So, one of the first things I heard when I got to Japan, in a conversation about what things you probably should get your family to send you, was about how horrible Japanese maxi-pads are. (Yes, this is what I'll be talking about until the cut, you know how to scroll if you're that much of a wuss.) I had never had to use them before (I brought my own in '04), so I believed her as she went one about how many centimeters they were and how that was unbelievable (My thoughts at the time: 23 centimeters? That's as long as.... a ruler? ???), because they came up to, like, your belly button. Or perhaps she said "navel." The point is, I had enough to last for a while, so I filed away the information and figured I'd ask my parents to mail me more (they're light enough).

And then... Okay, I know I should be ashamed that I'm 22 and yet after 10 years I still don't know my own cycle... but I don't. So I had an unfortunate incident in Aomori this summer where I found myself completely unprepared and was forced to brave the convenience store. (Aside: The convenience store always puts it in a brown paper bag for you, but just that, so EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS ANYWAY. Geez, Japan.) Now, I'm not going to lie that Japanese pads don't seem... modern, to me. American pads are like, idek, plastic? Or something? While these things are cotton(-y). But they worked okay, and so I wondered just what, exactly, they had done to make my co-worker hate then so.

BUT THEN. MY FRIENDS. I have a very bad problem with leaks (I apparently do not move in ways a human being should). And aside from learning new and interesting ways to get blood out of fabric, it makes me hate my uterus even more than just plain why-are-you bleeding hate, or my normal low-levels of hate. It did not help why my parents perplexingly sent me only regular length pads but long panty liners (what? Why do they even make long panty liners?). So I was forced to the convenience store again, and that's when I found them. An inch thick out of the package, 36 centimeters (that's 14 inches) long with airbags and two sets of wings. Last night, for the first night in ten years, I was able go to sleep the day I got my period and not have to scrub my sheets the next day.

VICTORY IS MINE AT LAST.

Thank you, Japan. I shall be stuffing a suitcase full of your maxi-pads when I go home.


And now, for people who don't care about my moral victories, ( thoughts on W and its Japanese fandom (and also Shinken and maybe some other riders too) )

And now to figure out if I actually can watch W and still make it on time tomorrow morning (I'm pretty sure I can, as long as stupid Ohayou Tochigi isn't coming through right then.)

( Shinken 33-37 )
( Shinken 38 )

Ah, all caught up! ...Just in time to have to get up early and go take a Chinese test on Sunday D:

I keep forgetting! I have Dreamwidth codes on the off chance there's someone on the internet who doesn't have one yet. So.

( Untouchable 1 )
( My Girl 1 )


And also I wish you would all sing moar D:

( Translation: AnS Staff Blog 3/9/09 )

(yeah, I know)


So, sick since Monday. We'll see how that goes.

Decided in a fit of insanity to try taking some more tests, so my Sundays in November will be pretty (not) busy. ( Tests! )

One of the things people tell you about Japan that just doesn't really sink in until you're here is the hugeness of SMAP. Oh, sure, maybe you see clips on YouTube of them getting Will Smith and Michael Jackson and Avil Lavigne and all sorts of other huge stars on SmaxSma. Or maybe the uploader didn't cut the commercials out of your most recent episode of Hi!cartoon-dash-magusu-jani no shukudai-kun (lol news doesn't have a show lol), and you got tired of seeing Kimura's face. But it doesn't really *sink in* until you have stood in Shibuya and thought to yourself, "Why cannot I not look in any direction without a picture of SMAP being there?" Or the train. (Although, to be fair, Hina is also in some of them.)

Which is why, I spent nearly my entire time in Sapporo feeling something wasn't right. What was it that was wrong?

There were no SMAP ads.

It is sad that they have conditioned me such that I find a lack of SMAP so odd that it niggles at the back of my brain after only 6 months.


But so, with that wordy introduction, I bring you translations of both sides of SMAP's newest single, "Sotto Kyutto/Superstar★," because I saw the performances on SmaxSma, and I figured if I was going to laugh *that hard* I might as well buy it. (I had to go buy GUILTY anyway.) Please note that I am not a member of smapxsmap because I am not lame old that much of a SMAP fan, so I will not be posting this there, but if you have a SMAP friend who really wants to know what the lyrics to Superstar★ mean, feel free to direct them here.

Translations Policy

( Translation: Sotto Kyutto/Superstar★ - SMAP )

Relatedly: I find it hilarious Nakai joins in on telling his kouhai to eat a sandwich. Or, well, meat. Whatever.

(And again, I mean all the tracks.)

Translations Policy

( Translation: Guilty - V6 )

Dear beckerbell,

I don't know if you've seen Geki v. Go-On, but at 1:25 in, I already know you will agree with me that it is the best thing ever.

<3

Me

( Go-On v. Geki* the other 50 minutes. )

Okay, so, in other news, things that nearly made me cry:

( New Zealand Soap Opera 75-79 )

Um, I also wanted to say something about ( some being WRONG on the internet *gasp* )
Sorry, maybe I am a little angry.


Anyway, um, I'm seriously about this close to DESTROYING Toshiba. It took them 3 1/2 weeks to find out the hard drive was bad (the 1.5 month old hard drive!!), they had to call to confirm that I wouldn't mind losing the data even though I TOLD THEM EXPRESSLY IN WRITING IT WAS FINE, and now it's been three days and still no word. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO REPLACE A HARD DRIVE?

*deep breath*

Just think of the train cafe. Tiny trains ♥

Well so niav was talking about this one post and was like, why doesn't sentai talk about this, and then itsbuttery was like, we should talk about this on LJ because LJ fandom doesn't EAT ITS MEMBERS ALIVE, and Lord knows I have nothing better to do, so.

( Thoughts on female rangers in Sentai )

Discuss Away!

Gosh, that took forever AND made me contemplate the chaos that would result from Houka/Tsubasa. I hope you're happy, niav!!!

TWO DAYS IN A ROW?

Yeah, well, in addition to yesterday's capspam, I bring you ~whining~.

Although, not unjustified whining? At least *I* don't think so.

( Anon memes and you. By which I mean me. )

Footnote while I'm at it:

Dear everyone who looks at me like I'm insane,

In the English Language, our pronoun for the second person (you probably know it as "you") is both singular AND plural. Like sheep or fish or ninja. This means that some of us use it in in the general, nebulous sense. We don't actually mean you you, you you-you. THIS IS A PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE USE OF THE PLURAL PROUNON WE CALL "YOU."

Much frustration,
Me

P.S. If you need to nitpick our pronoun usage, might we suggest our liberal usage of the plural first person (a.k.a. the royal "we") to obscure responsibility and protect ourself using language like the bright little Japanese learner we are. Because that's pretty universally frowned on.

P.P.S. I also use passive constructions and preface every statment of opinion carefully to avoid confrotation. THERE IS PLENTY TO TAKE ISSUE WITH, SO PLEASE TAKE ISSUE WITH THAT.

I really am working on that longer reaction post, I promise.

NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE A ISSUE WITH WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT SEXISM, SPECIFICALLY RE:JAPAN: This is not the meta you're looking for. Also, Spoilers for the most recent Shinkenger.

Okay! Now that *that's* out of the way.

So, as all the poor suckers on my flist know, two of my main fandoms are Toku (Yeah Toku side of the flist yeah!) and Jmusic, specifically JE (Yeah boyband fans, represent!). These two fandoms can have some interesting overlap sometimes.

My favorite overlap? How megthelegend and still_ciircee are steadily molding their children into becoming the next generation of fans. You guys should share tips, seriously. (If still_ciircee was on my flist, I would make it happen you guys. It'd be like those crazy crossover fics we love, except real life.)

But another, less hilarious commonality has arisen: People objecting to the sexism they see in their media.

( I'm going to cut it here, because it's probably going to get long. THAT'S THE WAY I ROLL, OKAY. )