Various thoughts on various things
Feb. 24th, 2025 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alchemicinkAnother edition of throwing a bunch of random things into one post. (It's been a while!)
One circle of hell is just the DMV waiting room
Forgot to include this story in my weekly summary yesterday, but I went to get my driver's license renewed last week.
Last time I just renewed online, but they don't let you do that twice in a row. At least not in North Carolina. So I stopped by the local DMV office last Monday before I went to work.
Mistake number one was forgetting that last Monday was technically a holiday, so all the kids were out of school. Which meant a bunch of teenagers were at the DMV taking their driving test. You have to have an appointment for that, so they all got prioritized before the walk-ins, like me and everyone else waiting.
So I didn't make an appointment ahead of time which meant I waited and waited and waited and waited... You get the point 😅 It took an HOUR AND A HALF before it was my turn 😭 it could have been worse, but it was still really annoying. I thought things would be smooth sailing after that, but NOPE, there was some sort of computer system problem where they couldn't finish renewing my license at the time??? The DMV guy was nice about it though and just told me to come back that afternoon.
So I went to work for a bit, grumbled about the universe making things overly complicated, and then went back that afternoon. Things thankfully were working by that point, so I finally got my license 🥳
(For the record, there were only two people in the waiting room that afternoon. Of COURSE. Maybe I'll remember to go in the afternoon next time)
***
Are soundtracks supposed to be in the same order they appear in the show?
I've been listening to the One Piece Live Action soundtrack for the past two weeks, mostly because I wanted to rewatch the series but I don't have Netflix access right now, so music was the next best thing.
Anyway, I really enjoy the soundtrack but it is very much "we are going to remix these same four themes a hundred times over" 😂 It's very catchy though! Zoro's theme in particular keeps getting stuck in my head. And I think Zoro vs Mihawk is my favorite track overall.
But one thing that throws me off while listening is that the tracks aren't in chronological order. Like we'll have music from Baratie, then Shells Town, then the final confrontation with Arlong. It's all over the place. I think this isn't unusual for soundtracks maybe (??), but for some reason I keep expecting them to be in order!
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
***
I keep forgetting I'm reading two new manga series
I've been trying to keep up with two Shounen Jump series that debuted a few months ago. But I have to read them weekly because I don't have a Shounen Jump subscription. (You can read the most recent three chapters for free)
So the series are Ichi the Witch and Shinobi Undercover. I don't think either one is particularly amazing yet, but they're entertaining to me.
(But I still sometimes keep forgetting to read them when the new chapters come out 😅)
Ichi is an interesting series because the premise is that, in a world where only women can be witches, one boy accidentally joins their ranks too. I'm interested to see what the series tries to say about gender roles as it continues, though I'm not entirely sold on it so far. But the main characters, Ichi and Desscaras, are a lot of fun. (I love Desscaras!! She's so sassy.) I think the series definitely has potential.
Shinobi Undercover, however... is honestly not that great. The premise is a bunch of undercover teenage ninja are protecting an unsuspecting teenage girl for reasons which remain unexplained so far. The main character, Yodaka, is extremely socially awkward.
That's it. That's the manga.
Maybe it'd be better as a binge read instead of weekly?
But I have to admit socially awkward and oblivious Yodaka is extremely funny to me, so I'm not dropping it yet.
***
Gave into temptation and watched the Arc movie
Not something I usually do, but I decided to indulge for my birthday *side-eyeing myself* and also so I wouldn't have to dodge spoilers for who knows how long.
Not gonna give any spoilers or talk about the movie contents at all here. Just some thoughts on how I felt (positive) and about language learning.
I really enjoyed the movie! Personally thought it was a lot of fun to watch. Definitely made me want to rewatch the whole series again 🥰 I desperately want to talk about parts of it with people but I know I can't 😭 I wouldn't dare spoil anyone the joy of watching this themselves!
Looking forward to supporting the official release as much as I can whenever it's available. I think the dub for this will be excellent!!
But secondly, this made me realize my Japanese is getting really really rusty. I could follow the story but I definitely missed some specifics along the way. I should get back to more intensive studying, and I probably should watch some more things without subtitles to improve my lagging listening skills. I'll have to shuffle through my DVDs this weekend and pick out something I haven't watched in a long time.
Anyway, I think I have rambled enough now for one post 😂
One circle of hell is just the DMV waiting room
Forgot to include this story in my weekly summary yesterday, but I went to get my driver's license renewed last week.
Last time I just renewed online, but they don't let you do that twice in a row. At least not in North Carolina. So I stopped by the local DMV office last Monday before I went to work.
Mistake number one was forgetting that last Monday was technically a holiday, so all the kids were out of school. Which meant a bunch of teenagers were at the DMV taking their driving test. You have to have an appointment for that, so they all got prioritized before the walk-ins, like me and everyone else waiting.
So I didn't make an appointment ahead of time which meant I waited and waited and waited and waited... You get the point 😅 It took an HOUR AND A HALF before it was my turn 😭 it could have been worse, but it was still really annoying. I thought things would be smooth sailing after that, but NOPE, there was some sort of computer system problem where they couldn't finish renewing my license at the time??? The DMV guy was nice about it though and just told me to come back that afternoon.
So I went to work for a bit, grumbled about the universe making things overly complicated, and then went back that afternoon. Things thankfully were working by that point, so I finally got my license 🥳
(For the record, there were only two people in the waiting room that afternoon. Of COURSE. Maybe I'll remember to go in the afternoon next time)
***
Are soundtracks supposed to be in the same order they appear in the show?
I've been listening to the One Piece Live Action soundtrack for the past two weeks, mostly because I wanted to rewatch the series but I don't have Netflix access right now, so music was the next best thing.
Anyway, I really enjoy the soundtrack but it is very much "we are going to remix these same four themes a hundred times over" 😂 It's very catchy though! Zoro's theme in particular keeps getting stuck in my head. And I think Zoro vs Mihawk is my favorite track overall.
But one thing that throws me off while listening is that the tracks aren't in chronological order. Like we'll have music from Baratie, then Shells Town, then the final confrontation with Arlong. It's all over the place. I think this isn't unusual for soundtracks maybe (??), but for some reason I keep expecting them to be in order!
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
***
I keep forgetting I'm reading two new manga series
I've been trying to keep up with two Shounen Jump series that debuted a few months ago. But I have to read them weekly because I don't have a Shounen Jump subscription. (You can read the most recent three chapters for free)
So the series are Ichi the Witch and Shinobi Undercover. I don't think either one is particularly amazing yet, but they're entertaining to me.
(But I still sometimes keep forgetting to read them when the new chapters come out 😅)
Ichi is an interesting series because the premise is that, in a world where only women can be witches, one boy accidentally joins their ranks too. I'm interested to see what the series tries to say about gender roles as it continues, though I'm not entirely sold on it so far. But the main characters, Ichi and Desscaras, are a lot of fun. (I love Desscaras!! She's so sassy.) I think the series definitely has potential.
Shinobi Undercover, however... is honestly not that great. The premise is a bunch of undercover teenage ninja are protecting an unsuspecting teenage girl for reasons which remain unexplained so far. The main character, Yodaka, is extremely socially awkward.
That's it. That's the manga.
Maybe it'd be better as a binge read instead of weekly?
But I have to admit socially awkward and oblivious Yodaka is extremely funny to me, so I'm not dropping it yet.
***
Gave into temptation and watched the Arc movie
Not something I usually do, but I decided to indulge for my birthday *side-eyeing myself* and also so I wouldn't have to dodge spoilers for who knows how long.
Not gonna give any spoilers or talk about the movie contents at all here. Just some thoughts on how I felt (positive) and about language learning.
I really enjoyed the movie! Personally thought it was a lot of fun to watch. Definitely made me want to rewatch the whole series again 🥰 I desperately want to talk about parts of it with people but I know I can't 😭 I wouldn't dare spoil anyone the joy of watching this themselves!
Looking forward to supporting the official release as much as I can whenever it's available. I think the dub for this will be excellent!!
But secondly, this made me realize my Japanese is getting really really rusty. I could follow the story but I definitely missed some specifics along the way. I should get back to more intensive studying, and I probably should watch some more things without subtitles to improve my lagging listening skills. I'll have to shuffle through my DVDs this weekend and pick out something I haven't watched in a long time.
Anyway, I think I have rambled enough now for one post 😂
no subject
Date: 2025-02-25 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-25 10:40 pm (UTC)--
I don't know if they're supposed to, but they should be!!
re Japanese and understanding stuff, I recently discovered there's a Japanese animated movie of the Magic Tree House! But I cannot find any version of it anywhere with subs. (2011 so I'm not even expecting any online streaming, but I can't even find that it was ever released internationally). Watching the trailer, I feel like I know enough of the story to watch it without subs (and though I've never studied Japanese, I feel like I have maybe enough osmosis for this), but I'm not sure if nibling will agree (not that there's a dub of course anyway). This all really did remind me of the fact that I don't really care for streaming stuff; good old days with buying dvds and blu-rays, and I think I'm going back to that whenever possible (sadly, not always possible, but more than one might expect).
no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 12:12 am (UTC)I don't know if they're supposed to, but they should be!!
Exactly! How am I supposed to relive the series if it keeps jumping around?? 😂
Oh it's so frustrating when something doesn't have subs available when you want them 😩 I've run into that multiple times. Tho I will say that if you have a grasp of the story ahead of time, it's easier to figure out things that you don't understand just through having the context. Anyway, I agree about streaming. I prefer having physical media whenever possible and I'm always sad society keeps going away from that