Alan Rickman

A funny thing I've noticed on the knitting forums (although probably not limited to them) is an obsession with Alan Rickman (Snape from the Harry Potter movies). Although already in several famous movies before the Harry Potter series, I personally never noticed him until then. And then when I saw Love Actually in 2003. And then I watched him in Sense and Sensibility and listened to him in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Notable Alan Rickman avatars on Ravelry (ravatars) include one of him as Snape holding a knitting magazine to his chest, and another one of his naked upper body holding onto a bust (of Apollo I think).

I don't know what it is about him...he's definitely not your stereotypical ladies' man. Perhaps it's that dry, cynical sense of humor combined with the hint of inner warmth his characters tend to portray that makes women swoon. I can't help but feel giddy thinking of him in Sense and Sensibility. heh heh.

Back in the game

So I've still been playing WoW for the past couple of months. I just haven't been playing my Stormscale characters. I made a hunter on Draenor for the Ravelry guild. Level 70! I also have a 16 warrior and 24 mage there. However, recently I've started playing on Stormscale again. Why? Well, Lawrence decided to play again. I may even have a group to PVP with. Not so much raid because that's too much of a continuous time commitment...and needs too many people. However, for Arenas, my gear is seriously outdated and not suitable. In the mean time I'm PVPing in the Battlegrounds to get enough honor so I can buy the gear from Arena Season 1. I've been doing Alterac Valley, as it's the best BG for honor farming. With people who know what they're doing (both horde and alliance), it goes very quickly and can actually be rather fun!

work

I feel uncomfortable if I don't have stuff to do at work. For some reason I don't count the long-term open-ended projects as work because they have no due date. Lately it seems I've been assigned all the random jobs...learn FlowCharter 2007 (flow chart making software) and train this group of people how to use it; meet with this group and tell them about automated QA testing; plan this co-worker's retirement banquet! I may even get to help with some SQL training.

All in all, I don't mind. I find some of this fun, educational, and a good overall experience. I just wish I didn't feel so damn expendable. I was rather proud of myself for actually calling the hotels about catering with only a modicum of hesitation, but I don't think that's anything my bosses would be excited about. :P I'm trying to get myself to create an informational webpage for the banquet but it's hard to focus on it. I should just buckle down and do it! I need more experiences like this in design, where I get full freedom to design it how I want and I don't have to follow any sort of predefined standard.

Aiyaaa

I stayed up till 5am last night watching "The Magicians of Love". That is so not good...

www.aznv.tv has a really cool feature where you can mark which episodes you've watched. :D This is an awesome way to keep track of which episode you're on! It can get confusing if you're simultaneously watching several different series. I'm currently on ep 14 of "The Magicians of Love", ep 2 of the Japanese "Hana Kimi", and ep 9 of the Taiwanese "Hana Kimi". They can do that because they actually require you to register for an account before you can stream the videos.

Dramas

My interests often cycle, and recently I have once again started to watch Asian TV dramas. It started when I went to Lawrence's cousin's apartment. His cousin's wife, Caroline, put a current Taiwanese drama on the TV for me to watch while they played mahjong. It was hilarious, and when I went home I found a website that streams Asian dramas so I continued watching it.

It's called "The Magicians of Love" and it's about a hair salon opened by 3 internationally renowned hairdressers. They claim to be able to give anyone a new image, transforming them into someone beautiful. Antics ensue and love triangles develop as they compete with a headstrong young girl who works at (and who's father is the owner of) the local neighborhood hair salon.

Browsing around I also found out that this year, Hana Kimi was made into a TV series in Japan! Yay! I already enjoyed watching the Taiwanese-produced Hana Kimi. Although I haven't finished watching it yet, I think I now have more of an incentive.

The 2 sites I found are:
www.aznv.tv
www.mysoju.com

Okonomiyaki, in LA?

Apparently so! I didn't realize, but there are actually okonomiyaki bars here! Not only are there places that serve okonomiyaki, but there are places that let you cook your own! Like Gaja Okonomiyaki in Torrance. Blog with yummy pictures here.

So Proud!

Lawrence was so excited this week. He made a sale for I think it was, $30,000 over sticker price. The father & son buyers were Chinese and the father only spoke Cantonese. They would not have sold the car if he didn't work there. This sale validated his position at the dealership as a valuable asset. Plus, it's the first time they beat the Beverly Hills dealership! That's pretty awesome, considering you've got tons of famous people (like Avril Lavigne!) who would probably go to the Beverly Hills dealership first. All he could think about last night was whether or not he should ask for a change to his pay.