I’ve been playing Mass Effect 2 ever since I picked up my pre-order from GameStop. I had originally pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition, but then my Mom informed me that she had already pre-ordered a normal copy months in advance… which caused a few issues. Basically, I make most 18+ purchases online because I am commonly mistaken for a teenager IRL. I just find it really humiliating to be told by clerks that I can’t pick up/cancel an order in my name “without a parent” before embarrassingly reaching into my billfold. =(

Being a fan of SLG/Renai games, I was originally drawn to Mass Effect when a video at E3 revealed that there would be romanceable characters in the game. So, when it was announced that my favorite character from the first game, Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, would be romanceable in Mass Effect 2, I was practically ecstatic! I had several male Shepards saved from my previous game, so I chose the one who was most Paragon to be the perfect boyfriend for her. But I had forgotten that I had originally created that Shepard to be the perfect boyfriend for Ashley; so pursuing Tali just didn’t seem right with Ashley’s picture staring back at him in his cabin! *L* After breaking up with Ashley on Horizon, Shepard’s moment of truth finally came. I chose the most Paragon response possible when Tali talked about removing her visor: “It is too dangerous.” Putting Tali’s health first before an important mission couldn’t possibly be the wrong answer, right? Wrong!

This is the Gaiseric pendant that JoHny bought me for Christmas! My Christmas gift for him was so lame in comparison (I just sent him some Reimers, knit two scarves and a hat). *L* I took a picture with it and my Volume 10 of Berserk for comparison. This pendant was based on the first mention/depiction of Gaiseric in Berserk, when Guts makes the connection between Charlotte’s story and Skull Knight. I love the way Miura drew Gaiseric’s armor and helmet, it looks so Praetorian, like some kind of fantasy armor from the Punic Wars.

I have two shirts that match with it perfectly. U3U
This is what my hair looks like now BTW. Soft caramel highlights!
Don’t be fooled by my flat iron though — I don’t look 1/2 this good normally! =PpP

I got these forever ago, but they’re too wacky not to post! The mismatched socks are from Topshop and the shoes are Skechers Heartbreakers. I like the patchwork and how the design itself resembles the classic Mary Jane. I’m bound to get some pretty strange looks skipping around in such a busy combination, but I adore these! They remind me of the Sixth Doctor. *L* The Rainbow Storm hoodie is by Tokidoki and I bought it marked down from Giant Peach. Once it drops in price further, I’m going to buy THIS shirt to match.

I found the cutest picture of Hideo Tokoro (所英男) in an old livedoorSPORTS interview from May ’08 (prior to Dream 4). The interview doesn’t even mention his (then) upcoming fight with Darren Uyenoyama. Instead, it is all about Tokoro’s nostalgic or natsukashii (懐かしい) feelings for the children’s anime Kinnikuman. I’ve noticed that a lot of my favorite Japanese grapplers grew up on that anime; like Kazushi Sakuraba (桜庭和志), who actually dressed up as Kinnikuman during his PRIDE:CC ’05 weigh-in. But I digress, since this was supposed to be about Tokoro! wwww Basically, interviews like these have made me an even bigger Tokoro fan by exposing me to an almost nerdy side of him that I find, well… absolutely adorable! I like reading interviews with fighters that aren’t fight related because I can see what they are like outside of the ring. Occasionally I’m even surprised by what I see and develop a greater respect for a particular fighter.

The American MMA community however is entirely different. UFC promotes its fighters more through “trash talk” interviews, which seem undignified and silly to me after being exposed to the mutual respect and admiration more commonly exchanged between fighters in the Japanese community. English fansites like Sherdog also consider interviews that don’t discuss a fight or career to be too “pointless” to translate, which I find unfortunate. What a shame that two years after Zuffa/UFC purchased and killed PRIDE, MMA in the US is still not being promoted as a respectable competition of martial arts, but a freakish human version of caged dogfighting with very few human qualities among the contenders to respect or admire.

One of my girlfriends planned a “girl’s day out” with her mom, who was forced to cancel at the last minute. Since we both go to the same salon, she asked if I wanted to accompany her instead and use the appointment slot. I had my hair done back in June, but you have to set a reservation at this particular salon weeks in advance, so I figured that I would take her up on the offer. I just had my roots done and asked for a little bit more layering — nothing fancy. Can you tell the difference in my hair from the pictures though?

I had my hair cut and lightened a teensy bit earlier this week. I had it darkened the last time that I went, so now it is back to being like my natural hair color (although it could be lighter IMO). I’m really happy with the way that the girl styled my bangs and trimmed my layers too, since it looks so preppy in pigtails. =P I think that the next time I go in to have my hair done I’ll try doing something a bit more brave, like medium caramel highlights. I’m always doing the “safe” thing and sticking with what looks most like my natural hair color.

I know that the angle in the first picture is a bit strange (one friend commented that I look 12 in it… *sigh*). I had a difficult time getting a close-up picture that showed off the color in spite of incandescent lighting though.

A few days have gone by since Michael Jackson’s passing and I can’t turn on the news without being updated about the circumstances surrounding his death. I don’t care about the media identifying the chemical cocktail that killed him; I’m more interested in discovering the status of his estate and the $400 million debt that is just as poisonous to it. Michael Jackson wasn’t simply an extraordinary performer and unparalleled entertainer, but also a brilliant businessman and negotiator with a clever insight when it came to the value of music copyright and investment. The Beatles catalog that he purchased in 1985 for $47.5 million is today estimated to be worth around $1 billion and he is said to have approached Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller about purchasing their copyrights in recent years. I can’t conceive of Jackson, with his substantial wealth and business sense, not having a living trust (or several) in place to protect his prized assets. Surely he would have sought to avoid the probate of his estate for the sake of his posterity, as well as all the philanthropic interests that he would have undoubtedly wanted to show patronage towards in death as he did in life? One possibility is that Jackson may have set up multiple trusts during his lifetime for his beneficiaries, funded with assets that were not encumbered by his $400 million debt. Yet all we’ve heard about on the news is the extent to which he mortgaged, borrowed, and spent extravagantly, with no real mention of estate planning.

So, I feel a little guilty, but I bought a new watch recently. I already own a pink watch, but since it uses two special batteries (one for the animation and one for the clock), I need to take it to the jeweler whenever it dies. I hate going without a watch during that time, so I decided to buy a second watch to alternate with that uses a battery I can more conveniently replace myself. The Party Girl Heart Watch from Juicy Couture is one that I’ve been eying since last Christmas, so when it was marked down 20% at Neiman Marcus, I kind of leaped at the opportunity. I really like how it came with an alternate pair of bezels to mix and match. ^w^