Well, this is probably be my very last entry in my Nucleus Blog. Just like I've recently parted with the car which served me so well for the last few years, I now part with Nucleus.

Farewell, old friend...

‚Þ‚©‚µ‚Þ‚©‚µ�B�B�BOnce upon a time a little boy was eating with his parents in a restaurant called "Love's". The boy apparently showed some trepidation at eating a small side-dish of beans. He did eventually try some, and let out in a voice which could be heard in the entire restaurant, "Oh my god I do love beans!"

That little boy was me. And I still love beans. My wife does not love that I love beans. I'm sure you can guess why...

So, reading over some older parts of my site I came across something that made me smile and chuckle. So here's an exerpt from a story of when I was a mere part-time worker in my department, and my good pal Brian (probably one of the world's best guitarits)

I was offhandedly looking for some clip art for a personal business card. I came across the sheep you see on the bottom of my index page. For some reason Brian and I found it incredibly funny, and he remarked that I should put it on my web site. It was a nutty idea, so I of course did it.

Shortly afterward we discovered the picture of the boy I later named Billy. Brian said something akin to "Look at him point," and I said something like, "Pointing is rude!" We were generally just being moronic weirdoes, but it was fun, and I decided to turn it into something on my web page.

I guess this is a kind of moment when you had to be there to fully understand it. But, if you think about it, you readers have at least one of those moments, right? A moment so fun and special that you remember it forever? I don't mean something life changing like getting married, buying your first car or having a child. I mean just something small and seemingly unimportant. But it's not really unimportant, because you keep it in your memory, or you write about it. Then one day, when you're feeling blue, the memory comes back, and your heart gets all warm and fuzzy.

Not surprising, really:
1 ŒIŒ´�³ŒÈ (Kurihara Masaki) 198
2 Robyn Miller 192
3 Michael Hoenig 144
4 ŽOŽ}�¬�Í�@(Saegusa Shigeaki) 104
5 Delerium 93
6 Synergy 92
7 ”ü‹¶—� (Bikyouran) 80
8 Shpongle 69
9 Enigma 66
10 Portishead 53

These are my top ten tracks (adjusted due to some pending artist name moderations) with Audioscrobbler. You'll notice my increasing trend away from mucic with Lyrics.

What *does* surprise me is how high Kurihara Masaki is on the list. Though now that I think about it, that's probably due to the Azumanga Diaou OSTs having so many small tracks.

I've also gained even more respect for ”ü‹¶—� (Bikyouran, the band responsible for the music used in the mind-bendingly odd and funny "Sakigake! Cromartie High") A trip to the Bikyouran website discovered their albums unrelated to Sakigake are of a similar vein to the music used in the TV series. I say this because all to often I'll hear music used in an Anime, then investigate the artist of the music to learn everything else they do is utter crap (IMO).

Another band whose music I enjoy outside of their work in Anime is "The Pillows." Great stuff, that.

I've also rediscovered someone who's been a distant neighbor for about 15 years. ”Ñ“‡�^—� (Iijima Mari), probably best known to fellow Anime geeks as the voice of Lynn Min May from Macross, moved to LA in 1989. Check out her web site and give a listen to some of the samples.

Okay...so, as some of you know, Kyoko and I passed the 1-year mark in October. I think it would have been nice to visit ‰F•”�_ŽÐ (Ube Jinja - where we were married) but a trip to Japan is not practical at the moment. If I had my druthers we'd take the time I have for Winter break and visit ’¹Žæ (Tottori - Kyoko's hoime town). I'd love to see Japan in the winter. �Ⴊ‘å�D‚«�I�@�‹‚¢‚æ‚芦‚¢“V‹C‚Ì‚Ù‚¤‚ª�D‚«‚Å‚· (I love snow. I like cold weather more than hot.) But Kyoko's vacation time is not yet available. So we will make the trip in April instead.

Kyoko says that since I am the visitor I should choose what places we will visit. I tell her, "You're Japanese, don't you have good suggestions?" We've done this every time I've visited her when she was in Japan. It's like our fun personal joke. One morning when we were in Tokyo she said we would take the entire day and do whatever I wanted. I read about Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Kyoko said, "No! That's only for tourists and old people!" We went anyway, and we both had a good time.

Of note: Going to Sensoji Temple might be compared to a combination of Japanese temple combined with the farmer's market at Fairfax with some of the Renaissance Faire added in. Not an exact representation, but it might give a general idea to someone who's never been there.

Interestingly enough, it was at Sensoji that Kyoko and I saw something genuinely spooky. Okay, you know those cute welcome cats with one paw extended? Well, some madman got the idea for a new model - the leg and paw moves up and down (to simulate the beconing motion from the welcome cat's origin.) The thing is solar powered and seems to have no "off" switch. Seeing thirty of these little cats waving their arms in a stiff, incessant and mechanical manner was truly unsettling.

Anyway, I've over-extended my break. Back to work. ŽdŽ–‚ðŽdŽ–�I

Rub and Peas�I

It's Baking season!! Now that's good for what ails you!

Tonight I'm baking up a batch of banana bread. I'm also tossing around the idea of sometime this weekend baking a Dutch apple pie.

I hope it rains like the forcast suggests. I love the rain.