So, for my Tai Chi class "final," I wrote some really horrible haiku (in Japanese, duh, what other language can you write haiku in? Next thing you'll be telling me that sonnets are great in Japanese. Oh, yeah, the iambic pentameter sooooo works in a language with no syllable stress, you-non-mora-using monkey-language-people!)

Ahem. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, haiku. Of course, I wrote it all vertical and stuff, since any other way would be wrong, but here's what I came up with (five haiku, one for each element):

春の風鳥や花見や緑の木
どこも音祭りが光る花火咲く
土湿る生命の鉢そして気も
変色落日落ち葉全て金
寒水と流動冬物静か

Pretty awful, I know! Especially that last one, yikes -- complete gibberish. But I snuck in the character for each of the Chinese elements into each of the haiku (木火土金水 -- although in one case I used an alternate reading), and also snuck chi/qi (氣 or 气 -- well, the Japanese version, of course, which is ki or 気) into the middle there. I'm so proud, it's sad. Even though I kinda did it wrong, left out the seasonal codewords (季語) and all that.

Oh, I suppose most people here can't read Japanese (you whiners). So I guess I can translate and stuff:

haru no kaze, tori ya hanami ya, midori no ki
wind of spring, birds and flower viewing and, trees of green (so inane!)

dokomo oto, matsuri ga hikaru, hanabi saku
everywhere sound, festivals shine, fireworks bloom (okay, I kinda almost like this one)

tsuchi shimeru, seimei no hachi, soshite ki mo
dampened earth, bowl of existence, and also spirit (um, well)

henshoku, rakujitsu ochiba, subete kin
(fading) change of color, setting sun fallen leaf, all gold (well, I guess)

samu mizu to, ryuudou fuyu, monoshizuka
water cold and, winter flowing, a still thing (yuck!)

Yeah, there's a reason I'm not a poet.

I think I scared the poor survey lady at Yack in the Box today...

After asking where I'd come from and such:
"So, when you leave, will you be going home, or to work?"
"Yes."

"So, where did you hear about Jack in the Box?"
"I heard one had opened in Denver on the internet, so I knew Jack was Back."

"So, have you eaten at Jack in the Box in other cities before?"
"Yes, all of them, I made a point of eating at Jack in the Box when traveling. Well, other fast food places you can't get here, too, Whataburger, In 'N' Out, or Lotteria or First Kitchen when I'm in Japan..." [Yes, even White Castle, for the record. Or Steak 'n' Shake or Culvers... Although I haven't actually been to the Culvers in Thornton yet... Mr. Dave, we soooo have to make a roadtrip sometime!]

I bet she just threw my survey responses out. :)

Just three finals and a paper left (kinda collapsed this morning, but I guess I needed the sleep. Of course, the worst of the finals is Monday, so a busy weekend here).

I finished drawing my last drawing for my drawing class (but that's really about as many times as I can use "drawing" in a sentence):



I figure some of you might appreciate it. :)

I think I'm already looking pretty spiny today.

I heard a rumor that somebody advanced today. I wonder who?

Oh, yeah, 2-1 Avs.

Another 3-2 game, the second to the Avs (and two to the Wild... With the 5-1 shellacking the difference).

Theodore has been out of his mind. Woo!

Found the new Jack in the Box in Golden. Five months late! The map lied, it was off by blocks.

Mmm, yay. Colorado's fast food is now officially civilized (okay, Wendy's is enough for civilization, really. But I missed the Yack).

Now, need to find the Culver's.

Not all of the rocks in Arches National Park were arches. There were also other interesting rocks.

Moab is a good place for climbers, as well as mountain bikers:



(Rest of the set through the link -- this is a fairly short set. So to speak.)

Finally uploading the rest of the trip pictures (I had them ready this weekend, but ran out of time to do the actual uploading part). With a few exceptions, they really aren't that good. You can really tell that my two cameras really metered things differently, especially under non-ideal lighting conditions -- of which there were a lot.

My favorite arch in Arches National Park, the Double Arch:



The rest are past the link.

There was some domination in this game. Also, as you'd expect, some fighting. Instigated, of course, mainly by the submissive team, as is normal in such situations.

Unfortunately, it just means the series is tied 2-2, but it was a fun game to see in person.

Also, did I mention not overtime? Freakin' finally. Geez.

Domo-kube was on a mission today:



(The rest of the mission is past the link.)

I am a hot Polish Viking robot... Head!

So there.

Added later: Also, not evil! I IS BEIN VERY SERIOUS FOR MAH VERY SERIOUS PORTRAIT!

( VERY SERIOUS! )

As threatened, here are some more drawings from my drawing class.

Me. As a robot. Because, of course, I am a robot:



Click through for the full set. I uploaded seven pictures today for a total of ten; some are quicker assignments, some are full-blown multi-hour projects.

Did I remember that the playoffs started yesterday? No, I did not, at least not until I was reminded during overtime. Don't have much excuse (I mean, I knew we had tickets for a playoff game next week, even), except between work and school, hella busy.

Did I watch the game? No, I did not, although it was re-played later that night on the tube of boob. Huh, that sounds... I mean... Oh, never mind. I'm not sure I could have made the time for this particular game, anyway.

However, the Avs managed to win without me, so that's good. (Exciting game? So I hear.) And I guess it means that the tickets Dusty got for Tuesday will be guaranteed to be usable (since theoretically, it being game four in what I believe is a best-of-seven, they could have been swept away by bad fortune). It will actually be my first (Avalanche) game in Pepsi center -- I haven't seen them in person since McNichols Arena (that ought to date it. I've seen a Nuggets game at Pepsi, though. Took free tickets to get me to go to an NBA game, for the record. They sucked back then. Actually, they still kind of suck... Well, that's not true. They don't suck too bad, they just happen to be in the conference with all the good teams, so might miss the playoffs anyway).

Do I have an Avs icon? No, I do not. I will by the next game, though. My excuse here is that it's been a couple years since they were in the playoffs, and, well... One of those long season type games, you know. I just watch them off and on, and kinda hasn't been the same since the lockout and all that.

(And go Royals! Damn. I know it can't be real, though, if the Orioles are also doing that well. Clearly, all a fantasy to be straightened out at a later date. But nice in the meantime. Rockies off to a uninspiring start, and Astros... Well, whatever. Early yet, we'll see.)

Stolen from arwensouth

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. Below is the list and here be the rules.

1. Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [although it's possible I actually have seen every episode]
46. Sex and The City

45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers [own the full DVD set]

40. Life on Mars [but I do want to see it]
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation [again, maybe every episode, but not sure]
36. Father Ted

35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5 [own the full DVD set]
31. Deadwood

30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under [um, did I give up before it ended or not?]
26. Red Dwarf

25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks [missed this, somehow]
23. The Office UK
22. The Shield
21. Angel [own the full DVD set]

20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who [well, uh, seen all the new ones]

15. Heroes
14. Firefly [own the full DVD set]
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld

10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24

05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer [own the full DVD set]
01. The Simpsons

And there it is. Way too much TV, apparently.

I finally remembered to take my camera to my drawing class today (well, finally remembered to both take the camera and make sure it had a memory card in it at the same time). We've only finished three full projects so far (well, four, but I never finished the collage when I was sick, and at this point, I never will. I don't feel that bad about it -- it's not actually a drawing, after all). We're very close to completing two more (an objective and subjective self-portrait), but they just aren't quite done, so I'll probably post them next Friday. Or the week after if we end up having a model and change gears temporarily.

Anyway, none of the stuff I've done so far is terribly exciting, but there it is.

Some bags, yay:



(Two more in the set past the link.)

...The scary thing is, this might actually be serious.

But I'm not quite sure.

...Because I know you've been waiting for it, the real pictures from the Canada trip.

Canada produced quite an impressive coating of road slime:

...To find myself a mail-order bride of some sort. Well, that's probably a bad way of putting it, but you get the idea. Preferably Filipina (you know, since they speak English and maybe I want to learn Tagalog) or Thai (since, well, I do like the spicy food).

I might consider Chinese or something, though. My learning Chinese probably won't really help there, though, since it's likely they wouldn't speak fluent Mandarin in the boonies of China (apropos of nothing, "boonies" comes from the Tagalog word for "mountain," something I just discovered recently, you know, reading up on this).

I've been doing lots of research, and I've decided that this is a good idea.

Some pictures from the trip to Canada...

There was, in fact, snow in the Canadian Rockies:

.

There are also pictures not by me.

...I have twitter. Same ID as everywhere in the entire universe, doubt72.

I may never use it, but feel free to follow my not using it.

今天，我回学中文。

Or something like that.

もちろん、二ヶ月の後だけまだ上手じゃありません。

...Last night. Well, technically, this morning.

I feel a year older.

It's amazing how annoying a night without internet can be. We had to go steal it in the parking lot of another motel after we saved a little too much money. Oops.

Other than that, things went pretty well. Of course, we did take a wrong turn in Jackson Hole on the way to Yellowstone, and ended up here in southern Utah (hi, Tiassa! Went through too early to make it possible to drop by and say hi or do dinner or anything, but that was as expected, I suppose, hence the low-probability of being able to visit. But we waved! I mean, you know, sorta, since we didn't really know exactly where you were. Well, okay, we thought about waving. Maybe).

Funny how they close Yellowstone in Spring. I mean, really, Banff is open, why isn't Yellowstone? It's Spring! The snow is only half a dozen feet deep.

Anyway, Jackson Hole... Got great pictures of the Tetons, as there weren't any mountains to block our view of the fog. And snow all the way from there to Logan (this being spring, you know, that winter thing being over and all, the snow was higher than the car in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah on the way. I guess you probably can ski in Utah after all, as was rumored with the 2002 Olympics.

Apparently there's also this big puddle of saltwater in Utah. Who knew? The grey of the water contrasted nicely with the gray skies.

But, there was a Jack in the Box in Idaho Falls, making the trip a clear triumph, regardless of any minor navigational errors.

Pictures from the trip, but not by me:

Signs Canada is odd.

Also, and.