Getting Excited about Video Games!

Well, I said last week that I'm a geek, and I guess having two geeky posts in a row confirms that! This week's excitement comes from one of my favorite pastimes- video games!

The iconic Super Mario Bros Lvl. 1-1

I love video games. I've been a gamer since I was a little kid, thanks again to my older brother. When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I played my first video game, the original Super Mario Bros for the NES. I should point out that I'm not particularly good at games, I just love to play them.

Unfortunately, video games tend to be rather expensive, so I've had to mostly rely on the kindness of my relatives through birthday and Christmas presents to increase my collection. However, with my husband being a gamer as well, you can bet that at least a small part of our income goes towards games once in a while. This month has been a rather unusual bumper crop of new games for me, so I have a lot to be excited about!

The Sims 3 game box

The first new game that I've gotten my hands on is The Sims 3. I got into the Sim series again from my brother, who loved Sim City 2000 and SimCopter (both games I thoroughly enjoyed myself!), and when I played the original Sims, I really loved it. Well, at my workplace, I'm a research assistant for an independent living video game we're creating. My boss offered to buy me The Sims 3 so we could use it as a reference material for our game! Needless to say, I immediately took him up on his offer. (The next week, he also offered to buy me the Ambitions expansion pack, which will hopefully be delivered on Monday. Yay, more new stuff to play with!)

Example of The Sims 3 gameplay

I've been playing The Sims 3 for about a week now, and I'm totally blown away by the level of detail in it! I love the "Wishes" system, which gives me a better feeling of working towards a goal. Basically, "Wishes" are the random whims that your Sim has, be it getting a new car, learning a new skills, or going somewhere. If you fulfill their Wish, it adds extra points that you can use elsewhere in the game, and it's fun to be more goal-oriented in an otherwise open-ended game. I tried playing my first game "straight" in it, meaning that I didn't cheat, but man, it was really tough! (Did I mention I'm not the greatest at games?) I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to play more!



The King of All Cosmos and his wife
next to a giant katamari (and some cows).

The other two games I got recently are two that I've wanted for a loooooong time. I'll give you a hint: here's the theme song. That's right, it's Katamari Damacy! I only played this game for the first time about 2 years ago, and I fell in love with it. It's wacky and crazy and so very addictive. I ended up getting the first and second games, so between those and The Sims, I'll have plenty to do for a while!

The Prince rolling a katamari.

I only started Katamari Damacy last night, so I didn't get very far, but I am loving it so far. The King of All Cosmos is hilarious, the dialogue is funny, and the music is catchy as can be. My favorite part, however, has to be the Japanese objects you can pick up with your katamari. Japanese food, coins, little knick-knacks... it all reminds me of my time in Japan. (Again, a blog post in the future will address that.) It's a silly game that doesn't pretend to be anything less. It is was it is, and I love it for that. Besides, The Prince is adorable!

Between The Sims 3 and Katamari Damacy, I'm going to be busy for quite a while! I'm so excited to be playing some new games! Naa-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Katamari Damashiiiiii~

Getting Excited about Maison Ikkoku!

Within a few minutes of talking to me, I'm sure one trait is abundantly clear- I am a geek. I say this with pride and joy, because I have been into games, anime, manga, and a number of other geeky pastimes for many years. They have brought so much happiness to my life and introduced me to so many great friends, including my husband!

English cover of vol. 1

Recently, I've been extremely excited (once again) about my favorite manga series of all time, Maison Ikkoku. I'm a fan of pretty much everything Rumiko Takahashi has written, but Maison Ikkoku is my all-time favorite. It's a romantic comedy in Takahashi's usual style- slapstick, misunderstandings, and characters with quirks of every kind. But unlike her more famous works, such as Ranma 1/2 or InuYasha (also very good series that I love!), Maison Ikkoku is more a slice-of-life story, more down-to-earth and realistic. For me, slice-of-life + romantic comedy + slapstick + memorable characters = the best series I've ever read.

--WARNING: The blog post you are about to read was written by a passionate fan of the subject material and is very, VERY long.--

As much as I love the manga (and believe me, I LOVE that manga!), today's excitement actually stems from the anime. A few months ago, I started watching the Maison Ikkoku anime for the first time. It's very hard to find these days, so it's taken me quite a while to track down. It's been well worth the wait, though! (Just as a side note, I have been watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.)

The manga first started running in 1980, and the anime first started in 1986. The story is set in '80s Tokyo, and there is plenty of '80s fashion choices and, in the anime, music. I love retro stuff ('60s rock & roll is some of my favorite music), so I feel right at home in this series. The anime and manga sync up pretty well in terms of story, and Maison Ikkoku is actually the only one of Takahashi's manga-turned-anime stories that ends the same way in both the manga and anime. (It's also one of the shorter stories done by Takahashi, ending at 15 volumes, as opposed to Ranma 1/2 at 36 volumes in American and InuYahsa at a whopping 56 volumes.)

Godai and the other tenants meet Kyoko for the first time.

As for the plot (I'll try not to spoil anything!), it's about guy named Yusaku Godai who is trying to get into college. He's living in a run-down apartment house called Maison Ikkoku, where the other tenants tease him mercilessly about his miserable life and often make him even more miserable themselves. He's about to give up and move out of Ikkoku when a new manager moves in- the beautiful Kyoko Otonashi. Struck by her beauty, Godai decides to stay.

What can I say? I love Godai+Kyoko!

The rest of the story is a fairly typical Takahashi romantic comedy- the characters won't admit their true feelings, misunderstandings abound, somebody gets slapped, and everyone ends up closer for the experience. Some people (such as my husband) might find this dragged-out love story frustrating, but for me, that's the entire reason I keep coming back for more. (Even my husband is getting drawn into it as the series goes on!) With every episode, every moment, Godai and Kyoko get a little bit closer to understanding each other, and it's a beautiful thing to watch. And, of course, the slapstick comedy and constant interference by the rest of the cast is also just too funny not to laugh at!

One thing I especially love about this series is how realistic the characters are. Sure, at times they can be a little over-the-top, but there really aren't any "good guys" or "bad guys." They're all just people, trying to achieve their goals, sometimes getting in each other's way, sometimes laying aside their differences to try to understand another's viewpoint. It's a story about people living their lives- just the kind of thing I love.

Did I mention that the tenants of Ikkoku love to party?
Left to right: Mr. Yotsuya, Godai, Kyoko, Akemi,
Kentaro Ichinose, and Mrs. Ichinose.

Comparing the anime and the manga, I think the anime's greatest strength is the voices (in the Japanese version, anyway- I haven't seen the English dub). The studio that produced Maison Ikkoku got some of the best Japanese voice actors of the age to voice these characters, and it really shows. I especially think that they nailed Mrs. Ichinose's voice, with how hearty and boisterous it sounds. I also love the beautifully colored landscapes of Tokyo throughout the anime, which makes me miss my time in Japan** even more (another blog post for another day, I'm sure).

All in all, I am so excited about this anime right now. I loved reading Maison Ikkoku in print, and I'm loving it in its animated form as well. I love the characters and the story and everything about it! I'm getting so excited!!

**Although I know Japanese, I used the American translations and spellings throughout this blog post because I had not yet learned Japanese when I first encountered this series.

Getting Excited about Biking!

When I was 8 years old, I got a brand new bike, which I promptly named Old Paint, after the horse in the song we were singing for our 2nd grade rodeo. This was definitely an unusual occurence, since, as the youngest of 3, I mostly got hand-me-downs. When I finally outgrew Old Paint, and I had to resign myself to riding my sister's 20-some-year-old bike well into my teen years.

Now that I'm an adult and living only 2 miles from work but 2,000 miles from my hometown, I decided that I wanted to buy myself a bike for my commute to work. (This was in part inspired by my older brother, who has been a avid cyclist for many years. He was certainly proud to hear that his little sister was following in his footsteps!) After searching for several months, I found the bike for me! (Check out the picture at the end of this post!) I've been riding to work for almost a month now, and I absolutely LOVE it.

The first leg of my commute is this gorgeous trail,
which goes under the bridge I'm taking the picture from.

Although you never forget how to ride a bike, you can sure get rusty at it! It took me a good 2 weeks to refine my riding techniques. (I frequently still repeat to myself, "Light hands, heavy feet!") I also had to build up the muscles in my legs and increase my stamina so I didn't have to stop for breaks. I love to feel the wind in my face as coast down hills and the strength building in my legs as a pump back up the other side. I'm fortunate that my commute allows me to ride along a beautiful bike trail that runs beside a creek. Every morning, I see ducks splashing in the water and birds flitting about in the trees. In the evening, I see other cyclists commuting home the same as I am, calling salutations to each other as we bike along the trail. I'm learning the ways of the cyclist, and I'm loving the new culture I've become a part of.


Even though biking can be hard and tiring work, the physical and psychological benefits make it totally worth it. I come to work refreshed and revitalized from the exercise and the time spent in nature. And I really miss biking on days when I have to go without! As I settle in to my new routine and new commute, I'm getting really excited about biking! Now I just need a cute basket for my bike... ;)

This is Murray, my new bike! Ain't she a beaut?

Getting Excited about the World!

It may seem obvious to say that the world is a big place, but the past few days, I've encounted some great works of art that have opened my eyes to just how big the world really is.



Movie poster from "Life in a Day" (2011)

The first thing I encountered was a documentary called "Life in a Day." It's a really incredible film that I highly recommend. It was a project put together by National Geographic of life on Earth on the day of July 24, 2010. The many thousands of hours of footage were submitted by thousands of YouTube users from countries all over the world. It was an eye-opening movie, both beautiful and frightening. National Geographic does not pull its punches and simply tells things as they are, which can lead to some graphic imagery. (Viewer discretion is advised- I had to look away at a few points myself.)

However, even the scariest moments in the film were balanced out by the warm-hearted, emotional, and fascinating looks at humanity as a whole. From Asia to Africa, the Americas to Europe, all cultures around the world may look different from the outside, but the emotions inside us all are the same. I saw families of every kind showing their love to each other--and wept openly at how beautiful love is. I saw faces old and young talk about their greatest fears. I saw ways of life I didn't know existed, and I saw majestic, sweeping landscapes that took my breath away. Most of all, I saw how big the world is, and how very little I know about it. I wandered the house in a daze the rest of the afternoon, reeling from the powerful film I had witnessed.


"Click and Drag" (XKCD: 09/19/12)

The next day, I was checking the latest update on one of my favorite webcomics, XKCD. It's a wonderful comic, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes silly, often very poignant. The newest comic, though, was something else. Creator Randall Munroe has really outdone himself with this one. I think my husband put it best when he said, "This guy's a genius...to take a comic and play with the format to such a degree to inspire such imagination. Seriously, it's like halfway between a comic and a game. It's brilliant."

The comic starts out with a simple 3 panels, but it's in the 4th panel that the comic takes on a life of its own. The user can, as the name suggests, click and drag the comic around to discover a whole other world hidden beyond the edges of the panel. The world goes on and on and on as you drag further and further, discovering little secrets and inside jokes for readers of the comic. Clicking and dragging is a difficult way to navigate something so huge, but I think that's part of the analogy to our own world. Our world is vast, and exploring it all is something that humanity is still working at. It can be a difficult and painful process, but the reward of discovery makes it all worthwhile.

I guess that's what excites me after thinking about these two works of art. There is so much left to be explored in the world, especially since I understand such a small part of it. After clicking my way through XKCD's world, I felt the joy and excitement of discovery all over again. I thought back on "Life in a Day" and thought about all the cultures I saw that I knew nothing about. I was allowed to peek into each person's life for just that one day, for just those few minutes, and I was left with so many questions, so many things to be discovered. Who are you? What's your story? What can you teach me, and what can I teach you?

The world is so big that I can't help but get excited about discovering as much as I can about it!


Getting Excited about Newts!

I recently saw a picture on Facebook that stirred up some old excitement in me. It was of the fishies I had in high school, living in their new aquarium with their new owner (a friend of a friend). I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they were doing (one of them is already 6 years old!), and it reminded me of how much I loved having fish.

Aww, he's smiling!

I do want to get a big aquarium someday when I have my husband and I have our own house, but in the meantime, I've been getting excited about an old dream of mine- to own a fire-belly newt.

Newts are really interesting creatures. They're amphibians, meaning that they're mostly aquatic, but they still need some space to come up on land. They're awfully cute, and I'm drawn to the fire-bellies in particular because I just love that bright pop of color on their tummies. The newts that I've interacted with have been friendly and have even let you hold them in your hands. How sweet!

So, I started doing some research on owning a newt. An interesting fact that I found is that newts have very thin and semi-permeable skin. This means that they are more susceptible to changes in their environment, which is a big difference from when I owned fish. I mean, yeah, I came to understand the nitrogen cycle and how it affected my fish, but it sounds like newts are even more sensitive to things like that. I hope I can care for a newt properly!

I love the sloping gravel rising up to meet the surface of the water- so cool!

Lastly, in my searching, I came across various tank setups for allowing newts access to both land and water. They look soooo cool, and it has fueled my excitement even more! If I got even just a 5 gallon tank, I could make a home for my cute lil' fire-belly newt. Hopefully I can realize this dream sooner than the big aquarium- if I save up my money, maybe even in just a few short months! I'm getting excited all over again!!

Getting Excited about Blogging!

Picture of me by my friend Dany

Welcome to my blog, friends! I'm Kaden, at your humble service! I got the idea for my blog at work, where I end up doing a lot of thinking. (Being a research assistant will do that!)

I was realizing that I get excited really easily about stuff. Every week, it seems like I have something new to be excited about. Sometimes it's just old interests being rekindled, such as picking up an old video game that I haven't played in a long time, but sometimes it's new interests altogether, such as starting to ride my bike to work. In any case, I thought about how seemingly random my interests are week to week- the things I'm excited about. So I figured that blogging would be a good way to express my excitement and share it with others!

So, I'm going to try to blog at least once a week about whatever I'm interested in at the time. However! I won't just rant about being excited- I'll tell you WHY I'm excited! I'll give some background of the topic, or why it's meaningful to me, or whatever else I can think of. So, even if some topics come up more than once, I'll put a new spin on them or talk about some new aspect that I hadn't touched on before.

With that, I'm off to write my first real post of "Getting Excited!" I hope you enjoy this blog, and I hope that my random excitements are also things that interest a diverse group of people. And, hey, if you're not interested in the topic of the week, feel free to check back the next week- you never know what might excite me next!

I'm getting excited!! :D