sh** I broke my machine, now I feel dumb again! Luckily I have my entire system cloned on an external HD. So at least I won't lost anything at all. So without panic, I found the original disc and boot up the powerbook with the disc. Then I used disk utility to repair the HD since I think I broke that, well that gave me an error message. So the next step was to take the genius' original advice to do an "archive and install" which would archive everything on the HD and reinstall the OS, then put your originals back in. Well, that didn't work either, gave me an error message too. There are still ways I can get this work, so I moved on to the next method which is use the Restore option by using my "cloned" external HD as the source and restore everything back on my main HD, nope, that didn't work either. I was getting really annoy by now and used "erase and install" which will erase everything and install a clean copy of OS, then I will use the migration assistant to migrate all my setting and applications and files from my cloned drive. Just when it looks like it's working - since a new OS was install and it was almost completely migrate everything back on the HD, it froze for like a few hours until I got so impatience that i have to restart, and of course afterward it just stuck at the Apple Logo screen. I had no other choice but to do "erase and install" again - and it still didn't work!! Finally I have had it and admit defeat. I dunno how to fix it, I suspect it could be a HD failure that I can do nothing about except asking Apple to give me a new HD. I stop fixing it, just boot up the laptop using my cloned HD and surf the net, play music and movies and just relax for a little while. I can basically just use this setup without doing anything because it is the same as my system before since it is a clone! the only different is that I can't disconnect my external HD from my laptop. but I figure this can't work in the long run, so I make a reservation with the genius bar again.

The surprise news from the genius is that it is not a HD failure, just simply a corruption in the HD file system. I was like, but I did erase and install!! I guess there are things only apple genius can do (terminal/UNIX stuff) He fixed it and install the OSX on the HD and told me I can just use the Restore option and restore everything from my clone drive when I get home. I followed his direction this time, and yet guess what? it didn't work!! it gave me error again!! I am not admitting defeat just yet again, so I do the "erase and install" and it worked! Then I update the system with the newest updates online. Then I use the migration assistant to migrate all my files and applications back from the clone drive. Everything work perfectly except one thing: I stupidly use the same home folder name on my temp account. When it migrate my old account back, it put a "1" behind it because it has the same name. I don't like it at all, I am a perfectionist, and I forgot that I can't change the home folder name, so now, I am thinking i might just "erase and install" then migrate all over again over this "1" behind the folder name......hey i know all the process and options now! After going through all that, I know every little detail even how long it take for each process to be completed!! So I might as well do it over again until I am completely satisfy, right? all i need is another 5 hours~ :p

I am smarter than the apple genius!

This past week my Powerbook suddenly become really really noisy whenever I use it for a period of time. Normally no matter how long I use it the fan would be on but it would still be very quiet. However, last week it just become so loud that i can't listen to the music coming out of the speaker, and people on the phone start asking what is that noise in the background! My initial thought would be that one of the fan die and the other one is working overload that's why it is so loud. So today I brought my laptop to the Apple Store in midtown. I sat down with one of the apple genius in the genius bar there. The store noisy, so obviously the noise from the laptop isn't as noticeable. He ran a few tests, boot it up with another hard drive, etc etc. He don't think it's the hardware itself, he think it's the system, because it seems like even when the system start up the CPU would be working like 100% and there's not much RAM left. He can't found out exactly what does that, but at least he think that's what lies the problem, so his recommendation would be go home and use the original disc to boot then use the archive and install option to reinstall the system. I listened to all his directions and went home. When I was at home, i didn't feel like doing a reinstall, it is troublesome since my original disc was Panther OSX 10.3, so i would need a lot of update afterward to get to Tiger 10.4. I put my thinking cap on, trying to figure out what is eating my CPU and RAM. Since he put me on a right path, I just keep looking at every single process that is running on start up, determining what are these things, what do they do, where do they come from, and finally I found the problem process - the name is Vshield, It is from the anti-virus program Virex that was loaded with 10.3, but later on Apple abandoned it because there simply just isn't a need for an anti-virus program when there's no virus for mac. Not to mention Virex is kinda suck, if u r paraoid, you can get other options out there. Anyway, so I remove Vshield and any other thing Virex has in the system. Woohoo! My diagnosis was correct, it is now quiet as a mouse again!! I fix my own machine!

I am feeling smart!! :) I figure out something the apple genius can't figure out!! oh that feel so good! exactly what I needed after my rejection the other day! I was depressed, stayed in my room the last 2 days. Now I am so happy! I cured my beloved Powerbook! yay!!!

new ipod and Last.fm

One side effect of switching to a new ipod is that somehow I can no longer sync my data to my Last.fm profile from the ipod, it only record iTunes usage for now. I listen to my music mostly on my ipod on the go, rarely on iTunes on my computer. So the music charts on the sidebar from now on will only reflect a small percentage of my listening habit. It's too bad. Let's hope there's some solution come up along the way.

Rejection

Why did I even for a split second think that this time would be different? Was there even once that wasn't a rejection? if there were, it's been so long that I don't even remember. Friends think this is silly, they know he's not a right match, even I know that, I have been saying it and yet I still fall for it. I didn't know why, I keep on saying how strange it is that I would like him. I now know the exact reason, it wasn't how he look or his interest or anything, it's the way that he make me feel when he ask for how is my day every time. The sincere care that I felt. He know how to talk to me, he know how to treat me the way I want. Every night I would just sitting there waiting for his call. Waiting for that moment that the sweetness in his voice make mefelt there really is someone that adore and care about me. Now that I totally blew it, i doubt i'll hear that sincere caring anymore.
I think I collected enough rejections to have a full mental gallery. The way they said it, the way they act, the gestures. Too bad I can't make them into tangible objects, otherwise i'll have enough to fill up an art gallery in Williamsburg. I might as well see if I can sell them and make a fortune. Seriously when it comes to "art", people would buy anything! if it's destined that I can't find love, I need money to compensate me!

Stupid mouth

Why can't I shut my mouth, I have to say it out loud and get the expected rejection a week before my birthday! I must be intentionally want to be miserable! Why the heck did I say I want to date him? why can't I wait? now i put a god damn damper right before my birthday!! great work harry! you know how to ruin everything! Now what am I gonna do next week? put on a sad face to see all the people I gathered for the dinners?

B-day present for myself

I love my new 80GB ipod~ :) Now I can have my entire music library on the go again....and this time along with music videos, tv shows and bejeweled as well!!! It's such as worthy upgrade from my 60GB ipod photo!

i can't stop playing bejeweled, i am totally addicted~

How LOTR should have ended

I found this video on YouTube by accident and yeah, it would have been so much easier this way~ lol

iTunes 7 - It works fine here!

A lot of people are having problem and totally bitching out loud with iTunes 7 - including my brother, who has problem with syncing with his (or my old) 3 generation ipod~ I am the fortunate one that have no problem what so ever~ You know what I suspected? it's the ones that are using the windows version that got bugs. It works fine on my Powerbook G4, I asked my friend who got a macbook pro and his works fine too~
Anyway, back in the days when I was obsessively searching Album art all over the place for my music finally pay off awesomely. I was already rocking it out when my ipod photo supports Album art, I was also enjoying it on iTunes when it was on that tiny Album art windows at the bottom left corner. But now, I am just having so much fun scrolling through the albums on the Coverflow view~ I was also having fun playing around with all the new organizing options, afterall I am a librarian - I love organizing stuff! one thing i didn't see a lot of people mentioning is that if you click and hold on the "Album" title bar to sort, it will change to "Album by Artist", which is a better way than sorting by plain Album or Artist only. BTW, one more click will change the sorting to "Album by Year." There's still a lot of things that I am sure I haven't have a chance to play with yet. If I found anything interesting I will definitely post it here to share with everyone.

Delusional

I am delusional to think that he changed and we could become something. He didn't change, he's still the same. Why do I like someone like him? the first day I met him I already found out what he is like, and yet I am stupid enough to think I could be a positive influence for him and in time, change him for the better and we could become something. I just love to keep setting myself up for failure. I expect too much. And to even think I could found someone before my birthday is the dumbest thing of all. My wish never come true every year, why would I think this year would be any different? I should just pathetically stick to throw myself birthday party like I do every year. At least I could manufacture happiness for one week. With that I in effect force people to wish me happy. As long as they all show up and there are gifts, I manufactured the happiness I want. You know that is so much more reliable than hoping to find someone that would like me back. I am also gonna buy myself a birthday gift - a new ipod! that way, my manufactured happiness is fool-proofed and my delusion self won't have a chance to ruin it.

80GB and Bejeweled!

What do I think of Apple's new offerings today? In terms of surprise, there isn't much since it's expected that they will have movie download and they will update ipod and ipod nano. The living room device codename iTV is an expected move that people talked about ever since Apple provides TV download. But the surprise is the ipod Shuffle! Look how amazingly tiny that thing is!!! it's totally adorable! I have no use for a music player that's only 1 GB, but this is just something very attractive! As for the Nano? my word is Mini is back! and he breed with Nano and become this second-generation Nano!! I have to go see the real thing for myself and to see how much of an improvement it is from Nano or Mini.

How about the one thing that I am waiting to spend money on? the big ipod? Well, All I am going to say is 80GB and Bejeweled!!! Bejeweled!! my favorite tiny time-wasting game!! You bet I will get this machine soon after all the reviews are in! As for the software iTunes 7? I love the Coverflow view!! It's great that Apple bought Coverflow and put it right into iTunes. I had Coverflow's original preview on my machine and I tried very hard to like it, but since it's a preview beta, it is just isn't a complete product that I would use - now it's all completed and right inside iTunes! awesome! And as a librarian, of course my attention immediately go to which hidden improvements they have on organizing - besides these fancy view - well, I found two added field - Skip Count and Album Artist. Skip Count is easy to understand, but Album Artist? There's already a field for Artist.... I am waiting for someone to explain this~ Last but not least they have a much needed improvement on ipod management, it is so much clearer! and finally Auto Album Art for your own imported music? FINALLY!!! Now where is auto Lyric?? Anyhow, I like the iTunes announcement more than anything else in today's event. I guess it's because this is the only one I can get my hands on now, and it's free~ hehe

Still remember...

Tin Toy Totoro

I saw this and I can't help myself but to adopt him!! It's the cutest combination! Totoro and vintage tin toy! He walk awkwardly and wave his hand with the umbrella as he walk! It's adorable! And the best thing about this is that the maker didn't make it smooth or plastic-y like a real toy, it retains the rough edges of those vintage tin toy, it uses the older type of wind up metal handle instead of the small plastic one like some cheap modern toys. This is a piece of art! he's now live permanently on my bookshelf with the other cute collectibles i got~

Reports from the street

I was strolling around in my favorite 'hood today since I have nothing to do, no one to hang out with cos someone first invited me to the museum and then immediately uninvited me with no explanation. Anyhow, that funky pink store on St. Marks is now opened. It sells food automatically. I saw this kind of store when I was in Amsterdam, so this is nothing new, I have yet to try out the stuff there, i don't expect anything really good, but for some quick food if I happen to be around and hungry, I might try it out.

I also found out that KidRobot is closed for renovation! There will be a KidRobot Pirate Store as an alternative on Lafayette St for anyone who can't get enough of collectiable toys. It's not open until Tuesday, so I couldn't check it out today.

What I want

People keep asking me what I want for my birthday, I told them nothing, because the things I want no one can get it for me. You know what I really want? I want A3 and me to become something and I also want the new 24" iMac; What I want isn't something that can be logically analysed, weigh all the pros and cons and said hmm, that's not something you should want, you should want something else instead. What I desire might not be what I need, i know that! It might not be even good for me, but is nevertheless something that I want. I can't change what I want, if I change it then it's not an honest answer, and what I told u wouldn't be what I really want!

Is there anything else I want that people can actually get for me then? I can't think of anything, all the stuff I think of are big ideas, like I want to be closer with my friends, I felt like lately I am not as close to my friends as b4, there are friends that I used to hang out at their place every week or friends that I talked to on the phone every week, and I realize we don't do that anymore, and that upset me, so I want to be closer to my friends again; I want my brother to grow up and act his age; I want to be able to have another degree; I want to have money to buy an apartment in Williamsburg; see? big ideas but not gift ideas. People just have to think of their own gift ideas. I always think about what I should get for people's birthday without actually asking them what they want, it's time others do the same~

Dress Like a Mac guy

Found this hilarious post about how to dress like Justin Long, the Mac guy from the commercial! It really isn't expensive at all to dress cool! Look at the prices! but the funniest thing about this post is at the end section titled "Tips to Complete the Look" - Paint your walls white and smirk! LOL!

What this blog should look like if u use a better browser!

My friend was helping me to work out the visual kinks of the blog, and he sent me this screenshot of what my blog looks like when using Internet Explorer. To my horror, it look nothing like I intended!!! I have not use IE for the longest time and I totally forgot that this stupid backward horribly suck browser is so incompetent that it can not handle transparent PNG image file! so everything that is suppose to be invisible on this blog? it is all visible if you are using IE! which just mean nothing looks like what I designed! So please do yourself a favorite, download Firefox, Flock, or Opera, these are all awesome FREE, easy to install, feature-rich, safe browsers that display everything CORRECTLY! Move on to the new age, experience the web, protect yourself, don't stuck inside this horrible piece of software that Microsoft hasn't update or cared about for 5 or 6 years!!!!

Included screenshot is what my blog should look like if you are using a modern browser such as Firefox, Flock, Opera, Camino, Safari and such.

Ditch IE, taste the freedom!!!!

Consider this my very own public service announcement! :)

Now that's what I call a pleasant surprise!

In a surprise move, Apple pushed the iMac and Mac Mini update out the door one week ahead of their planned special media event. It is not a small update, not a so-called speed bump. But a move of the entire iMac product line to a brand new Core 2 Duo processor with an addition of a 24" iMac. And move all of Mac Mini into Core Duo territory! This is big, it's something that normally would deserve a spot in a special event, but instead it's just pushed out the door and so close to the special event next week?? That just beg the question of what ELSE could they possibly show the world next week?? I am not really gonna guess or anticipate anything, because pleasant surprise is good! Just like today!!

As for today's announcement....I heart that 24" iMac! I really do! I have been planning to get an iMac this whole year, today is a really convincing persuasion! This just push me into a serious consideration of getting one for the next few months!

In the Waiting

Right around the time I was going to log off and sleep, he IM me. He was upset that his ex is online, the name is right there, but he's ignoring him no matter how many times he send him messages. I of course said all the things I need to say in situation like that, trying to make him feel better. In the middle of it he said "BRB". So i figure, maybe his ex did response after all and they are conversing. I waited patiently for his IM b/c I want to make sure he's okay before I sleep. That was pretty much the only reason I stay up cause I was so dead tired. 20 minutes passed, wow, long conversation i guess, I can barely open my eyes. But I was like, need to stay conscious! need to be there for him if he needs to talk afterward! So I waited. I wasn't doing anything else except waiting. I wasn't chatting with other people, nor am I surfing the web, reading news, all i did was staring at the messenger window, waiting for it to blink. 45 minutes passed, I couldn't wait any longer, so I start to type my message to him, giving my support to him and tell him i need to log off. Before I even got a chance to finish it, he sent me an IM - going to bed now, and immediately "away." O well, at least I don't have to wait and can sleep now. I went to bed and tears started to pour. I know it's a stupid reaction, he's probably very upset after the conversation and didn't want to chat, just want to go to bed. I should be understanding, but I can't help but feeling stupid for staying up, worrying about him, waiting for 45 minutes to get a 4 words message and an away sign. Why do I put my emotions in all the wrong places? All I have is myself to blame.

I have had it with these rumors and predictions!

The latest round of Apple rumors are about next week's supposedly special event on the 12th. The line-up includes Macbook Pro upgrade, 23" iMac, new Nano, new ipod, an iTunes Movie Store and Airport Express for video. After following Apple's News for a while, I am starting to have a case of deja vu. How many times did we hear about a movie store whenever there's a special event? how many times did they predict about the iPhone? widescreen ipod? Airport Express for video? I definitely heard that prediction before! I have had it with these rumors and prediction! Just like the boy who cried wolf, I don't believe it anymore. I'll believe it when it's coming straight from Steve's keynote speech! The only problem is nowadays you can't really escape from these rumors, back in the days these rumors only circulate between the die hard mac fans and the rumor sites. If you stay clear from them, you'll be fine. Nowadays, Wall Street "Analysts" always jump in for the fun, so does mainstream media like Business Week. They'll report anything because every eye is on Apple after the ipod phenomenon.

*not that I don't desire a 23" iMac or a brand new ipod (hopefully a larger capacity, my 60GB ipod photo is almost full!)*

I've been living in this Apt for a year!

Looking at the calendar, today marks the anniversary of my move in day! Wow, I can't believe it! I moved out for a year already! Time really flies. This apartment and this neighborhood in general has serve me well. I am happy at where I am now, more or less. I actually live on my own for a year and survived! (Before I move in, I did seriously thought I would have burn the house down half way through or starve to death!)
I still remember how all my friends were here last year on this day, helped me move, set things up. How A was here telling me how I can't live in my room b/c there's no air flow. And it was just boxes everywhere. Now it is my home. A full year. This is definitely an anniversary worth celebrating for! Cheers!

Site News: That wasn't easy!

Wow, so I upgraded the template, and you can see it's still a little rough, certain things are off, especially the charts are now pushing toward the main posts, which isn't pretty. The move itself is even worst!! All the widgets of the sidebar is all mixup and it took me a while to get it fix. At first I have no idea what's wrong cos the template code works almost perfectly on my test blog, then when I upgraded this blog and paste the code on, the sidebar is a total mess! But the tough part looks like it's over, all I need to do is fix the little things here and there. Then I can onto the main reason of this move - putting all my previous posts in categories - should be fun consider it's 550+ posts!

Update: 1) still not working - the feed on the sidebar, but the feed textlink at the bottom of all the posts should be working.
2) I can't find the comment feed!

Site News: Blogger Beta Template Testing

I feel hideous this weekend because of this giant pimple on my nose. I wanted to go into a witness protection program just to avoid seeing anyone that I know. Anyway, the rainy storm that is hovering NY this Labor Day long weekend gave me the perfect excuse to hide from everyone. I feel so grossed that I didn't do anything what so ever, just sit in my room and listen to music. Then I realize I really can use the time to do something. So I cleaned my room, do laundry, etc. Then I come to the conclusion that this could be the time to finish working on adjusting my current template to the Blogger Beta new template system. I was hard at work on my test blog, work out all the kinks with the exception of two minor cosmetic kinks that people might not even notice. There is also one feature that I couldn't get it working - Google Map on my sidebar. But other than that, everything is working fine. I don't want to wait til my friend to come back from vacation to help me to solve these minor issues, therefore, I am gonna go ahead to apply and unveil it here. Here we go....

More wacky dancing from OK Go

I dare you all to dance like that in public! hehe

Ok Go - A Million Ways

This could be the reason to go to the gym...

Fun song, but even more awesome video! Seriously, I might just go to the gym to play with the treadmills like that~ LOL~

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

J bookstores

It's very fortunate that I work in a location that is full with Japanese in the 'hood. So not only there are abundant good affordable Japanese food for lunch, there are also 3 Japanese bookstores around. Not that I know how to read Japanese, nor have any intention of learning. (I can barely handle two languages! and I am lazy!) I could, in the best case scenario, guess about the meaning of 6 characters in a 50 words paragraph. But in any case, I love going to these Japanese bookstores. The stationary and toy sections are always an awesome place to pick out unique gifts; the children books and manga section is where I can find picture books of Miyazaki films and Doraemon and such; The magazine section is where I can find tons of magazines about Hollywood and movie stars (b/c Japanese are obsessed with American films), I can't read the interviews but the photos are all exclusive to Japanese media, so it's worth reading. Then there are magazines devoted to Macs, the Japanese are also obsessed with Apple, which obviously makes me very happy; Then there are these Japanese fashion magazines that I could learn so much to integrate to my style, plus, let's face it, those guy models are adorable! Because of these bookstores, I am so entertained at my lunch hour that I never really want to go back to work~