Today is my birthday. This morning I drove Mayu to her work. I was playing “Shine” by Slowdive on the stereo. When I stopped at a red light and looked back at her (she’s still too scared to sit in the front seat with me after she was hit by a car 4 years ago), I looked back at her and she smiled in a way that the age on her face seemed to disappear, and it felt like I was looking at Mayu from over 20 years ago, when we were newlyweds. It was like a time slip moment. I wish I could have frozen time then to sustain the moment. I love her now more these days than I have in many years. She wished me a happy birthday. I love you, Mayu.
I no longer trust doctors. It’s either they are fighting the system or are part of the problem anymore.
Our new floor sofa
Just over a month ago, I finally bought a small floor sofa for our apartment’s living room. In Japan, these floor sofas are popular since they do not take up so much space. They have no legs and just sit flat on the floor. I’ve wanted to get one for many years, and I am glad that I finally bought one.
I was out shopping with Mayu when I bought it, and it took up the entire back seat of the car. Mayu had to sit in the front seat, and it was the first time she sat in the front seat in nearly 4 years. She’s suffered PTSD ever since she was hit by a car in April 2019, and sitting in the front seat with a wide view of the road ahead makes her very uncomfortable. She was able to sit in front with me like she used to do, and it made me happy. It was a milestone, like an Xbox achievement unlocked.
Ulan particularly loves the sofa. Here she is wearing her snuggly jammies, playing her 3DS.
Sofas are perfect for snuggly time.
New YAJ acquisition: Nadia and Jean’s marriage poster from NewType magazine
My current Linux desktop, Feb. 2023
I found a sexy Nadia fanart picture to use for my wallpaper that reminds me of warmer weather. Neat. Mayu and I are nearly finished re-watching the series on the bluray I bought with gift card money I received for Christmas. Pretty soon I’ll see the Nautilus rescue the Eiffel Tower from collapsing onto Paris at the end.
A rare Nadia badge button for my backpack
Another Nadia capsule 208 piece jigsaw puzzle completed
It’s another one of those gachapon jigsaw puzzles.
Cool fan art from a doujinshi called Bolt On
In November, I bought an interesting-looking doujinshi called Bolt On by a mangaka named Ocha. While it is an original doujin manga, it also contains some great fan art too.
The Ingram from Patlabor.
Anice Farm from Sonic Soldier Borgman.
Priss from Bubblegum Crisis.
Sylvie from Bubblegum Crisis.
This doujinshi features original manga stories by Ocha and they feature rather nice artwork.
TOS Battlestar Galactica is best because…
…nothing is sexier than a woman with electronic slide rulers strapped to her leg.
Manga drawing my student Miho gave me!
Tonight I was very moved! It was the last night for the adult English class, at the end of the 15 weeks of lessons we’ve had together. Miho-san is a quiet woman who did not speak English much, but she became very interested in learning about my incredible love story, of how I came to fall in love with my pen pal Mayu and married her. She was very moved with how I was a shy nerd/otaku type who married his Japanese pen pal.
Miho-san said that she’s just been preoccupied with raising her children to adulthood that she never thought much about having a hobby, but she said that I helped inspire her to reach back to her old hobby of drawing anime/manga characters. She’d shown me a beautiful picture of Maetel she’d drawn a long time ago. For me tonight, she gave me a booklet with two sketches of Minmay from Macross and Lum from Urusei Yatsura. I was so happy and almost started to cry! Miho-san is an excellent artist! Thank you, Miho-san. These sketches are my new treasures.
This is a photo I took of a watercolor painting of Maetel that Miho-san showed me. She is rather talented.
