Normal Hours

I woke at 8:45 today with no problem. Something is wrong.

I just finished watching Hotaru No Haka (Grave of the Fireflies). Not happy, not happy. It is the first WWII film I have seen from a non-Western perspective, and while I have imagined and pictured suffering on both sides of conflict, it is difficult to watch, especially considering the Allies are the enemy in this film. Despite being animated, it was still highly graphic and powerful. I will probably see it again at some point without subtitles to test my understanding.

I have been trying to contact Dan for a few days now. Each time I manage to get through, he's either busy with Julia or will be. And now it says his number's not in use. I fear that being far from University may make him very distant from now on, especially considering he is cohabiting with non-students now. I'm trying to return his USB stick and see his new place, but I just can't get through. He's not on Skype or MSN either.

I drove Henny-Ray to the station this morning, seeing him off. I didn't get to have sushi with him sadly, but there will be next time. I did get an awe inspiring meal with friends though, and that was a fun evening. All you can eat ribs, and four men competing to have the most. Alan and I bowed out early on, having completed only two racks, but against all expectations, Carlos actually could only manage three, while Shun had four. Technically it was three and a half because he gave some away, but still, he won. I was highly impressed. Carlos blames chicken and cake earlier, but still, he's meant to be able to do things like that. Oh well. Someone had eight complete racks while we were there. He must have been starving.

I'm seeing Emma tonight, we're going to a Westminster pub to observe the Japanese speaking class, and seeing how it is. According to friends, many of these classes are merely perverted old men seeking Japanese wives, but some are decent and good places to learn. I felt accomplished with what I could understand of the movie today, and hopefully it won't be too difficult when I watch again. But watching AI in Japanese recently showed me that I could watch the film with dialogue from memory, but not actually understand the language.

Speaking of films, I saw Sin City. That is an incredible film. It's not quite for the faint at heart, it's more of a hyperviolent pulp fest, but I felt it was a brilliant movie all the same. I want to read the graphic novel now. But I think everyone does after seeing something as mind blowing as that.

Anyway, I have to work at this cuttings service now. Curse this, it's all OCR rubbish. Damned text recognition.