durendal

Here it is again with me topic reviving. Well, please don't blame me as I'm currently very upset. What is the source of my frustration? Well, this morning, since I was already running late, I decided to take a cab to work since I'm not allowed to drive my car due to the number coding scheme in place. When I got off the cab, I noticed that my left pants pocket was empty (place where I usually place my work phone). Tried calling the cab back but he just won't respond and drove fast out of sight. I couldn't even get it's plate number. Tried calling my phone with my other phone and nobody was answering. Figures, the cab driver must have taken interest in my phone and decided to pawn it. Crap. Just Craptastic. Now I'm missing a phone and I'm too frustrated and distracted to concentrate on my job. In cases like this, you usually say goodbye to that phone, since chances of recovering it is less than zero percent. It's okay to lose the phone and sim card, but what is really vexing is the numbers in that phone that I will never recover. Now, enough of my vents and time to get to the point of my post. Since this topic is about "choice for phones", I'm currently in the need to purchase a phone. Since my work phone was a cheapo phone (a nokia 2700 classic), I'm torn between buying another cheapo phone or a high end phone. Like I mentioned last time, I'm not too keen on buying another nokia phone, but since I'm too used to the nokia format, I'm having difficulty in switching to another brand. (Damn you Nokia). So, do you guys have any suggestions as to what phone I might get? Also, I'm automatically ruling out any form of Iphone since I really hate apple.

You might want to check out the SIC Kiwami Tamashii line. I've snubbed them before due to their miniture size and lesser cost, but upon closer scrutiny, their sculpt is very impressive, reminiscent of the original SIC line. They're like the affordable mini SIC that still looks cool for the pose. Unless of course you've already got them.... hehehe.

I'm inclined to think that after the Luna Trigger and Heat Metal, they will be releasing Accel. S.I.C. is churning out figures very fast these days. Who knows, even without realizing it an OOO's SIC might not be far behind. But I do hope they cover some of the past riders they haven't covered yet. I'm excited to get my hands on my SIC W. In the mean time, I'll just play with my newly acquired SIC Ryuki. Hehehe. So far at the moment I have 5 SIC, Kuuga, Kiva, Kabuto, Decade and Ryuki. All that I'm missing now is Agito, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki and Den-O for the main heisei riders. I'm reluctant to get the Showa Riders since there are too many of them to complete even though V3 and Black is readily available in the market at the moment.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but you guys should also watch the drama GTO. It is a live adaptation of the popular manga and anime of the same name. Very funny too. Even the lead actor, Takashi Sorimachi, sang the opening song "Poison", which is kinda catchy too.

I see. Well, I was so hyped up at how super powerful Luffy and the gang had become, and after seeing a few skirmishes they made with the fishmen pirates, I was like, what the hell? It's either the straw hats pirates were super weak to begin with or these new adversaries are super strong. I guess the long wnding chapters that went before somewhat dampened my expectations that they were now uber powerful. I don't think the fishmen pirates would do well with Caribou. Since Caribou is human, the fishmen pirates are sure to find contempt towards caribou. Decken and Hodi are way too different to Caribou. Whereas the fishmen pirates have pride, Caribou is just scum.

Is it just me, or am I finding the pace to be a little bit too slow compared to the past arcs? It could possibly because I read chapter 1 to 500 straight compared to the 1 week wait in the recent chapters. But I still haven't felt the adrenaline I felt reading the past arcs.

I feel that the colored images in the manga were a little bit raw or pale. I suppose the way the manga was printed and the type of media has something to do about it. I would imagine that the colors would be a little more lively. Of course, not so pink as compared to the original one.

Really? You can pull them apart? That's cool! I still haven't recieved my SIC Cyclone Joker yet, not even sure if its already released, but that's reather cool. But what if you want a Joker X Joker form? How would you do that?

Some random pics that I took. I took a lot of pics but I got too lazy uploading them, so here are some that I think will show where I went: We were in Universal studios! The temple in Kiyomizu, one of the Unesco certified historical monuments. Can't exactly remember where I took this Forgot the name of this temple, but this place has a lot of deers running around. And here's Osaka Castle.

Hey guess what! The next SIC was announced. Next they're coming out with Kamen Rider W Heat Metal and Luna Trigger!

Ah yes, a bottle of water here costs around 25 cents, given the current exchange rate. Well, I did enjoy the trip, but wasn't exactly like anything I expected. It had the same atmosphere like when I went to Hong Kong and Singapore. Of course the people in Japan are a lot nicer.

Majin Buu is not the end of it. I won't say anything else, but this really made me chuckle: Note that this is not a spoiler, but something funny you should notice. Not even sure if this is present in the anime as I saw it in the manga. edit: decided to use spoiler tags as this might give away the punch line.<br><br>Mr. Toriyama does have a knack of using ordinary things as names. If you noticed, around 90% of their names comes from household items.

she's probably taking her liberties at the royal treasury.

Japan is hella expensive. Well, for somebody from a third world country like me that is. On a conversion rate, US $1 is equivalent to almost 79 yen. A bottle of water costs about 150 yen. So that $2 for a bottle of water. But if you are going to compare prices in Japan versus those from the west, I think its quite the same. Most of the food costs around 500-1000 yen, and shopping items (lig bags, shoes, etc) ranges from 1000-9000 yen. Luxury items (watch, jewelry etc) around 20,000 yen and above. Oh, and hookers will cost you $1M yen. (I was not looking for this, I just accidentally saw it on a sign board okay!) I think that the most important thing to remember when buying things is not to convert to your native currency. That will certainly restrict your spending. Since not everything is expensive as they seem. Heck, they're selling iphone 4 16GB for just under $200. They sell a phased out Cannon Ixus digital camera for just $10. Imagine that. Didn't quite have the time to roam around since I was part of a tour, but I did managed to get me a few things. For one thing, I got myself a SIC Ryuki (for 5500 Yen). That's the only toy I was able to get (since I was restricted to get only 1 toy). But at least I've added the Osaka and Kyoto starbucks mug to my collection. Hehehe. Damn, it was fun. Weather was cold too, about 4-9° C. I'll post pictures when I get the chance to upload them. But damn, Kansai-ben was difficult to understand (I was in Osaka). I had to ask them to repeat what they said before I could get it. Not to mention that a lot of them speak with a nasal accent. I'll post more details later, right now I need to catch up with work.

EVERYBODY DOWN!! I'M HIJACKING THIS THREAD!! Since I remember Ryuki making this thread, I opted to hijack this instead of creating a new one. Sorry Ryuki. But yes, I'm going to Japan. I didn't say a word because I thought I might jinx it since my visa only came out the other day and my flight is today. I'm going to Osaka! Though I doubt I'll be able to roam around freely since I'm part of a package tour. But still, I'm going to Japan. At least we have a free day on the last day, I just hope I have enough time to look around the stuff I'm interested in. We'll be staying in Swissotel Nankai, and I've read that Den Den town (electronic center and lots of anime stuff) is very nearby. I also hope that I can find that Seiko watch that I've been looking for. I don't have a high end DSLR camera like some other people do, just an old point and click cannon digital camera, so I hope I can get decent pictures. Not sure if wifi will be available there, but I'll keep you guys posted should I ever have a chance to get online. See you guys in a week. Woohoo~!!

Don't mind if you do. Please. Spoil me. (remember to use spoiler tags, others might not want to know what happens)

Just two words: SUIT UP!

A younger person using -kun to an older person is a no-no. It shows clear disrespect and ignorance of the norms of society. The honorifics -kun can be used for both boy and girl. Also, maturity is not depicted in the honorifics, but rather on the grammar a person uses. Unlike in English where there is one correct grammar, in Japanese, there is the polite grammar, casual grammar and rough grammar. As examples stated below: Example: Where are you going? rough: Doko e ikun da? casual: Doko e ikimasu ka? formal: Dochira e irashaimasu ka? Technically, if you translate all of them in english, it all means the same thing, "where are you going". But the manner of speaking depicts the level of respect one person is portraying towards the other person.

Yup, what she said. But to clarify things, the Japanese culture has this fondest notion of respect, and there are certain rules to follow regarding the signs of respect. The suffix -chan and -kun (well, mostly -kun) are only used by the elder to address younger people, and may be used casually if both parties are acquainted. the -kun may be used even if both parties are not familiar with each other, as long as the person using it is way older than the person he/she is addressing. The younger person usually address a person he/she respects with -san, and sometimes even -sama. Of course, -chan may be used if the siblings are really close, as often used by a younger sister to address her brother. Also note that although -chan is not considered as a feminine language, it is most often used by females. You'll actually be teased if you are a guy and calls you brother oni-chan. You'll be branded as having a brother complex.

Only that they would be very close? the suffix -chan is mostly used when addressing each other on a personal level, like how a boyfriend and girlfriend would address each other. But that is not to say it is solely used by them. It's more like an affectionate calling. Notice how sometimes parents would call their children -chan. It's indicative of the level of respect between two people. The heirarchy would be something like: -chan < -san < -sama

Yup, something like that. Japanese tend to have masculine and feminine words. Even phrases similar to "Like, hello" which leans to be more feminine. I don't think I've ever heard a guy say that. It's either from a girl or the guy is gay. Oh family relationships. In your case, the younger brother addressing his older brother would call him "Oni-san". "Oni-chan" if they're close, "aniki" if they were bros, and "Oniue" or "Oni-sama" if they are very formal and polite. "Kyodai" is simply translated as 'siblings'. If they really hated each other, they would simply call each other using their first names.

Hey, don't spoil it for the king. As his wingman, it's my responsibility to make sure that he gets enough of the wild, hot, passionate and irresponsible coitus with no strings attached, and from those rated 8 and above. Here' s the plan, we go to the beach, and once we select a potential prey, I'm going to initiate a play that I would call "Sidestepped". I'll go up to the prey and be obnoxious in trying to pick her up. Once the girl shows signs of annoyance, the king will step in and shoo me away. Then the King can do his duty and sow his royal oats. It's the perfect plan, except, I'm half away around the world! Damn!!

I just stumbled upon a new slang that teenage girls seems to be using these days. あげぽよ [Agepoyo] It's something like an expression similar to being excited. After a little research, I found out that this term originated from the phrase テン ションが上がる [TENSION ga Agaru], meaning getting excited/energetic. Using the verb agaru, it is sometimes shortened to あげ [Age]! Repeating this word あげあげ [ageage] doubles the expression. Adding the suffix ぽよ [poyo] gives emphasis to the verb. Hence, we get "Agepoyo" It's usage can be: あ! ガイバーが出ました! あげぽよ~! [Ah! Guyver ga demashita! Agepoyo~!] Ah! Guyver is out! I'm so excited! Note: This is a girls slang, so a guy using this would make him sound strange.

I've been wondering how Chaos was has been. I didn't quite like the idea of Hercules being the top dog, but since I'm really bored at the moment, I'm thinking of reading Chaos war. I do hope it surprises me like how Shadowland surprised me. Also, DC doesn't seem to have any majore developments at the moment. The Brightest Day arc is running a bit too long. And I've heard about the Flashpoints and I'm getting curious about it too. But will this new arc tie up with Brightest day since I've never read a single issue of it.

Yeah! Spring Breaks a coming! Time to get the old machismo oil boiling. Florida Girls are unforgettable, daisy dukes bikinis on top of sun-kissed skin, so hot, it will melt your popsicle!