Unknown Rhythm

ME/CFS Symposium at Stanford

2017-08-13T00:29:57Z

Very interesting, gives me hope that we're actually getting somewhere with this illness.

If you don't want to sign up at Stanford, just name and email is required, I think they plan to put it on youtube as well.

https://livestream.com/accounts/1973198/events/7610236

M.E. Petiton

2017-04-29T23:18:35Z

If anyone from the UK reads this before 3rd May 2017 please sign:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/190618

Thanks :)

My Orchid 2017

2017-04-16T19:45:37Z

It's still alive!

Photos - Butterfly & Flowers

2016-08-16T23:39:57Z

Yesterday afternoon in the back garden.

1st Flower - Phalaenopsis Leopard Prince Orchid

2016-04-14T13:11:15Z

The first flower on my Orchid, I'm so glad I haven't killed it off yet! Here's to many more :)

Unicode to show Kanji - Over the Rainbow

2016-03-07T03:00:20Z

Just having a try of Unicode for Kanji and messing about with font size and colour. Got the Unicode from Jisho after seeing this page UTF-8 Miscellaneous Symbols with its little code editor. "The Unicode Standard covers (almost) all the characters, punctuations, and symbols in the world", read more here. On to my miscellaneous phrase of the day, hover over the Kanji for Hiragana...

Over the rainbow

虹の彼方に

虹 Rainbow

彼方 Beyond; across; the other side; the distance

Mini Off Topic Rant:

When I try to post a few lines to LJ I feel as if I’m trying to write a novel, I fuss so much about getting the spacing right, the colour, the words, it takes ages for me to sort out the merest amount of text, and that’s when I can concentrate enough to do it at all. Oh well, it gets done in the end.

Why bother? I like messing about when I can, and it’s a memory aid.

Japanese Hanafuda 'Flower Cards' - 花札

2015-10-06T19:13:31Z

This is a traditional Japanese card game, but for me it’s a little bit of Japan that will fit in the house!

If you’re interested there are apps you can download for your phone or tablet, and websites too, for a more in-depth look at the game, here’s one with the rules: http://www.hanafuda.com/rules.

I bought my deck from Amazon (UK), the cards very small, but sturdy, and feel as if they’re made of plastic, (pictures at the end of the post).

花札 (はなふだ):

花【はな】 (n) flower, petal, (P)

札【ふだ】 (n) (1) token, label, (2) ticket, card, (3) charm, talisman, (P)

From JWPce Version 1.50 Japanese Word Processor for Windows.

ピンク色の研究 - A Study in Pink Japanese Manga spoilers

2015-06-24T16:11:17Z

I’m a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes in pretty much any incarnation, also manga, Japan and the Japanese language, so when I saw the manga adaptation of the first episode of the BBC Sherlock series on amazon, I had to have it, even if I can’t read most of it!

And naturally I have to ramble on about it and post some photos (end of post) as well.

I’m very happy I could read Pink and colour 色 (いろ), but I’m not sure why they needed pink and colour together in the title, wouldn’t ピンクの研究 work as well? And how do you know, if you’ve never heard of Sherlock, if it’s 'A Study in Pink' or as Google puts it 'Pink of Research' *lol* Ability and experience I guess.

The manga itself is really nice, artwork is good though John and Mycroft aren’t as close to the actors who play them as I would have liked. They caught the spirit of all of the characters very well and have packed a lot into the book. The dust cover and cover are well done (pictures below), and there are a few colour plates at the front as well as some character sketches at the back, they’ve even got the morgue whip scene in! I’m enjoying looking through it a lot.

シャーロックピンク色の研究 (ピンク　いろ　の　けんきゅう), Sherlock A Study in Pink is printed by Kadokawa Comics A (http://www.kadokawa.co.jp), and comprises of 6 chapters and 167 pages or thereabouts. It’s not very big, about 6in x 5in, but the text is a decent size and there is Furigana on a lot of the Kanji, and you really just want to give John a cuddle, especially at the beginning.

JWPce software Dictionary
色【いろ】 (n) (1) colour, color, (2) sensuality, lust, (P)
研究【けんきゅう】 (n,vs) study, research, investigation, (P)

Some Character Names:

Sherlock Holmes - シャーロック・ホームズ

John Watson – ジョン・ワトソン

Mycroft Holmes – マイクロフト・ホームズ

Lestrade – レストレード

Anderson - アンダソン

Moriarty - モリアーティ

I couldn’t find the villain’s name, is it in the manga? In the series it’s Jeff Hope ジェフ・ホープ I think.

Photos of the Manga

Dust Cover - Sherlock is the front and John the back.



Underneath the dust cover are illustrations of Mycroft (front) and Lestrade (back).



Panels from the Manga:

John telling his therapist that he never has anything to write about? She's on about the blog again :) でも書くことが無い (でも　かく　ことが　ない)

Sherlock and his whip in the morgue with Molly... enough said.

Sherlock doing his winky, here's my address thing, at Bart's after meeting John for the first time.



Mycroft appears!

Arashi Haul + “Blast” DVD Ramble spoilers

2015-05-28T00:48:56Z

Finally, my Arashi goods from yesasia.com arrived last week. I got two singles and a concert DVD. The singles are Sakura, and 青空の下、キミのとなり [あおぞらのした、きみのとなり] [Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari], which appears to be something about being next to you under the blue sky, and is the theme for Aiba’s latest drama. I like them overall.

Oh, I didn’t know there was a track 05 on the 青空の下、キミのとなり single cd, is it a secret talk thing just for the computer? It’s over half an hour long and I have no idea what they’re saying, but they sound like they’re having fun! Damn my bad memory, and general lack of intelligence! Ah, found this.

God, I’m being an idiot tonight, first I forget to switch my speakers on and was sitting wondering why there was no sound, and then I put my cd in the player upside down!

My ‘videogram’, (I do like that word, it was in the warning at the front of the DVD), of ‘Arashi Blast in Hawaii’ (normal edition, Japan version), has a nice design and colour scheme, AND there are English subtitles! Damn, used the caps lock too soon, the English subs are only in the main concert DVD when they’re cutting away to the boys for a few comments about their anniversary. If you know Kanji there are Japanese subs, so you could sing along and/or practice your Japanese if you wanted to.

Inside the DVD box are two discs and a lovely set of postcard sized photographs (joined concertina style), with individual photos of the members on one side, and group shots from the concert on the other.

Oh, Ohno just did a back flip egged on by Jun; I’m watching the concert as I ramble on. The sound quality of the DVD is good and I had to turn the volume right down to 6 to avoid disturbing anyone with my nocturnal viewing. Speaking of which, don’t you think that the early part of the P.A.R.A.D.O.X dance makes them look like they need to go to the toilet?

Why do they look good when the sweat? It looks like glitter under the lights, so shiny! Rainbows and glitter, that’s what Arashi are made of! Wow, I need to go to bed and sleep post-haste! I want plushie dolls of Arashi to cuddle, those exist right? Right?!

So pretty in pink (Meikyū Love Song - 迷宮ラブソング), now I feel like a pervy old woman. Seriously though, they all have pictures in the attic right? Because they’re all looking younger than the last time I saw them!

They opened the concert (disc 1) with A.RA.SHI and moved on to such songs as Love so Sweet, Happiness, 5x10, Summer Splash, Monster, Troublemaker, Bittersweet etc. and there are 30 songs in total.

For the concert talk and encore we move onto disc 2. It starts with the talk, Sho first, Ohno cried - somebody cuddle him quick! Aiba went next and made a funny comment about Ohno getting emotional as it’s usually him, or something, making the other members laugh, Nino was funny as usual judging from the crowd reactions and looked nice in white and silver, in fact they all looked nice, I especially like the scarves. Jun was last, he and Sho always seem the most serious in these little talks. I shall have to pray to the gods of the Internet to magically produce a clip with subtitles.

The encore songs are included in the list of 30, so no extras unfortunately, not even solos in the main concert, which was surprising. Oh oh, Ohno and Jun walking cuddles! Where are the rest of the group-cuddles? What? Everyone likes cuddles!

Documentary Comments

On disc 2 there is the, “Documentary of “Blast in Hawaii”’, but no English subs, damn it. Why couldn’t they have stretched the subs to the documentary?

Arashi arrived, and left, the concert in a helicopter and during the latter the crowd were waving their pen lights and singing the slow ending to A.RA.SHI as they flew away, the blades of the helicopter caught the light and looked like they had little circles of rainbows in the middle, the whole scenario looked really nice, it must have been a great atmosphere at the live event.

During the documentary Arashi re-traced their steps from the original visit and re-created some photos, my goodness, but they were young when they started! They even spent some time on the original launch boat, the Lady Sadie (was it the same name back then?), the flag with the Arashi Kanji on it was nice, and Jun was so polite when they were leaving, saying thank you in English, which prompted the rest to join in.

Then we’re taken behind the scenes. I always find it a bit disconcerting seeing rehearsals, they’re so far removed from the finished product, and it’s impressive how it all comes together.

Back to the promotion for the tour I think, at one point Nino had a t-shirt on with the slogan, ‘My mood is black, my eyes are black, my life is black, my love is black’… you’re so cool Nino-さん ;)

Jun finally got his shirt off, but just in the documentary, I thought that traditions had gone go by the wayside this time. It looked like he worked really hard on the concert behind the scenes.

Have you ever noticed that Aiba has very hairy armpits? Does he have something on his left bicep (inside)? It looks like someone wrote something on him in black felt-tip pen.

Oh, it was amusing when the five of them gathered to do the pre-concert ‘battle-cry’ before boarding the helicopter. Ohno thought Jun was going to do the pep-talk so he was his usual casual self, but no, Jun was looking to his Rīdā to let loose the dogs of J-pop on their 15th anniversary, and his attitude was all ‘I can wait here all day for you to catch on if I have to!’ It was sweet of him trying to give Ohno a ‘moment’, but I don’t think Rīdā was the least bit bothered! It’s one of the things I like about him, but Jun does likes to do things properly, so of course he thought it should be Ohno, it’s generous of him really as he could have easily taken over :)

They looked like a really camp security detail in their smart red suits, Nino and Jun even had walkie-talkies.

Quick blow dry back stage and back to work, busy busy busy!

I just noticed this in the documentary, but during ‘Monster’, they really didn’t show the Hawaiian fire dancers enough.

They showed some footage from the day/s it rained, it didn’t slow anyone down. You’ve gotta love ‘em, they’re not going to let something small like torrential rain stop the show, and they can still spell P.A.R.A.D.O.X! Learn to spell with Arashi, I’d sign up!

I enjoyed it, but really where are those paintings hidden? They must be truly horrifying by now! *LOL*

ありがとう　ございます　嵐

P.S. Aiba did cry during one of the talks, I knew it! *LOL* がんばって Aiba-さん.

水だけで光る ???

2015-05-10T16:14:06Z

Mizupica Water-Powered Flashlight - White Rabbit Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJd2z8KM8Ec

What does the tag line translate as?

水だけで光る
みずだけでひかる

It shines only with water – Google; Gleaming with water only – Microsoft Word.

Ideas:

Only needs water to shine!

Just needs water to shine!

Just water to shine!

光る【ひかる】 (v5r) to shine, to glitter, to be bright, (P)
丈【だけ】 (prt) (uk) only, just, as

The 「で」 particle will allow us to specify the context in which the action is performed. For example, if a person ate a fish, where did he eat it? If a person went to school, by what means did she go? With what will you eat the soup? All of these questions can be answered with the 「で」 particle.

It may help to think of 「で」 as meaning "by way of". This way, the same meaning will kind of translate into what the sentence means. The examples will then read: "Saw by way of movie theatre", "Go home by way of bus", and "Ate lunch by way of restaurant."
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/verbparticles

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar p. 106
"Notes
1. In general, [de] indicates something which is used when someone or something does something. Typically, it indicates means and instruments as in KS and Exs. (a) - (c)."

Key Sentence (KS)
Mr Miyamoto goes to his company by bus every day.
宮本 (みやもと) さんは毎日 (まいにち) バスで会社 (かいしゃ) へ(e) 行(い)きます

Exs
Japanese people eat rice with chopsticks.
We talked in Japanese.
I saw the movie on TV.

HTC, NHK ect...

2015-05-05T02:06:39Z

I've been watching NHK’s ‘Blends’, really good short show, with talented musicians playing modern songs on traditional Japanese instruments, I was surprised it worked so well.

Also feeling frustrated by my HTC Desire 816’s lack of internal storage. The latest update took up most of what was left and I had to delete several apps to even get it downloaded. It’s annoying as I bought a large SD card and it’s not getting utilized effectively by the phone.

I had to delete NHK’s Easy Japanese News app too, which I can’t use properly yet but like to listen to anyway, and now my Japanese keyboard, Simeji, isn’t available in the notification bar any more so I’ll have to see if there’s a way to sort out the easy switching option again…

Aaaaaaaaand my notepads in Aedict have disappeared, as has the Google keyboard that used to be offered alongside Simeji and HTC’s, and I’m still low on phone storage with nothing much left to delete!

Also had to delete 'HTC Power to Give' and 'HTC Club' apps that were downloaded with the update because I don’t have the room for them, and didn’t know I was getting them!

citlecrewolf @ 2015-05-01T17:08:00

2015-05-01T16:08:34Z

Support M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) Awareness Month May 2015

Thunderclap

Arashi 嵐 - Singles and BLAST in Hawaii DVD

2015-04-30T17:51:45Z

Down...
Down...
Down...
Down to keep the bullet points...

Finally getting some more Arashi CDs and DVDs from YesAsia.com:

Sakura (Normal Edition) (Japan Version)

ARASHI BLAST in Hawaii (2DVD) (Normal Edition) (Japan Version)

Aozora no Shita , Kimi no Tonari (Normal Edition) (Japan Version)

Should get them sometime late May as I waited and pre-ordered the latest single. Looking forward to it, espcially the concert. DVD

Gosh, LJ is slow and jerky in 'Post an Entry mode! :( I do like the related posts you can now add on at the bottom though :)

参る - Jellyfish Haiku?

2014-10-14T01:54:33Z

Bad haiku because 参る reminded me of a jellyfish.

It’s supposed to be 3-5-3, but who knows, there’s some conflicting information about the word jellyfish, either way it all confuses the hell out of me!

参る (まいる) Godan verb ‘to come, to go’ (humble)
Haiku main font: Tempus Sans ITC
http://www.jellyfish.ie/irish_sea_jellyfish.asp

I’m Blaming the Keyboard

2014-07-15T11:35:45Z

I was trying to write, “I want to learn Japanese” and ended up with something closer to, “I want to die to learn Japanese”, because I wasn’t paying enough attention when typing up the sentence.

As much as I love Japanese, I don’t think I’m ready to go quite that far yet, no matter what my subconscious thinks, though I might consider a Faustian deal for good health and a better memory!

God only knows what I’d end up with if I tried to write that in Japanese!

I guess I’m just not ready for sentences yet :)

And I still don’t know if either one is correct, because do you conjugate the first verb as well as the irregular “to do – する” with the Base 2 ending? Microsoft Word seems to think so, and is 学び the right "learn" in this case? And what about 学ぶ in the 2nd sentence, should that be changed as well? How do I even put together that last sentence properly? Questions, questions, questions... *sigh*.

私は日本語を学びしたいです。
わたし　は　にほんご　まなび　したいです。
I want to learn Japanese.

私は日本語を学ぶ死にしたいです。
わたし　は　にほんご　まなぶ　しにしたいです。
I want to die to learn Japanese. (?)

Wild Adapter - いつか死ぬ日の僕の為に?

2014-07-13T05:19:08Z

I saw this at Wild Adapter http://www.ichijinsha.co.jp/special/wild_adapter/ and am trying to figure out what it says, mostly because I recognised a couple of the Kanji and thought it would give me a head start... nope, not a chance!

I think it might be something like, “For your sake, someday I’ll die”.
Microsoft (via Word) says, “To my dying day” which I like, and Google, “For my day to die someday”.

This bit, 死ぬ日の僕の, seems to translate as to my dying day by itself, but then what about the rest?

I have no clue, as per usual.

More Photos & Mystery Orchid

2014-06-13T03:59:23Z

Sign up for a Free Gallery at Pixalo.

The middle flower is an Orchid, I think. It's probably either the "Northern Marsh" or "Common Spotted" Orchid, but from photographs I've looked at on the internet it seems closer to the Northern Marsh, both show up in my area of the UK.

It's got purple flowers; sturdy green stem (straight); slim green leaves with dark spots (only 2 leaves at the moment); not very tall. First noticed, in flower, in May in one of the plant pots left by the fence, so semi-shade.

Possibilities (from http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/):

Northern Marsh Orchid;

Common Spotted Orchid;

Early Marsh Orchid.

A Dove & a Blackbird Walk into a Bar...

2014-06-12T04:09:22Z

... Not really, just a couple of photographs!

My Pixalo Gallery

Photographs - Flowers, a Butterfly, a Fly and a Snail

2014-06-09T03:37:06Z

A few photos posted at my Pixalo Gallery.

BBC's Sherlock - Series 3

2014-01-20T05:04:55Z

I was trying to find out when Arashi's "Love" Concert Tour DVD is going to be released and amongst the search results was the Japan Today website with an article about BBC's Sherlock and how much the Chinese love it, it's cute what they call John and Sherlock:

'Holmes is known in China as “Curly Fu,” after his Chinese name, Fuermosi, and star Benedict Cumberbatch’s floppy hair. Watson, played by Martin Freeman, is Huasheng, a name that sounds like “Peanut” in Mandarin. They have become two of the most popular terms in China’s vast social media world.'

Curly Fu and Peanut!

http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/china-falls-in-love-with-sherlock-holmes

I've really enjoyed the newest episodes of Sherlock and the DVD is in the post to me now, I'm looking forward to the extras and I hope they include the birthday mini episode.

Some people have been disappointed with the third series, I don't understand why, but each to their own.

I liked that they focused a lot on the relationships, they had to get the core partnership back on track, you can't have Sherlock just swanning back into John's life with no repercussions. I loved the restaurant scene/s and the music, and before that, for some reason, I really liked seeing Sherlock getting a shave! :)

I wasn't sure about adding Mary to the mix, but it worked well and the whole cast have great chemistry. Lestrade's reaction to Sherlocks return was great. At the moment, the 2nd episode, 'The Sign Of Three' (the wedding) is my overall favourite, but there's tons of good stuff in all three episodes and Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman did such a good job... again.

Oh, the limited edition box set at the BBC shop website is so pretty, but £62.99! Crikey. They do have a mug and t-shirts, which are more affordable, but I really need to win the lottery!

http://www.bbcshop.com/drama+arts/sherlock-series-1-3-limited-edition-collectors-box-set-bbc-shop-exclusive-dvd/invt/bbcdvd3909&bklist=

Sherlock, John and Mary - “Short version… not dead”.

Sherlock

2013-12-30T22:47:36Z

Looking forward to the return of Sherlock on BBC, watching Season 2 again now :)

Nexus 5 & Otaku Camera App - “Mangatize Your Photos”

2013-12-14T17:50:56Z

I have the LG Google Nexus 5 for Christmas, and of course it’s up and running because I have to make sure everything works! Having a bit of trouble with O2 (the network), but that’s another story.

The Nexus 5 runs on Android which I like, and I’ve been setting up all my apps and finding some new ones, and I came across the free download, Otaku Camera that turns your pictures into frames from a manga. See Alien Princess and Alien Target below, the alien is a little ornament of mine and the rest is a frame around it supplied by the app.

It’s fun :)

Haiga

2013-12-02T02:19:44Z

A while ago I came across “Haiga Illustrated Haiku Poems” on Amazon UK by Yukki Yaura and Suiyu Enomoto and bagged myself a good second-hand copy. I’ve only just had a chance to really have a proper look at it, and there are some lovely haiku.

I also really like the format of the book, haiku on one side, illustrated haiku on the other, it’s a nice size and you get the Japanese version of the poem in rōmaji.

It’s also broken into segments, Haiga; Preparations & Brushwork; Illustrated Classical Poems; Illustrated Contemporary Poems; Japan Suiboku Centre Students, so there should be something for everyone who likes Haiku

Here are some of my favourites:

If the cuckoo were a flower
I would pluck a voice from it

Hana naraba
hitokoe oran
hototogisu

Kodō

-------

Two young bamboos stand
holding the moon
between them

Waka take ya
tsuki wo hasande
nihon tatsu

Shi-ei

-------

The willow paints the wind
without using a brush

Fude nakute
kaze wo e ni kaku
yanagi kana

Saryū

-------

wild mushrooms
gills of an underworld
blunting november

No ni kinoko
yomi no kuni no ibuki
jūichigatsu nibushi

Sean Burn

-------

autumn morning –
a rain-soaked rose
sways in the breeze

aki no asa
kaze ni tawamu bara
ame agari

Kathering Gallagher

-------

Arashi "Scene" Tour - Boy's Jackets

2013-11-11T14:22:31Z

While watching my "Scene" Concert DVD again I've finally decided to sate my curiosity as to the English writing on the back of the boy's jackets towards the end of Disc 1. Ohno, Aiba and Sho were easy. Nino and Jun were a bit more difficult to catch, but I think I got it in the end:

Switch On - Ohno
I Love Chiba - Aiba
Rock the World - Sho
The Landscape I'm Seeing* - Nino
Deeper & Higher - Jun

*Another way to translate the DVD title?
(from a previous post)

僕 – I (male)

の – possessive, belonging to the ‘I’ of the title.

見ている - to see, to view, to watch, (with the accompanying hiragana conjugating the verb, maybe making that ‘seeing’ or ‘viewing’).

風景 – scenery, landscape.

The Swallow

2013-07-19T18:13:57Z

The little bugger sits outside my bedroom window at 5 am every morning and sings its head off, so noisy!

So, in honour of cute little creatures who can make one hell of a racket…

Sound File from this morning:

http://snk.to/f-cdti6iic

Summer Haiku by Kobayashi Issa from the book “Classic Haiku a master’s selection”:

ゆう　つばめ
　われ　にわ　あす　の
　　あて　も　なし

Yū tsubame
Ware niwa asu no
Ate mo nashi

Oh, evening swallow!
My heart teems with care and anxieties
About tomorrow.