an abnormally long-ish post

-so, lots of stuff ive talked about before except this time with all the boring details-

ive been researching on DSLR cameras a lot recently lol. with the whole not going anywhere thing this winter, i thought, "hey, i can use that would-be plane money to get a DSLR!" not only that, but ive really been in the whole "im going back next summer" mind set, which has had me going through a lot of my belongings here - trying to figure out what im going to leave and what i want to bring back. i have a bunch of stuff mentally grouped into different categories like, "things i definitly want to send back home, and are going to go by sea," "things i can see myself throwing out if i have to," "things i know im going to throw out," "things that are going to go in my actual luggage on the plane back to LAX," "things im going to give away," "things im going to try to sell," "things im going to try to slough off not-so-secretly in the international room at school >_>"and stuff like that.

for no one else's sake but my own, here's a list of just my technology stuffs and electronics alone i've got here (not including kitchen appliances).

*brought, $bought, %inherited, @pink:

2004 Sony Trinitron TV, 26inch %
Epson PX-A740 photo printer/scanner $
Jilbere de Paris 1.5inch ceramic curling iron *
Dell inspiron 1520 *@
Wacom Graphire4 A6 (CTE-440) tablet *
Nintendo DS *@
Sony PSP 2000 (times two -_-!) $@
Apple iPod 4gb mini (you go, little discontinued buddy =D) *@
iPod speakers by ELECOM $
Set Mate 3/4inch ceramic curling iron $@
Helen of Troy professional gold series hair dryer *
Nikon coolpix 2100 (bought way back when in japan spring 2003 - my first time here!) *@
Sony MDR-Q38 headphones $@
SVP T-100 all purpose media device of doom $@
Sony PS2 *
Funai VCR VH-M23 %
National/ Panasonic ES2082 (dont hate, epilate!) $@
Brother ELU52 sewing machine $@
Singer TT600 mending machine (/short story start! the first thing i ever got on ebay - rather, the item that got me to sign up for ebay and paypay in the first place - sophomore year in college lol. i knew 45 bucks total was too good to be true cause it's a crap machine lol. they call it 'mending' machine rather than 'sewing' machine on the box because it, you guessed it, cannot actually 'sew' lol. as kid living in a cramped dorm with not one, but 2 other roomates, i thought itd be a good idea to get a lightweight machine for my college cosplay ambitions... i thought wrong @_@ while it can handle sewing through extremely thin pieces of cloth like business shirts or pillow cases, as soon as you get thicker than 2 sheets of cotton sweatshirt materal, the motor is simply too weak to push the needle through, haha. even using the hand wheel feels like the needle kinda hits a brick wall. on top of that, there's this one prong which holds the top spool of thread that is kinda ghetto and moves, which effs up the tension and in turn effs up the machine's ability to catch the bottom spool, leaving you with no sewing action what-so-ever. from our old apt, i had allen bring the machine to me on his first visit to japan because i thought maybe here i could learn to appreciate it... only to get frustrated at it all over again lol. (american, im sorry for having you drag that thing all the way here just for me to totally not use it lol) /short story end!

i also have an assload of cords, wires, adapters etc. that i inherited along with a whole other plethora of 'gamesoft' [(= game titles) as they call it here, lol] that have been sent to me from home lol.

so yeah, with all that considered, if i get a DSLR camera here then that's just another bulky bastard to bring home lol. im pretty sure the scanner/ printer wont follow me home, and im on the fence about the sewing machine... because it's simply awesome - strong, lots of stitch options, fast and easy threading, push-button (foot pedal optional), all the on-body text is in japanese (it'd be like my mememto of japan) and it's pink!

arg. well, good thing i still have a lot of time to plan this stuff out lol. it's pretty bad though because as much as i tell myself i shouldnt be buying any more material goods i still window shop, and then one thing leads to another...

just yesterday i was on cnn and read an article about the merits of backing up files on your computer more often and i said to myself, "yknow thats some good advice because in my 2 and little bit more years here i totally have not done that. pictures, art, lesson plans, etc. stay right here on my laptop's hard drive. sure i have a bunch of stuff posted on various sites online, and i have handfuls of files from work that i keep on a compact flash mem card, but as for seriously sitting down and saving important or sentimental stuff off of mr computer, i got nothing. SO i went to eiden after school yesterday to check out prices. i saw a bunch of 350gb external hard drives (pack of 3) and 500bg ones (packs of 2) for around 9800yen and 18000yen respectively. i dont really know if those are good prices at all, really. i also saw some flash drives, 4gb, 8gb and 16bg on sale for 1900yen 2900yen and 4900yen respectively. then i cruised on over to the DSLR camera section and picked up a bunch of pamphlets as i drew aggro from the eiden staff lol. didnt have any headphones on me yesterday so they were all too ready to ask if i needed any help... like 5 billion times. i'll be ready tomorrow! >;3

while i think i'm willing to spend a good hunk of cash on a phatty camera and lenses, if i can find myself a decent entry-level one, i'll be happy with that. i dont need to make any money with the pictures i wanna take. i just want something that'll add my cosplay hobby, especially upon coming back home. right now i have my eyes on the Olympus E-620!

damn, if i can only be a good kid and wait until i get back home! i also have to resist the urge to get one based almost entirely on its outer design (the Pentax K-x model comes in 100 different color combinations offered only in japannnnn @_@ but it runs on four AA batteries bleh, and it doesnt have the cool art filters the Olympus E-620 has, nor is it as handsomely pimped out).

expanding on my emotions about cameras, i think it totally sucks how they are more expensive here than in the US - even the japanese brands too! shouldnt it be less expensive? maybe it's like japanese rice lol - 20kg bag for 5000yen! cant you get a 40lbs bag of three ladies jasmine rice for 14 bucks at international supermarket in san pablo? i get 2kg bags of rice and that costs like 1180yen. the cheapest brand of 2kg rice at Valor is 880yen. /sigh

theres this seller on ebay from taiwan who has a number of various Olympus E-620 kits - body 2 lenses, 4gb mem card all hovering around the 1k$ range. free shipping too!

i should stop, lol.

dad was a pro photographer before the restauranting happened. that was like late elementary school and middle school for me. i remember alllllllll the photo stuff we used to have between the studio and our house. theres also this one photo of me that's HUGE. im like in 4th grade or so, with 80s big fluffy hair, zebra skin patterned unitard thing, sitting in a chair that is also reminiscent of zebras, staring off into space but looking oh so happy at the same time. and i was pretty chubby lol. still kinda am, especially in the face lol.

anyway, photography reminds me of all that. i just wish i was older and into cosplay and stuff during the time my dad was a pro and had his own studio and darkroom and stuff so i could take advantage of it.