Well, this is the first time I'm attempting something like this. But I saw this in the LJ of someone in a bento community and since there are some voracious readers on my f-list, I'm hoping the results will be interesting.

I've had some family visiting from Hong Kong for the past few days. I think family reunions always cause mixed feelings, and this visit made me think a lot about how I identify myself. Maybe I really am becoming more Japanese than Chinese. But I don't know if  losing my roots is really that bad.

My husband is finally on his Obon (Like Ghost month for Chinese, the Japanese believe that the spirits of their ancestors return for a visit during the Obon period. People traditionally go home during this time to honour them, and get about a week off.) holiday, so we went to his parent's house over the weekend. Actually, his sister just got engaged, so we had a BBQ for our first meeting with her fiance. Yes, they'd been dating for years and yet we'd never met him- I don't know why this is such normal procedure in Japan. 

Anyway, quite a few people stopped over with their tiny tots in tow, so I just had to take pictures of all the cuteness.(^o^)/

Edit: Pics with people have been f-locked.

Oh, look. Now I've got a fanhistory page too. I was actually hoping nobody would notice- having something out there ANYBODY can edit is a little scary. But I suppose what's done is done. 
 

You know, I'm usually backpacking somewhere during the summer months. Number one teacher perk is the long summer holiday, and I've always tried to make the most of it. But this year I blew my travel budget on LASIK. And I've realized that having no place to travel through during the summer has turned me into a lazy slug. All I've accomplished is:

-Thoroughly cleaning most of the apartment
-PRing a few fics for GA. Some were awful, which makes me glad we have this PR system. How can people nominate fics that ignore grammar, punctuation and spelling? (Not to mention plot.) But some were amazingly good fics that I never would have clicked on otherwise. So I'm glad that I'm being forced to read these, although the badfics make me wrinkle my nose at my laptop.
-Reading a bunch of books (I go into more depth about these under the cut.)

-Writing a few more sections of August's chapter. I'm experimenting again, which may or may not be a good idea. But the plan looks good right now and I love writing to fit stuff into a puzzle. Still, I've been mostly ignoring my laptop because...

Replaying FFVII has consumed my life.  

Hello. My name is NRG and I am a game-aholic. Never mind that some of this actually counts as research for my fic. I've been steaming through the game at a crazy pace because I have no real responsibilities. (wheatear, I'm in front of Rocket Town now. You are never going to catch up. ;P)

I've just put down the controller though. Need to take a break. Seriously, I feel like I'm back at Uni again, spending all my free time on a game. Obsessed, much? Time to go grocery shopping, NRG. Clean the air-conditioner filters. Plan another trip. And write some more before I miss my self-imposed deadline, hehe. 

Hope the rest of you are enjoying the summer. I know I intend to enjoy every minute, lazy or not! (^_^)v

I wasn't overly enthusiastic when my husband first told me about yesterday's matsuri (festival). I adore matsuri, but going to one on a weeknight just seemed really odd. Luckily, nobody really cares if I'm slightly hungover at work because I'm really just here to warm my seat at my desk until the end of the week. And who am I to turn down free beer? So I headed over anyway, and it was a nice time, sitting on a plastic tarp drinking and eating with the other defense force families. Just wish I had put on my own yukata. Seeing all the women in them just makes me think of so many butterflies.

Some of you may know that I got LASIK surgery on Saturday. And I am happy to report that as of my next day post-op check-up, my vision has already gone from 0.06 to 1.5! My next check-up will be on Friday, and the doctor expected my eyesight to improve even more by then. From someone who has worn glasses since the 3rd grade, it is a really nice feeling to see so clearly without effort. The slight pain, cost (400000 yen, or about $4000) and anxiety are really worth it, in my opinion.

Wow. Now that I've had a LJ for a whole week, I've discovered just how great it is to change your icon for your post. And of course, I've run around like a kid at Halloween snagging icons like crazy- credit is given in the icon comment box, but there are two that I made and two that I just stole, hehe. 

You can probably tell which two I made by taking a look in my scrapbook: I basically just shrunk a couple of pics and then cut square chunks out of them using paint. One of the stolen ones was also stolen by a person in GA, so if you really own the bragging rights to my nitpicky icon, please allow me to buy you a virtual drink and officially acknowledge your genius. Same goes if you were the one who made the Cloud snowboarding one from the original game.

Of course, all this media obsession is taking time away from my fic, but don't worry, it's still shaping up! Actually, it's taken off in a really cool, but potentially obscure direction. Any of you know about the FFVII/ FFX connection? I may actually nip this bit in the bud, but I may pick it up elsewhere- I had some ideas for a Reeve/Rufus fic awile back, and this may fit in there a lot more smoothly.
I also had the most awesome idea for a Tseng/Elena fic today! And here I thought I was going to be finished with this fandom once all my Cloti stuff was finished. *sighs* It's probably because I watched AC (AGAIN) to try to get my characterization/ story focus right. And inspiration struck... Can't wait to get back on my laptop tonight! (^ ^)v