One more day and I think I’m done with that stupid last paper for this semester, one week before the deadline! That’s so much better than procrastinating till the very last minute and having one nervous breakdown after the other. Am I the only who finds writing papers so frustrating because you spend weeks writing them (well, most of the time), and then your profs read them in like 5 minutes before the embodiment of all your hard work and ambitions end up in some file at the department your studying at?

Once I’m done with the paper, my next huge semi-academic project starts which is hardcore studying for the JLPT 2. I never really bothered taking the test because… I don’t know ^^; I never had to apply for anything where any JLPT certificate was required… I’ve decided taking the test now pretty much on a whim because I might start working as a professional translator much sooner than later. And taking the test this year is probably better than putting it off till next year because the tests are getting more difficult each time.
A large part of the required vocabulary is really quite ridiculous, though. I’ve read a lot of Japanese texts in my life – newspaper articles, academic texts, fiction, manga – but I haven’t come across about 25% of the words on the vocab list o_O This is going to be so much work in too little time so I won’t be too surprised if I don’t pass.

I’ve realized over the past few weeks that I have to be careful now with my monthly spendings because I have so little extra money at my disposal as the rent I have to pay is so high BUT – divine intervention – the dollar is pretty weak at the moment so online shopping is the solution to all my consumptive cravings! I’ve been looking at pretty vintage dresses from sellers in the U.S. on ebay to take advantage of the weak dollar/strong euro. For some unexplainable reason I’m completely in the mood for wearing dresses… they’re going to make autumn so much more bearable. I’d love to have a whole wardrobe of them!

Season Two of Heroes starts tomorrow!!

Done with the website project, finished one paper – one more 10-pager left! Ah, I wish I had a bit more time for myself… I’ve also been doing some translations so I can at least pretend to be preparing for the JLPT.

Anyway, I had a tiny bit of time to watch anime which means I’ve finally managed to finish Jyu Oh Sei! *applauds* Last year, my crappy old laptop’s CPU wouldn’t allow me to play the files so I’m really late with this one… But, it was worth the wait, at least partly. Watching the manga of one of your favourite artists (Itsuki Natsumi, in this case) come to life is always a great experience so I did enjoy Jyu Oh Sei when it comes to seeing those characters animated and hearing them talk and everything. The settings, BGM and colour schemes perfectly matched and created this really great bleak atmosphere. The animation itself was done really well (it’s an OVA anyway). The one aspect that really disappointed me was the pacing of the plot, though. Sometimes the narration would drag, whereas at other times they were obviously trying to put too much into one episode… It’s a shame really, because the whole series with all its interesting themes (cloning, gender roles/expectations etc.) suffered so much because of it!

But the one thing that made me cringe the most was that Saado’s/Third’s voice actor was Oguri Shun. He has this really distinctive, husky voice so that every time Saado was talking, that mental image of Oguri Shun in that white host-y suit he’s wearing in Hana yori dango (the complete opposite of what Saado looks like) kept popping up in my head.

vs.  

Nevertheless, I did enjoy the early 90s feel of the show which made me feel quite a bit nostalgic… (And for some bizarre reason, it made me want to watch Zetsuai and Bronze, not because of any BL hints of course o_O;)