Tuesday, December 7, 2004 — Pearl Harbor Day (USA)

Well, it’s been a wacky couple of days.

I knew I’d have to wake up early on Monday morning, to attend the presentation of my high school friends on the book Gates of Fire. I also knew that, if I tried to sleep for only a few hours Sunday night, I’d end up sleeping right through the presentation.

So, when I was unable to go to sleep early, I stayed up all night, mainly reading the last half of Ender’s Shadow. I attended the presentation and had a great time. But by 11:00 that morning, I was literally nodding off at my desk, in the middle of conversations with other people. So, I decided to go home and nap for a couple of hours.

Eight hours later, I woke up.

Ah well. I went to work Tuesday morning, apologized to everyone that I’d planned to meet with Monday afternoon, and got back to work. Had a good day at work, too, as there was a mini-crisis to occupy my time.

I snuck out during lunch hour and deposited my property tax refund into my Otherspace Productions account. I can get back to animation! Hurray! Then after work, I met with two different animators to collect their work on Matrix Experiments Lain. Man, we’re getting reasonably close to finishing that.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and bought some reasonably healthy food—nuts, dried cranberries, frozen chicken, orange juice—then came home and pan fried a filet of tilapia (it’s a kind of fish). Had that with a side of green beans, and man did I feel healthy. I finished off my meal with some dried cranberries (delicious) and honey roasted cashews (blah. I’ve always disliked the bland flavor of cashews, and the honey roasting didn’t mask it). I find that eating healthy food significantly improves my energy level and my emotional level. I just feel more satisfied and ready to take on life if I’ve been eating well.

I spent the evening with my head buried in various projects: proofing a novel (someone else’s; this is business), reviewing this week’s Japanese lesson, skimming Kungfu Basics for some basic practice stances (Horse Stance, Bow Stance, and Cat Stance for now), and reading the final volume of the manga .hack//Legend of the Twilight, which was much more satisfying than .hack//Sign (the anime)’s ending.

I do like the fact that all of the .hack stories are about identity, but each approaches identity in a different way. //Sign asks, “What gives us identity, and what makes that identity worthwhile?” Legend of the Twilight asks, “Can we change our identity by force of will, and if so, how much and in what ways?” Shugo, the protagonist of Legend of the Twilight, wants to be a hero. Can he, just by wanting to? He certainly doesn’t start out a hero. Can he force himself to become heroic? Is that truly heroism? All excellent questions, all of them explored to various degrees in the manga.

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