Not too bad for the day.

BTW — I'm like totally traumatized. I thought Shiro and Kuro were just wrestling around. But no. They're actually in heat. Kuro's been humping Shiro nonstop, and they are doing it in front of me (shameless!). Trust me, it's pretty bad since they're so small and young, and it feels like they're way way too young to be parents. I'm going to have like a million hamster babies!

Ack!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Veteran's Day! No matter how you feel about the current war, please do thank them. They've served our nation with their lives so we can enjoy our freedom.

On the writing front — I've given up on NaNo. It's not that I hate it or anything…well…maybe. But ultimately it just wasn't working for me. The current project requires a bit more thought from me, esp. because I'm dealing with a brand new world and characters. Besides, I can't write the middle section unless I'm fairly satisfied that the opening's more or less on the right track. Why? Because I don't want to throw away the entire manuscript and start over. So currently I'm trying to get down about 1,000 to 1,500 words a day, five days a week. I'm not aiming for a super clean first draft, but I want to be able to keep a big chunk of the storyline and so on. Already I cut about 1k from the opening I wrote during my NaNo attempt because it was just…bad. So I've started a new progress table (see below):

Moving on to general life matters — DD asked me about my dwarf hamsters. Shiro and Kuro are doing great. Hero Material and I spent over $100 on new cage expansions and toys for them on Sunday. They have tubes to nowhere, two wheels, a heated nest, a wooden arched bridge, a new feed box, a sand bath, a litter box, hanging wood blocks they can chew on, etc. They're so happy in their little heated nest unit because it keeps them very warm, esp. in winter. Japanese apartments don't have central heating, so it can be fairly cold at night. (May is convinced I'm going to be one of those hovering mothers who's going to spoil my children rotten.)

Some pictures —

Hamster ball:

A brand new water dispenser:

A newly decorated old cage (contains: a heated nest, a water dispenser, a toilet paper core, a sand bath, a litter box):

An expansion cage / secondary unit (contains: two wheels, a water dispenser, a wooden arched bridge, a new feed box, hanging wood blocks, an L-tube):

Two wheels (one new, one old):

Tubes to nowhere (they connect the cages actually):

A bonus pic — Kuro in her brand new litter box!

Speaking of Kuro — as much as I find Shiro and Kuro adorable, I have a small…err…issue. The problem is that I cook, and sometimes even after a vigorous washing with soap, my hands smell a lil like food, so Kuro — she's the glutton of the two — nips or just outright bites my fingers. But she climbed onto my hands last night and sat there for a bit. So for that, I'll forgive her for trying to eat me. I even wrote a haiku dedicated to my hamsters' uber-cuteness:

The haiku critiquer told me that maybe I should expand my imagination since mine only described something as it was. Maybe next time I'll write about the man-eating Kuro.

BTW — The Big Three begging for $50 billion from the U.S. government made the headlines in Japan. Japanese people are astounded that the Big Three want to use $25 billion out of the amount requested on health care.

I'm usually against bailouts in general, and I'm not sure if throwing money at them is going to solve the real reason why they're so cash-strapped: they are losing market share, and their operation is extremely inefficient.

The Big Three seem to believe it's fashionable to blame the subprime crisis / credit crunch for their cash problems, but even when the economy was doing great, the Big Three weren't raking in dough the way Toyota, Honda and Nissan did. Since Ford has just decided to ramp up its gas-guzzling F-series truck production (hey, the gas price fell!), I'm not convinced that the Big Three will use any of the money to build more fuel-efficient environment-friendly cars. Also I don't think the Big Three will be able to survive even after the $50 billion bailout. Why? Because they can't force people to abandon their Japanese and German cars and buy the Big Three cars. Legislating people to buy American cars would be the least American thing to do, and unless the Big Three can make stylish, fuel-efficient and reliable cars that American public wants to buy, they will continue to burn cash at an exponential rate and ultimately fail. There's a reason why Deutsche Bank downgraded GM target price to $0.00 / share yesterday.

Finally, I'll leave you with a haiku I wrote a couple of weeks ago in my Japanese class. The topic was seasonal joys.

Japanese Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff General Toshio Tamogami made headlines for his inflammatory and revisionist essay on the Second World War. He claimed that Japan was tricked in to joining WWII, and that Japan was the true victim. He also denounced the Constitution, which prohibits Japan from possessing offensive weaponry and engaging in act of military aggression. In his view, Japan should rebuild its army.

This essay was bound to infuriate China, South Korea and other Asian countries who suffered at the hand of Japanese Imperial Army, so Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered Tamogami to resign.

Tamogami quit, but he is refusing to shut up about the controversial essay. He is currently going around, saying how he is right and how he has the right to free speech.

This seemed to have annoyed Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, who is in an extremely difficult position thanks to the subprime mess and strong yen. (The Japanese government does not like a strong yen.) He doesn't want to anger China and South Korea because their cooperation is vital in order to minimize the impact of subprime and strong yen on Japan.

So Aso, in his usual blunt fashion, declared the essay unacceptable. He ordered “reeducation” for Self-Defense Force members so that they not only understand the official government interpretation of history, but also adjust their own points of view accordingly. In addition, he told Hamada to punish any and all Defense Ministry and Self-Defense Force personnel who express opinions that contradict the official government interpretation and position.

I love Japanese politicians. LOL.

They have awesome study guides! (Photos courtesy of Dangunee.com)

One of the many study guides you can find everywhere in Japan. This one is for high school chemistry.

Meet Lady Hydrogen. Isn't she hawt?

Or maybe Lady Magnesium is more to your taste? She's a tough kickass girl. Just look at her gun!

Who says molecular diagrams need to be boring?

Before:

After (No Water Multi-Robot):

I've never owned a pet in my life. My mother was very much anti-pet (because she hates shedding, cleaning up after animal poos, etc.). So basically I have no idea what to do with animals in general.

But Hero Material loves animals (he grew up with many different pets), so he decided that we should have pets.

Drum roll please…!

We bought two hamsters.

With their cage and everything, we spent about $50 at the pet store near our apartment. Although Hero Material's first choice was a dog, we couldn't due to our lease.

So meet Shiro and Kuro:

Shiro is the white hamster. She's very camera-shy, so I apologize for the picture quality. She's also very feisty, and she tried her best to run away when Hero Material took her out of the cage. Also she's the athletic one of the two. She spent about half an hour or so running in the wheel. I think she wants to try out for London Olympics.

Kuro is not as shy, but quite lazy. She likes to fling the dry herb and leaves we put in the cage (the pet store recommended it as it deodorizes the cage), but she doesn't like to do anything on the wheel, except possibly peeing. She's been eating some carrot bits in the cage.

I'm not getting any work done because I can't stop looking at them. I think they're still getting used to their new environment, and they're rather shy, but I think I'm in love.

BTW — do you have (or have you ever had) hamsters? If so, got any advice for me? :)

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.

Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men.

You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?