I can't seem to find a nice clicky map that makes different colors for prefectures in Japan, so I'll do this the old-fashioned way. =) Stealing from Wikipedia:



I've been to numbers 2, 3, 5, 11, 12, and 13. =)

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I have succeeded in simultaneously having two ankle sprains. Hey, it's not a break, at least! Let's be thankful for small things! =)

Today, I did the following:

• Went to a second hospital in Japan; it was $100 this time, which makes my left ankle officially cheaper than my right ankle. =) Also, it illustrates that Tokyo is more expensive than northern Japan, where I am right now. And I can now explain my entire history of ankle sprains in coherent Japanese...
  
• Got to ride the Denden mushi bus all around Morioka, which made me irrationally happy. It has snails and other happy bugs on it and it sings at you. I'm all for singing buses.
  
• Discovered the casing of my Macbook has cracked, which makes me sad. Does anyone know if you can fix something that you bought two years ago, if it's under warranty? (presumably still)
• Bought an adorable iron cat stand thing, which is ostensibly for letters, but is just cute. It's handmade, too. Also, gazed adoringly at $800 handmade iron teapots, which I didn't buy.
• Walked all around Iwate Koen, which is the park in central Morioka. We visited a castle! We saw a million and one cherry blossoms and it was seriously gorgeous. We saw a monument to some poet I didn't know. It was one of the most lovely places I've ever been in my entire life, and it was a simple public park. =)
• Rode the shinkansen from Morioka to Hachinohe.
  

Yesterday, also in brief, because I'm sleepy:

• Rode the shinkansen from Morioka to Kakunodate.
• Walked around Kakunodate in the rain and cold. It was beautiful and quaint. I took pictures at an old cemetery and we saw a river with cherry trees blooming in the cold.
• Also, saw a Japanese dance thing as soon as we got off the station.
• Went to the Kakunodate cherry blossom festival and ate festival food. Amazake is good, although strange-smelling. Chocolate bananas rock. And grilled squid are very attractive, although we didn't sample them.
• Fell in ditch--see prior day's entry.
• Visited the Aoyagi samurai house museum, which is a preserved samurai house from the Edo era. Got to see kick-ass swords of all types and neat armor. Also, an early fire engine which I neglected to photograph.
• Had sakura udon for lunch.
• Tried in vain to convince Chris that we should ride a rickshaw back to the station; he thought it was too weird, so we didn't.
  
• Rode the shinkansen from Kakunodate to Tazawako. Normally, all the shinkansen riding would be prohibitively expensive, but we had the JR rail pass, which made everything extremely affordable.
• Took a bus tour around Lake Tazawako, which is HUGE. Easily close to the size of Lake Champlain, I think. It's the largest caldera lake in Japan (possibly, world). Breathtakingly beautiful, and we've seen a lot of lovely scenery here so far. We were also the only ones on the bus, and the driver was nice enough to make an unscheduled stop to take pictures at a temple/red arch thing. The proper word for it escapes me but it's gorgeous. It's also sort of familiar, and I wonder if I've seen it in a drama?
• Rode shinkansen from Tazawako back to Morioka.

The day before yesterday:

• Rode shinkansen from Tokyo to Morioka.

Tomorrow:

• Hopefully, Osorezan, if we get up in time. =)

Pictures, of which there are a lot, to follow when I return to Tokyo and can better collect thoughts.

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Today, dearest blog readers, I went to a wonderful little town with preserved samurai houses and a cherry blossom festival and a neat cemetery. I had a lovely time, for most of it, despite the intermittent rain and freezing-cold wind and the husband who was in culture and language-shock the entire time.

And then, I fell in a ditch.

A deep ditch. A painful ditch. A ditch I totally didn't see at all because I define the word "oblivious".

And I managed to injure my other ankle.

I'm going to go to bed now and try to convince myself that it's really just another sprain, and so I should ignore the odd swelling on the top of my foot and eversion pain that originates from there... I'm going to bed and going to hope that it's not a talar fracture (thank you, Google) because I really don't want to brave another hospital with broken Japanese.

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This was going to be a list-like post, but maybe I'll just do random vignettes instead. Or random descriptions; feel free to call them what you want.

One of the things I truly love to do is people-watch. I do this often enough in the US, so I don't view it as odd that I'm doing this in Japan, too. And these are some of the people I see every day or almost every day:

• There's a teenage boy who takes the train at my local station--a thin, sort of awkward guy who has something clearly wrong with his right foot. I don't know much about congenital foot disorders and/or regular injuries, but it's obvious that this is permanent. His right foot is turned in at an angle and he drags it behind him. He limps, quite noticeably. And just as noticeably, he absolutely, without a doubt, refuses to let anyone help him. It's not helping in the sense of let me carry you up the stairs; it's more like, oh, you seem to have something wrong with your foot, I'll let you go first on the train. Or I'll let you go up the stairs ahead of me. Or I won't push you quite as hard. He's proud and so very young and he won't let anything in the world stop him. Or so it seems to me. He holds his own in the train station every morning, when it's obvious that he's off-balance a great deal of the time. I admire him, honestly.
• I also admire the mothers of Japan, who are generally youngish. I've seen some strollers here, which are charmingly referred to as a "baby car" in katakana, but the norm is to tote your child yourself. The trains are crowded, the city is busy, and you can get around faster without a stroller. So these young mothers, many of them younger than me at 29, stroll around with infants strapped to their backs, their chests, their sides, and sometimes under their coats in the rain. They shelter them in umbrellas and put them in baby seats on the back of their bicycles. They sometimes even make sure that they have an umbrella open over them, as they ride their bicycle. They take them grocery shopping and clothes shopping and everywhere you could think of this way. It takes strength and dedication to do that, to make your way through throngs of people and keep your child safe. They are very cool, and while I know it's a normal way of life to them, it's very different from how infants are lugged around in America.
  
• While we're on the subject of bicycles, I'd just like to note that I am greatly amused by two separate classes of cyclists. The first is those that can ride their bicycle in the driving rain, steering with one hand, and keeping a fully open umbrella above them in the wind with their other hand. Talent, my friends. But the most talented ones of all are the cyclists who ride their bikes while smoking a cigarette and talking on their cell phones at the same time. I'm fairly sure that both activities aren't legal on a bike, but it's damn amusing to watch them whiz by that way.
• Finally, I wanted to mention the old man. He's missing most of his teeth, but he grins wide anyway. Most of his hair is gone, too, and he's little and stooped. He's obviously up there in years, but that doesn't stop him from having an extremely dedicated job at the local supermarket, Ito Yokado. He's the basket cart man, and his sole job is to stand at the base of the escalators that lead into the basement supermarket and make sure that people return their shopping basket/cart combos (yes, really, that's what carts are in Japan). He's there day in and day out; he nods at those he remembers, including me, and if you greet him properly you're rewarded with a big almost-toothless grin and a greeting back. I'm not sure he's properly appreciated by the regular shoppers, but he does a wonderful job of keeping all the carts in line. it's not a very important job, you might say, but he does it well and that's all that matters. I like him very much, even though I have no idea who he is.

And that's your vignettes for the evening. I'm off for sleep and then catch-up paperwork tomorr

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At last, a post about the Japanese trains! Just what you've been waiting for, I know. =)

(By the way, my ankle is slowly, slowly healing, but I'm fairly sure I completely overdid it with walking on Monday and Tuesday, so I've been home from school the last two days. Sort of bored, actually, as a lot of my time involves keeping my stupid foot elevated to get it to stop swelling. Anyway, back to trains!)

The trains in Tokyo are simply awesome 95% of the time. I am someone who has an extraordinarily poor opinion of American trains--Amtrak wins no bonus points in my heart. I have long rebelled against taking the train whenever I had to go down to DC from where I live in NJ, since it's so abominably slow most of the time. And although Amtrak has tried very hard to improve service in the past few years, it's simply too expensive for its value, in my opinion. I'd still rather fly, despite having to go through security. The NYC subways are decent, and so is the DC Metro, but I use neither on a regular basis except when I'm in either city.

Having said all that, I adore the Tokyo trains.

For starters, they're clean. Sparkling clean, in most cases, despite the massive amount of people who use them daily. They also come on time; when the schedule board says the train will be there, the train is THERE. This is a new and unique concept to me. =) On the more central Tokyo routes, they have announcements in both English and Japanese; on my commuter feeder line that I take first, they're Japanese only, but I view it as kanji listening and reading practice. =)

They have a million and one handholds. They also have extremely comfortable seats. They are, generally, at a decent temperature, although I suspect that I will soon be very, very warm once it heats up some more.

Aside from the trains themselves, the train stations are like mini-cities. Even the smaller stations have a couple of stores and kiosks; the bigger stations like Ikebukuro or Shinjuku are massive. You could spend the entire day in Ikebukuro station and its adjoining department stores and never go above ground at all. The train stations have bookstores galore, conbini galore (convenience stores, which are a class above the US variety), tons of little restaurants... clothing stores, fresh vegetable vendors, accessory shops, and fresh fish mongers. That's not even counting the things that are in department stores. And depending on whether you choose to go out the north, south, central, east, or west gate of any station, you'll encounter a completely different set of shops. As with the trains themselves, everything tends to be scrupulously clean. Japan is the only country in the world that has free plastic umbrella wrappers literally everywhere you go....

But lest you think it's all peaches and cream, we do need to talk about the other 5% of the time when I don't love the trains. Which is rush hour, or more precisely, morning rush hour.

I take two train lines to get to school every morning: the Saikyo and the Yamamote. The Yamamote is a central Tokyo line, which is crowded in the morning, but not unbearably so. The Saikyo, on the other hand, is like a living human death trap. I'd compare it to sardines, but it's even more than sardines. There are so many people crammed into one space that if you can't get one of the many handholds, it really doesn't matter, since you will be held upright by the sheer pressure of that many other people surrounding you. It gets a bit iffy when the weather is wet because then the train floor gets wet from people's shoes, and everyone starts to slip and slide. Except there's not much of anywhere to slip and slide, so we all end up cascading into each other.

I've developed a healthy respect for a competent train driver, since you can tell who is good and who isn't. The good ones know how to slow the train down slowly enough so that everyone doesn't ricochet off of each other when the train stops... and the bad ones don't k

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I was going to write about the trains; in fact, I've been writing blog posts about the Tokyo trains in my head for a week, then getting home and being too tired to actually type them out. But instead, you're not getting the trains. Tonight, you get Jenny's visit to the hospital.

Last night, Saturday night, I went to see a movie in Ikebukuro, which is sorta south of me in Tokyo. It had lots of nice stores, and so after the movie I walked around, browsing. I was in a department store with books in the basement, and I had just happily purchased four volumes of manga that I wanted. I said thank you to the clerks in Japanese. I turned around...

... I walked directly into a paper sign. To be exact, it was two paper signposts that had a long ribbon of paper strung between them (imagine a finish line at a race track), and the clerks had placed it directly behind me while I stood at the register Obviously, it was there because I was the last customer being checked out at that register. Also, just as obviously, I completely didn't see the paper sign-thing.

I got entangled in the sign and the store staff had to free me, which was embarrassing enough. But by the time I had walked to the train platform to go home, I knew something was starting to be wrong with my right ankle. My ankles and I, as frequent readers will no doubt remember, have a fabled bad relationship with each other. They're weak and I'm clumsy, which is a terrible, terrible complication.

Yes, dear readers, it was another sprain.

I got myself ice and some food provisions. I took a cab home from the train station, even though that costs money and involves driving in circles for awhile as we try to find my house. I nursed and coddled the damn ankle for hours last night.

I woke up this morning and it was three times the size of my other foot. And it hurt terribly, so terribly. So I got on the US Embassy website for Tokyo, and went about figuring out which of the international hospitals I could get to on a Sunday. This is Japan--things close sometimes on Sundays, especially hospitals. And I desperately wanted an international hospital because my medical history is complicated and I needed to be able to get some talking in English done, easily.

I ended up setting on St. Luke's International Hospital, which is only 11 miles away from where I live, but a pain in the neck to get to. If I had been able to walk onto the trains easily, I would have happily done the 40 minute train ride + 15 minute walk to station. Instead, since I was still coddling the damn ankle, I paid an obscene amount of money to take a cab for a half hour. But the cab was honestly worth it, since I wasn't dying in utter pain by the time I got to the hospital.

The hospital itself was lovely--I've been in and out of hospitals visiting relatives for years, so I know my hospitals--clean, well-staffed, and very friendly. I got x-rays, medication, and a decently long consultation for a little under US $300. And that's all with absolutely no health insurance that the hospital would take in Japan. (I submit a claim later, which may or may not be reimbursed partially by my US insurance.) Comparatively, I've had the same services in the US, paid $100 as my co-pay, and then gotten an itemized bill of what the insurance company paid that often totaled over $2000.

In Japan, it was a relatively quick ER visit. Between my little bits of Japanese and the doctor's bits of English, we were able to understand each other well. We each had a dictionary and referred to it, and I was left satisfied that he knew what was wrong with me and how to help me. Communication is key, after all. What was even nicer and more unexpected was that the registration staff and the pharmacist were both able to do the same with me in English and Japanese combined. It's somewhat far away from where I'm living, but it was a nice hospital to visit. I do agree with the doctor that it appears to be a minor sprain, but if it g

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Well, as I've been twittering intermittantly, I'm in Japan! It's everything I expected it to be and more. There's so much to tell all of you that I'm not quite sure where to start.

It's currently 2:24 pm on Saturday, April 10th, Tokyo time. I'm going to be running around and washing the clothes I wore on the flight--wish me luck with a washing machine in Japanese--so I think I'll add to this post throughout the day and the night.

The flight was good, but very long. I left my house at 6:30 am EST on Tuesday morning. I got to the airport at 7:30 am EST, took a Newark to DC flight at 10:20 am EST, and then got to DC at 11:30 am. I high-tailed it through Dulles, stopping to buy fruit (it was the last day of Passover and that's all the airport food that's kosher for it), and got to my gate for my flight to Tokyo. I left DC at 12:43 pm EST on Tuesday morning and got to Japan at 3:30 pm JST (Japan time) on Wednesday afternoon. By the time I navigated Narita Airport, the baggage delivery service, customs and immigration, the lovely people at the Softbank cell phone kiosk, and managed to find the Keisei liner to Tokyo itself... I was very, very, very tired. My roommate, Deanna, met me at the Nippori station and helped me get back to our actual house in Akabane Nishi.

Yes, we have an actual house and it's really large. About 1100 square feet or so, which is insane for residential Tokyo. Deanna is friends with the landlord, so we're also paying really, really, really cheap rent. We could easily fit a family of five in here, the way it's set up.

By the time I got to the house though, I had been up for 36 hours straight and was officially brain-dead. I unpacked some and then Deanna dragged me out to eat. Then, I collapsed and slept on my futon, after she helped me figure out how to use it, etc.

On Thursday, I bummed around a bunch, tried to get over jet lag, went shopping for stuff (I bought a lot of stuff to cook with), and went to see where my language school is. I got terribly lost, which seems to be a recurring theme with me in this city. I discovered that yes, my Japanese really isn't that great, but I can sort of muddle my way through things pleasantly. Muddling is very good.

On Friday, I went to my school for a placement test, went shopping for more kitchen stuff/food/school supplies (Deanna doesn't cook AT ALL, so she has 2 forks, 2 butter knives, 2 spoons, a bunch of disposable chopsticks, 1 pot, 2 plates, and 3 glasses. I bought a lot of stuff, but its all really basic stuff, like a frying pan and a rice cooker and bowls and a spatula... and so on.) I was carrying so much stuff by the time I got done shopping that walking home was literally impossible. So I grabbed a taxi, tried to direct the taxi driver, and failed utterly. Happily, he stopped and asked directions when we were in the general vicinity of our house, and we found two guys who were my neighbors. They showed me that my house was only four houses away--again, I got lost really easily and it was also dark--walked me home and showed me where they live.

Which, according to Deanna, is really, really odd for Japan, that they were:

1. Nice to a stranger.
2. Knew where we live.
3. Carried my bags without being asked.
4. Told me where they live.

I have no idea why, but they did all of those things, and I don't mind anyway. I know there's a massive ton of prejudice against white people here, but if they want to talk about me behind my back, I don't mind. It's not like they're going to harass me for getting lost.

But the prejudice is strange because I get lots and lots of funny looks on the street. I am white AND I am massively fat for Japanese standards, although I'm actually on the small side of the fat scale in America. I look back and the people look away. But sometimes they look back at me again and again, on the train, and I particularly enjoy torturing those people because they know that I know that they're stari

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I can't seem to capture Zoe's tubby little hips, but here, have a picture of her with Chris' viola instead.

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Kojel doesn't gel quite as nicely as Jello, but it worked anyway.

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• I'm busy preparing for my trip to Japan and sort of being excited and moderately nervous because oh god, I've never been that far away from home yet. But I will survive. I'm a big girl.
• I'm also trying to wrap up agency business before I leave, somewhat unsuccessfully, as I can't get in touch with people I need to speak to. This is distressing, to say the least.
• I hosted a Passover Seder for ten people on Tuesday night to grand success. I have successfully conquered brisket, chicken soup, and doctoring gefilte fish, plus a mostly-successful Jello mold. I told my mom that she's welcome to return to her home planet now, as I've mastered the food of my people. =)
• I seem to have flipped to a Japanese time schedule already, which is good, but also bad, as I'd like to see my family before I leave.
• I have a new blogging gig--have had it for a month or so--and I'm working on my first post still. It's almost done, thank god, as it also fell victim to the writer's block from hell. My new blogging gig is very patient and I am very thankful for that.
  
• I wrote 603 words last week.

And finally, although I don't have a picture to prove it, it's my sad duty to report that Zoe has become rather pudgy. Definitively pudgy, in fact. She has cat hips. Tubby little cat hips. I thought she was pudgy; my dad thought she was pudgy; my mom thought she was pudgy. But alas, Chris, my husband, did not think she was pudgy. He went on and on about how I was spreading scandalous rumors about her. =)

We weighed her today and she now clocks in at 13 lbs, which is quite a lot for a little cat. The vet says she's only supposed to weigh 11 lbs at most, so she's going on a diet. But lucky for me, I'll be across the world, so Chris has to deal with the incessant meowing that she is hungry, hungry, hungry, why are you not giving me cat food...

Who says there's not some perks to travel? =)

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My friend, Aimee, is about to go in for a hysterectomy to remove a giant football-sized fibroid and associated girly bits. She's understandably worried about her bills for the months of April and May, as she recovers from the major operation. She's not asking for handouts or donations--she's not that type of gal--but if you happen to like anything in her Etsy shop, she'd love if you'd purchase it.

My personal favorite is this pink beaded necklace; I own a very similar one in blue, and I get nothing but compliments on it when I wear it. So if you're in the mood for jewelry, bath and body products (also divine), or runes, hop on over to Aimee's Etsy shop. She'll be updating it soon, too!

Aimee's Etsy shop

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Lest you think it's all fun and games at La Casa Rappaport, I thought I'd happily review my semi-to-do list for the next few days. This is partially for my reference, but feel free to peruse. To make it understandable, you should know that I'm hosting the second Seder of Passover on Tuesday, March 30th, for eleven people.

Thursday:

• Answer e-mail that has been ignored in favor of tax preparation
• Call kosher butchers in Lakewood and Highland Park--must find kosher for Passover pupicks and chicken necks
• Possibly drive to said kosher butchers or prepare to do so early Friday morning
• Continue to prepare for Japan trip
• Clean my house like mad

Friday:

• Start the defrosting process for ten chicken thighs and nine pounds of brisket worth its weight in gold
• Clean kitchen
  
• Find pupicks still--hopefully, obtain pupicks
• Continue to prepare for Japan trip

Saturday:

• Clean the house some more, until it's presentable and sparkling
• Change over kitchen for Passover, so that cooking can start on Sunday
• Hard boil two dozen eggs
• Make at least a half gallon of salt water
• Find a third black tablecloth to match my existing two tablecloths--Hello, Target, my old friend!
• Defrost frozen gefilte fish
  

Sunday:

• Make chicken soup
• Cook gefilte fish with stuffs

Monday:

• Make brisket
• Make to-be-determined dessert for Passover
• Make Jello thing for Passover (lime with bananas and pineapple)
• Buy salad
• Figure out what vegetable will be the token vegetable among the starch and meat of the Seder; obtain vegetable to cook on Tuesday

Tuesday:

• Cook like mad. Die somewhere along the way. Continue to cook as a zombie.
  

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I'm taking a break from putting together tax information to download extraneous information from my brain. Mostly, books I've read this year that I haven't written down yet.

14. THE RELUCTANT WIDOW by Georgette Heyer

I was so excited to see this book in the library--a Georgette Heyer novel I hadn't read! Unfortunately, it's a Georgette Heyer novel that I didn't really need to read. It's definitely a lesser Heyer work, and doesn't compare to such gems that I love like FREDERICA or COTILLION. I spent most of the book absolutely hating the heroine for being a complete and total idiot.

15. THE QUIET GENTLEMAN by Georgette Heyer

Similarly, I snagged this from the library, too. Also, disappointing, although it was better than THE RELUCTANT WIDOW, at least.

16. TOKYO BOYS AND GIRLS, Volume 1 by Miki Aihara

And look, more manga! Cute and fun, but not as good as HOT GIMMICK or even HONEY HUNT.

17. TOKYO BOYS AND GIRLS, Volume 2 by Miki Aihara

See above review.

18. THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

I loved the first two books in this series, and this one was a good addition to it. But I felt like she ended the book where the second act of the plot ended, and I DESPERATELY want to see what happens to them in the safe town. I'm not sure it's a cop-out on the part of the author, or if she deliberately wanted to leave the series with an ambiguous ending. I really do think it needs a fourth book, but I don't know if she'll ever write one though. Overall though, I really loved what she did with this trilogy.

19. THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (reread)
20. CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins (reread)

It's been less than a year since I originally read both these books, but THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN whet my appetite for more dystopian fiction, and I went back and devoured them again. I love them, just as much, if not more. I'm eagerly waiting for MOCKINGJAY.

21. THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF LEON (I MEAN NOEL) by Ellen Raskin

Oh, this was cute and lovely! Not as good as THE WESTING GAME, but I'm glad I read it. =)

22. THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS by N. K. Jemisin

This was a great book. I'll say up front that I never would have offered it representation as an agent because it's simply not to my taste in writing. But once I bought it, I was forced to read through it, and I'm *really* glad that I persevered. It's not an easy book to read; it's difficult and doesn't explain as much as I wanted it to about the rest of the world. But it's beautifully written, and well done. My one major quibble is that it's marketed as the first in a trilogy, but I think it ended so perfectly that it could have served just as well as a stand-alone. I'm sure the author has more plans for the world, but I liked the glimpse and the picture we saw of it now. Almost like how Brandon Sanderson did with ELANTRIS; I don't need more. In fact, I'm really eager to see what Ms. Jemisin writes outside of this world, since I think she probably has a million more ideas for good books that I'd like to read.

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I'm set to leave for Tokyo on April 6th, for a three month stay, and I thought you guys would like to see where I'm staying. I'm staying with my friend Deanna, who is renting a house in the Akabane neighborhood of Tokyo.

And hence, I give you, the construction of Jenny's room.

For those wondering, the house has a full kitchen (a rarity in Tokyo), a big dining room, and a miscellaneous other room (that has no windows nor air conditioning, which is why I'm living upstairs) for its downstairs portion. There's laundry outside, a balcony to hang clothes on to dry, and some form of small garden outside in the back too. Plenty of space for both of us to hang out.

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I admit fully that I am a dork about my birthday, even at the advanced age of 29. =)

Here's to the last year of my third decade of life!

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I figure that I have a fairly decent number of science fiction and fantasy fans reading this blog, so I'm asking for any of you to boost this signal.

I'm trying to find out whether Paula Volsky is still writing or not. She's the author of several really good historical fantasies that I devoured in my teens. Her last book came out in 2001. Wikipedia says she's still alive, so I'm assuming that's true.

But she simply hasn't published in years and as an ardent fan, I'm really curious to figure out why. Now granted, it could be bad novel sales, etc, but authors usually try to stay active, even in short fiction.

Does anyone know what happened to Paula Volsky?

(Any and all signal boost is appreciated, only in the respect that I'm genuinely curious about this and I would love to read more from her.)

ETA: Wikipedia also tells me she has a story out in 2009 in a Gardner Dozois anthology from Subterranean.

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Just a note that I'm eligible for the Campbell Award this year and that a lot of other fine folk are too. You have until Friday to nominate for the Hugos and Campbell Award, so get to it. =)

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Mr. Jay Lake, although we only see each other at conventions, I would shave my head too, if I could. I wish you lived closer.

You are brave and wonderful--rock on, my friend. =)

Why I say this

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They're not very good words, but they're the first words that I've written that have managed to break through my terrible writer's block, since my aunt's death. I remain hopeful. And infinitely joyous, which is why I wanted to share this with ALL OF YOU! =)

*hugs the world*

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If it's possible to have a girl crush, I officially have one on Siobhan Magnus. Wow. I mean, don't get me wrong, I totally love Crystal Bowersox, but Siobhan was incredible tonight. Plus, seriously, how can you not love the mohawk story?

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Dearest blog readers, I need your help!

I have firmly sworn myself to bringing only two physical books with me to Japan, since my suitcase space will be at a premium, and things like special contact cleaning solution take precedence (it's impossibly hard to find even in the USA). I have decided, along with the space premium issues, that these books must be mass market releases.

I have one book picked out already, which is SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD by Aliette de Bodard, who I'm proud to be friends with through my writing group.

But now I need a second book to bring with me, and I have no clue what to go out and buy that will make my 14 hour plane ride go by quickly. I need your help! Here's my requirements--please post suggestions in the comments! =)

1. The book needs to be a mass-market. It can be a chunky mass-market, such as from Angry Robot (like Aliette's book), but it needs to be mass-market size.
2. It needs to take me awhile to read--this rules out romance novels, unfortunately, as I devour them. Similarly, YA is probably not the greatest choice, unless it's a really dense YA.
3. I want it to be something that's been released in the last two years or so. Nothing further back than that.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

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I was enamored of Ellen Kushner's world of Riverside and the elegant swordsman Richard St. Viers as soon as I read SWORDSPOINT. It sucked me in, and I love her mannerpunk with a true passion. When I eventually got around to it, I read the other two novels set in the same world...

11. THE FALL OF THE KINGS by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman

I should preface this mini-review by explaining that I like and know both Ellen and Delia through social SF occasions. I was looking forward to this book, and it didn't entirely disappoint my expectations. I thought it was rich and well-written, don't get me wrong. But it took me a really long time to get through it, which I'm chalking up to the pacing. There were places in the book where it seemed like the authors were so enamored of the history that they ignored the fact that the plot dictated they summarize instead of recapitulate all the events that happened. As a consequence, it moved a great deal slower than it needed to in certain parts.

Despite that, it's very much worth a read, if you're a Riverside completist like me (I'm still tracking down all the short stories). I would love to know what happens to Theron and Jessica and all the others, and I hope that Ellen and Delia (or one or the other) write a sequel to it one day. I was also sufficiently intrigued by Katherine that I went and found where THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD was hiding in my to be read pile.

12. THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD by Ellen Kushner

This Riverside novel I loved. I devoured it hungrily in the course of an entire night. Katherine was intriguing, the novel was sexy beyond belief, and we got to see Richard and Alec again. I loved everything about it, and I was very, very sad when it ended. That Richard was blind.... that hurt my heart, I think, but it was a book I don't regret reading at all. It's highly recommended.

13. IMADOKI, Volume 1 by Yuu Watase

I read this, very badly, in the original Japanese years ago. So when I realized that it was eventually available in English, I got it to read again. Boy, I missed a lot... It's short and sweet and pure fluff, but the main character has a pet fox (buy your own fox!), and I enjoyed it. I'll probably pick up more later.

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...Kirsten Dunst's blue hair.

(Warning: The video is awesome, but I must warn you that it is NSFW, due to, as my husband said "Boobies".)

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We'll get back to the ice skating shortly, but I'd like to point out that Ueno Juri, who is an excellent Japanese actress, and Eita, a good Japanese actor, will be starring in a primetime Japanese drama about Twitter this spring.

Sunao ni Narenakute [roughly: "I can't be honest or frank (with you)"] is written by Kitagawa Eriko, one of my favorite Japanese screenwriters, who's responsible for such awesome shows like Long Vacation and Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi.

It revolves around five men and women who meet through Twitter and become friends through the service. The full story can be read at Tokyograph. I am unbelievably stoked that I'll be in Japan when this is airing!

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To say that I'm excited about the skating during the men's short program tonight is an understatement. Johnny Weir did well, although he wrong-edged his triple flip and lost lots of points. =( We also won't mention how utterly sad I am for Brian Joubert or Jeremy Abbott, both of who have really lovely programs.

I'd like to point out, to say again, that I really don't like Evan Lysacek. I don't know why, exactly, except that something about his skating rubs me the wrong way. It's the same way I never truly liked Timothy Goebel or Jeffrey Buttle, although I can admire that all three men are talented skaters.

But oh, the jumps on Plushenko! The utter, utter awesome of Daisuke Takahashi. The fact that Nobunari Oda did well too, as well as a whole host of other skaters. And when Daisuke's score posted, I started screaming and jumping around because suddenly the men's competition had turned into an entire horse race.

I am totally stoked for Thursday. If Daisuke doesn't implode in his long program, he's still in contention.

On another note entirely, I was also watching American Idol tonight. And seriously, how long can Ryan Seacrest and the producers draw out the suspense on the top 24? It's so cheezy that it's beyond belief. Just show us the people and get to the competition already.

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