Now Open And They Have Manga!

My friends said they were out and about on Friday to see that Books-a-Million had finally set up shop in the former Borders location, and I went up on Saturday to check them out, mainly because I was concerned if they would have manga. As it is, they were still "moving in" but they were doing good business anyway. And they do INDEED have MANGA. To me, my last memory of being in Borders during the clearance sale placed the Manga section right where I found it on Saturday. SAILOR MOON AND SAILOR V are IN STOCK. I was so worried that the new edition of the manga would be without representation in my area and I'm glad to see it happening.

 

Books-a-Million appears pretty serious about manga, and I even saw some stuff from Del Rey from before Kodansha took over, and if you look they had some older stock which is nice to see but I would hope it sells eventually.

There seemed to be some need for organization as some of the books were not sorted right. Maybe that's the function of the top shelf? Speaking of shelves, it seems much if not all of the former Borders store fixtures were mostly still there.

I hope Books-a-Million doesn't do what Borders did and move the manga away from the front of the store to the back, where it's a long walk. I would appreciate wider aisles because of the occasional "reader not a buyer" customer.

I was hoping to find With The Light books I didn't get during my last visit to Borders ie The Borders Clearance Store, but failing that I caught up on Bunny Drop.

As I paid for my selection, the cashier mentioned their Frequent Shoppers (as I'll call it) card. It had a fee, $20 a year, to save on purchases. Wait - the Borders Rewards card didn't have a fee. How does it make sense to pay something to save money? I don't get it. I declined signing up for their card, but did mention I was glad to see Sailor Moon and Sailor V in stock on the shelves and the place open again as a bookstore. The cashier informs me that the previous day was their first open at this location.

Definitive Complete Kaitou Saint Tail CD Listing

I don't know why I've been on a Kaitou Saint Tail obsession lately, but I present here the Definitive List of CDs for Kaitou Saint Tail.

Saint Tail CDs 
Singles
PODH-1282 OP1 Crossing over time
TADX-7420 ED1 Junshin
PHDL-1061 OP2 Seiko Matsuda Let's Go Running Towards Tomorrow
TADX-7430 ED2 Upside Down
PODX-1006 Image Song: A Feeling like "Love"

TADP-1010 Image Song Yume Miru Melody

PODX-1008 Image Song E Yume, Miyou!

DDI-8001 Magical Voice File 1
7DDP-8001 Magical Voice File 2

Notes: Seiko Matsuda's CD single was not marketed with any anime images on it due to her request. The Magical Voice File CDs were given to those who bought the Laserdisc sets.

Full CDs:
POCX-1013 BGM OST 1
POCX-1034 BGM OST 2
POCX-1036 All Star Song Collection 
POCX-1046 Musical OST
TACX-2497 Best Songs
POCX-1062 Best of Best

Maybe 1 good thing so far about Windows 7 Starter (at least)

One thing I noticed that Windows 7 is useful for is the ability to load Quicktime MOV files into the version of Movie Maker Windows 7 has and be able to save a perfectly converted WMV video file. I don't have anything that can handle MOV files and keep the audio and video in sync, aside from uploading the clip to Youtube and grabbing an MP4 of that.
 

04Caddy parking fail

From one Annoyance to Another

GRRR... I submitted my Ohio HEAP application a couple of months ago. Today I get a letter to remind me to re-verify for PIPP +. So I call the 800 number, it says it doesn't know if they've received my application. The website for checking on the application's status is down. I sent a note via their website form page asking about this. It'll be a headache to re-submit another copy and run around copying everything it wants. This isn't the first time an envelope of mine was lost, but this was very important.

I might have to go to the Community Action Agency to make sure this is taken care of.

(the following is censored.)

UPDATE: I called the proper people and found out they do indeed have my information. I don't know why that letter had to be sent out if they had it. I should be able to know more soon.

UPDATE 2: I got a letter indicating my application was processed and approved.

Painful back spasms

I don't know what happened, but I managed to wake up Sunday with my back in lots of pain if I moved the wrong way. Ibuprofen helps with some of the pain, but in general, standing up was not fun. I managed to get some sleep and woke up with less pain but still annoying. I've tried to twist my back and see if anything would pop into place, but it was stubborn. This is all quite odd because I haven't had this happen to me in quite some time. At some point I will get angry enough to really give my back a decent therapeutic twist and get it to where it's supposed to be.

Thankfully, while I was in college I got a helpful tidbit from one instructor - a finger to the ear. There's an accupressure point in the ear which helps back pain and I had to use it to relax enough to get some sleep but still ended up sleeping in.

I really hate back pain. I can only begin to image Mom being in pain all the time from her injury.

Suite PreCure musical at "poruto youroppa"

I'm always searching for videos when it comes to things like Heartcatch Prettycure or this year's Suite Prettycure. Sometimes I find interesting bits like toy commercials. Japanese TV commercials are my favorite because they're so creative for the short amount of time they get.

And it seems for quite some time, there are these "kigurumi" shows for the various Pretty Cure series. They really stepped it up for Heartcatch. Maybe they've been good all along and this was the first one that really got coverage. This would be on some level with the Sailor Moon musicals which ran for some time after the end of the series.

I've found several shows for the Heartcatch girls. I see that they change throughout the year, based on which characters are in the anime that month. They also change a bit between venues, and sometimes they're the same.

I've been able to find these shows for the Suite Precure series, and finally got to see one that the poster labelled with the word (among others) "poruto youroppa." It had some elements I saw in a short Heartcatch musical clip. This one was in 3 pieces and runs about 50 minutes. What I was surprised to discover is that it really doesn't seem that long because a lot is always happening at any one moment, and I was also able to follow most of the story.

Hibki, Kanade, and Ellen were just about to enjoy a picture book that Kanade brought with her, but Trio the Minor turned it evil with a Negatone and captured Hummy. The girls get sucked into the story book. Hibiki finds herself in the story of Momotarou, Kanade is in Snow White, and Ellen finds herself in Peter and The Wolf (or perhaps The Boy Who Cried Wolf?). They befriend the various characters and manage to find the exit out of the book. The Oni in Momotarou is defeated but becomes Momotarou's friend, the wicked witch in Snow White is shown how to make delicious apple desserts instead of sour apples, and Peter apologizes for lying about the Wolf. Interspersed through the story are some musical dance numbers, any one of them not all that long, and the action bits have some neat wire tricks and some special effects, if you want to call them that.

Best part is near the end when the Prettycure girls and some of the characters go into the audience and dance. The Heartcatch musical had this, too, and I'm sure it's moments like these that leave an indelible memory with the younger fans. And at one point I was thinking that it would be awesome if Cure Muse shows up - and then she DOES.

Thankfully, the software I have was able to massage the 3 pieces into 1 coherent whole and no out of sync audio.

 

Persistent annoyances

I keep getting hang-up calls. They don't hang up when I answer - they hang up when they get the outgoing message from the answering machine. Tonight was unusual in that I got 2 of these in a row, withing seconds of each other. If you can't leave a message, stop calling here and wasting your time.

Important next few days

Well, maybe not really that important. It's just that time of year in October where I remember what happened 2 years ago. I may not be crying as much, but the depression is still there.

I might end up staying up for 3 days straight like I did then. The absence makes things painful to deal with. I'm tired a lot. I'm not even sure if I get enough sleep. It's just being here and have this big empty part of my life just sitting there and reminding me of what happened.

The general overall happiness that used to be here just isn't here anymore. At times, I find it hard to get motivated to do things I need to do. A good dose of ibuprofen helps a lot. I guess this part of the year will always be hard for me to get through.

 

Soon To Be Books a Million