The state of things

I'm not all that wild about either of the books I'm reading right now, but I have issues with quitting books after I've started them.  I don't do it often.  I don't know why - the few times I've chosen to just quit reading a book, I haven't regretted it.  I just don't like starting a book and not finishing it.

I'm almost done watching The Twelve Kingdoms all the way through in English (my first viewing was in Japanese with English subtitles).  I prefer it in Japanese, but I've gotten used to the English dub - I no longer cringe when Yoko speaks.  I haven't decided what I'll watch next.  I should watch at least a little of the second season of Rurouni Kenshin, so I can decide whether I need to buy the first and third seasons. I'm not really in the mood to watch the whole season right now, though.  For me, it's currently a toss up between Red Garden and Welcome to the NHK.  However, I might decide to watch Raccoon Princess before I get started with either of those.  Decisions, decisions.

That's just my DVD viewing - online, I'm currently working my way through Naruto Shippuden.  I've got a long, long way to go.  There are 167 episodes on Hulu, and I'm only on episode 16.  I put off watching this show because I was a little burned out on being hooked on really long shows.  I love being able to follow beloved characters for dozens or hundreds of episodes, but I also like owning stuff I enjoy, and loving something this massive is really expensive.  Naruto, the first TV series, gave me an excuse to quit watching it by going on a hundred-episode long filler spree.  Then my dad started giving me Naruto Shippuden spoilers, and I kept seeing AMVs with really great Naruto Shippuden clips, and I ended up caving.

Tomorrow I plan to go see Eclipse, the teenage fangirl magnet.  I hope it's been out long enough that I won't find myself sitting in a crowded theater.

And, last but not least, I'm starting to get sick, which isn't good.  I can feel it in my throat, so I'll need to make sure to drink lots of tea.  Hey, it's an excuse to drink my delicious and expensive throat tea.  I consider it the tastiest tea I own.  The only good thing about having a sore throat is that it gives me an excuse to drink this tea.  Anyway, I'm convinced it's the weather that's making me sick.  We've been having a lot of rain lately, which seems to have no effect on our disgusting heat, other than to turn it into humid heat.  I still walk to and from work almost every work day.  Most days, it rains a lot in the middle of the day and/or in the evening, which means my walk usually isn't too bad.  By the end of the work day on Friday, though, we had a few mid-calf height puddles (which might better be called "mildly flooded streets" and "gutter rivers").  Even before Friday, it's felt like the humidity has been clinging to my lungs - no matter how much I clear my throat, that little tickle always seems to come back.