Sanity… is for the Weak

And so, a week has passed since I got home from the desert. I don’t miss it much, except for the little warm fuzzy feeling that I was actually doing something to make a difference in people’s lives while I was there.

Life at home is also getting back to normal, what with grubby paws and fur all over the floors and clothes. Oh well.

Packed Lunch 28 Oct 08

Was a little bento with sides of Kara-age and fried bean-sprouts rolled in yuba. I figured that with the economy bad and with a need to eat healthy, it’s probably better to pack some home-made food to work for the both of us. And we were getting bored of the selection at our respective canteens anyway…

Dinner 28 Oct 08

Dinner was an easier affair; a potato, onion and spinach gratin dauphinois that took a little longer than I expected to prepare, but turned out very well. Leftovers went into today’s packed lunch, with bananas and some chocolate for dessert.

Finally home.

Although I got back a few days ago, it did not feel complete until tonight when I held my steel in hand and went through the paces at training.

It’s been a while.

Training today was luckily a back-to-basics menu starting with a light warm-up, followed by 15min of footwork, 15min of abazare, and 15min of dagger, before going on to sword-work for the remaining hour. Luckily, I’m not as out of shape as I had feared, and all the running that I’ve done for the last month and a half served me in good stead to stay with the class. However, the sword-swinging muscles seems to have lost some of their conditioning, and so I foresee aching arms and shoulders tomorrow. No help for it but to train more.

Cool October night
Shining silver in the sky
Gibbous Hunter’s Moon

- Nancy Chambers

And the title of the second Evangelion movie is announced.

What’s interesting though, is the new girl in the poster ~ never seen before in the original series, pictured above in the lower right corner. Looks like things are going in new and exciting directions.

Summer 2009.

Can’t wait!

:Links:
+Website

And so, it’s just me holding the fort for the next week or so here in the desert.

Doesn’t matter really, as I’ve always been something of a lone wolf, happy to be left alone with my thoughts, but unlike the more extreme cases, I actually don’t mind company. Reading the Loner’s Manifesto has actually given me a different view of how I conduct myself. But enough of that.

The weather here in the Gulf is starting to turn better; compared to a month ago, the noonday temperatures are just about home-like, and it actually feels cool under the shade. Even the wind brings cool relief, where it was a blast of hot air like sticking your face into the oven just weeks back.

New Anime Picks
Looks like the new season’s kicking off to a great start, and there are quite a few currently on my to-watch list.

First up is Toradora (とらドラ). Having read the first volume of the light novel, it’s not hard to imagine the whacky hijinks that will happen and with tsundere Queen Rie Kugimiya at the helm voicing , I won’t be surprised to hear her trademark “煩い! 煩い! 煩い!” before the the first episode is even half way through.

(*edit* She did it! bwahahahaha! And the production quality is surprisingly good too.)

Next is the second season of Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ 巴里編).

Judging by the official website, this season will probably cover till chapter 87 of the manga, where Nodame gives her Mozart Recital.

I’m not too sure about To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録) though. Although similarly a light novel-turned manga-turned anime, the premise of the story just doesn’t seem quite as interesting.

We’ll see.