Forty Six (Yonjuuroku) Days Until Christmas!

I am excited. Really excited. I'm already buying gofts and planning both the Thanksgiving and Christmas menus. Honestly, I dunno who is doing the "family" Thanksgiving; there always seems to be a tug of war within the women for it. But regardless, I always host some kind of celebration either on Thanksgiving or the following weekend.

It is tradition for me to cook a massive meal (I mean massive) while the decorations and tree are put up. The first presents are also placed under the tree on this day. This year's menu is sure to be a real doozy. I'm not sure how many people are coming but if everyone in my family plans to come I will have fifteen people to feed. Not a huge amount, actually. I'm used to huge parties with thirty family members or so...but this isn't a "I miss NYC" pity post so none of those thoughts *shakes head*. Anyway, this year I'll be cooking a turkey, a spiral ham, lasagna, yellow rice, mashed taters, gravy, green beans, a green salad, stuffing (two kinds), and some desserts. Oh and appetizers and a snack tray. Hmm. Oh and of course coquito will be served. *licks lips*

I cook more traditional Puerto Rican food on Christmas: A roast pork shoulder, some potato salad, arroz con gandules, pasteles, un asopao...aye dios mio. ¡Ahora tengo hambre!

Anyway, I need to go hide some gifts and then practice some Kanji. RANDOM JAPANESE UPDATE: Learning the Kanji blows. I don't think my brain can handle learning a thousand characters right now. The hiragana so far has been fun though. In fact, learning the meaning behind the kanji is fun too. For example, did you know the kanji for telephone is the kanji for electricity and the kanji for talk combined? Electric speaking...sounds like a band name.

Until next time <3

This Old Newfound Appreciation for JRock and the Like

Quite some time ago I asked a few friends for recommendations to Jrock. See, I was (and still am) learning Japanese and I thought immersing myself in the music would help seeing as music was a great teacher when it came to English. Well, back then I listened to a few of it, liked some of it, but then dropped Japanese due to lack of time....until recently. My appreciation for Jrock is back with a vengeance and bigger than ever. Here are some artists I think you should know if you want to dive into the world of Jrock.


Dir En Grey

Chances are you've heard these guys mentioned somewhere. They're doing a really good job of infiltrating the American market; they've toured with American rock groups such as Korn and their last two albums are available from Hot Topic, iTunes, and some other retailers. "Saku" seems to be a fan favourite but mine is, hands down, "Kodou." The earth-shattering screams near the end just do it for me.

Saku



Kodou





Nightmare

One of my favourite bands in the world. These guys aren't very well known here in the USA but they should be. I think a few people will be turned off by their looks; they are visual kei. Don't be put off by the lipstick because these guys rock as well as anyone else. They have an extensive catalogue so you're sure to find an song you'll like from them. It was hard for me to pick a sample since I think a lot of their songs are wonderful and different from one another.

(Gianism Shichi)


Star [K]night (live)




Orange Range

Now for something a little different. Orange Range (orengi rengi) is the kickass band that performs "Asterisk", the first opening to the anime Bleach. That's where I first heard of them and that's how I got into them. The interesting thing about OR is that they have three volcalists, one for each range. This makes their harmonies a joy to listen to. Some people catagorize them as a Jrap band; I just think they're crazy.

Asterisk


Ika Summer




Maximum The Hormone

I actually don't know much about this band or like a lot of the music but they have the coolest transition from pop to hard I have heard in one song. Watch "Koi no Megalover" just for that.

Koi No Megalover

Online Videos by Veoh.com

End of Part 1. The next part will be writen up and posted tomorrow.