Film Report -Dark Shadows

Gave myself a treat and had a solo-movie morning to see Dark Shadows. Wonder when it'll be that I can do this and take advantage of the Ladies' Day Wednesday (1000 yen for a film for ladies) again, once I enter my motherhood.

I liked how Tim Burton didn't put too fine a point on the vampire aspect of Barnabas's character. It bolsters the story, yet the film doesn't entirely draw on the darkness that is vampire-hood and the prominence of the story remains purely human and innocent.

Until next time,

Sak

Film Report - MIB3

I don't recall seeing the second movie, but it mattered not. The film was a lot of fun to watch.

I am to head to my parents' house next week for the final month (finally!) of my pregnancy, so Sunday was the last day off that T and I got to spend together. Hard to believe that when I come back, it'll be not just the two of us any more around here.

Until next time,

Sak

May The Force Be With Nerdy Parents All Around The World

I'm in my trimetser. We really need to get things going around the house for the bun in the oven, and got a stroller and a bed.

T's little Yoda is in it for a test ride.

Resting together in a new futon set, accompanied by his little Vader.

Noted: StarWars and organic-cotton go strangely well.

Until next time,

Sak

Book Report -Our Days Are Numbered

Haven't read a non-fiction in a while. As a matter of fact, I don't recall reading any books that are about mathematics, and that includes, sadly, my algebra textbook in high school.

I was at the library the other day with T, and while waiting for him to come out of the bathroom I was by math & science shelves. I was skimming the backs of the books there with not much of an interest, until I came to this one: Our Days Are Numbered -How Mathematics Orders Our Lives.

Had I not been watching The Big Bang Theory over and over on Watch Series, my eyes would have most likely passed right by it and kept on going. T would have come out of the bathroom, and I would have left the place with him to the newspapers, and that'd be the end of my ever so brief relationship with the math & science shelves forever. I would never step into that section of the library ever again. But like I said, I'm a bit of The Big Bang Theory fanatic. I am not going to dignify that my brain is tv-washed, but when I read that title, I totally heard Sheldon Cooper in his condescending tone of his voice, "Sak (the way he calls Penny), everything in our lives are numbered. How do you live and not see it?"

I laughed at that in my head, took the book in my hands, turned to some random pages and skimmed the sentences to see the way the author, Jason Brown, writes, decided that it was neither annoyingly expository the way I hate in non-fiction books, nor too wordy for me to comprehend (don't you hate it when people make a boring subject even more boring simply by lack of better words to explain it?). I sat on the chair nearby and started reading it. T came out. Asked me what book it was I was reading. I showed him the hard cover. "Looks a lot of fun, " he said, adding, "you know, you are good at shogi. You're probably better at math than you claim yourself." His words were all I needed to hear. I took the book home.

I am still in the first half of the book, but I gotta tell ya, I wish I could go back to my high school years and give this to 16-year-old me. So this isn't much of a report. I've simply told you the story on how I've slowly opened the gate to the world of mathematics for the first time in my life at age 32.

Until next time,

Sak

p.s. BTW, T's choices that day were "The Jurassic Mystery" and "Science in Fairy Tales". What a nerdy couple we are...

Trip to Ise & Atsumi Peninsula

Here are the highlights of our three-day trip that we made during the Golden Week. I started writing a little more about the fun we had but I came to no end of it, so I'm gonna let the pictures speak for themselves.

Until next time,

Sak

Britain Ain't Need No Talent, It's Got Cate

There are many women out there that are beautiful. Or sexy. Or foxy. Whatever word that you find appropriate to describe an ideal woman.

Then there is Cate.

She is what I'd like to dub "modern chic". I can honestly say that she may be one of very, very few women that I don't know in person that I find utterly gorgeous. And it doesn't matter if she married a balding youth of a British royal highness (yawn...), you just know she is beautiful on the inside, too.

Not many can pull off intelligence and approachability at the same time in chic and sexy dresses like she does.

Until next time,

Sak

Viva Vivova!

Japan is in the midst of a train of holidays called Golden Week. E and her hubby M came to visit us and we had a little lunch out at a cafe, called Vivavo, only a minute ride from our flat. Didn't know of the place till E took us there.

Vivova is its name, and it's very chic and nice. Has quite a selection of unique drinks and coffee.

I had their Sandwich Plate of the Day...

...and was very happy with the choice made.

Thank you, E! for the great place!

Until next time,

Sak

Film Report -The Artist

Just had another solo-movie outing, and saw The Artist.


Great movie. I liked it. It pulled the whole classic-themed aspect of the film simply well. Too bad they can't make another film like this again - or it'd be really hard to pull off following this one anyway.

Took me back to to the summer of 2001 when I was taking a Literature in Cinema I or II at CSULB, where we were to see a movie every week in classroom. They usually had us see movies that are either black-and-white and silent, or the kinds that you can't rent from Blockbuster.

The music can be, at times, annoying, though. I don't know if that's because of my pre-maternal hormone level, or it's purposefully done that way. I am guessing the later.

Until next time,

Sak

Mu Ga En - House of Philosophy

Found this place 10 min. drive from my flat, Mu Ga En, where visitors get to be philosophical and deeper and stuff. The guidebook said that it was free of charge, so there I was, 10 in the morning, walking into the "House of Philosophy", ready to find serenity within myself.

To my surprise, really, it wasn't too bad. On its premise were a tea ceremony house that anyone can participate without having been properly prepared (no kimono or knowledge of traditional manners for the occasion required) completed with a neatly-kept Japanese garden, and this museum-like building (free to enter) where displays of philosophers' famous sayings and philosophical lines from literature are on the wall, and you can sort of walk around the quiet corridor, haunted by their words and deep in thoughts.

The whole place is quite peaceful. Whether you care about philosophy per se or not, you are bound to calm down with your thoughts and find yourself inhaling deeper as you walk around and feeling good about life...

...or, you can just take advantage of the place for your morning stroll.

Beginning to really like the city I live in.

Until next time,

Sak

Late and Full Bloom

I cannot believe this stalk was 50% off just because, as the clerk said when I questioned if there was something wrong with it, it wasn't "blooming as quickly as others". It had four buds that weren't even colored white yet when I brought it home last week.

Look at them now!

Late bloomers may just be being patient, not procrastinating. Right?

Until next time,

Sak