Mundane natter

[flemmings]

Variable weather scrambles the head, yes. Monday was perfect July- hot, sunny, DRY. Tuesday was supposed to be 37 and thunderous, and instead was 24 and rainy, with grey humid air like a blanket. Turned on the AC just because the house was unbreathably stuffy. At which temperatures plunged and gave us duvet weather Wednesday, grey cold scattered rain that cleared into a rational cool evening and a decent summer day today: warm in the sun and cool in the shade. Having gone through three seasons in four days, and not been able to wake up on the last of them, any sense of 'now' I might have is completely foutu. This is not helped by reading Gene Wolfe's There Are Doors and an Ima Ichiko where no-one seems to be who they say they are.

Other weirdnesses appear to heighten the dream-like disequilibrium. The Cat arrived Monday evening and has been here indoors ever since. His spring-sleek fur has gone summer knotted and disreputable, and I noted a rough spot- old bite or something- between his shoulders that he didn't want me touching. Is fine. Came home y'day, had a bit of snuggle with him on the couch, did shopping, came back thirty minutes later and saw a two and a half inch bald spot down the middle of his back, with a scratch or two at the top closest to the head. He seemed perfectly unconcerned, and the scratch may have been from before, but what's with all the fur moulting suddenly? Granted the room's dark and some of the bald is hidden when he sits, I'd still have seen the place where the scratch is if it'd happened earlier. But short of rats in my cellar (unseen and unheard) I can't think how he did it.

He was at the vet's Monday getting shots and the vet said he was fine. Which I'm not so sure about- what I took Monday night to be some sticky food stuck to his jaw is revealed as a small cut around the mouth. This is all very worrisome. I'm currently applying antiseptic and Polysporin as per his usual routine, since he's an old scrapper who scraps when he gets out.

And in other mysteries, why would Photoshop giving a flying... hoot about my email program? But when I open or save a scan, up pops the 'You have no default email program listed.' A lie- I do. 'Please designate OE as your default email program.' I did, ages before I loaded you onto this beast.

The thing is I had this problem before, years ago when I went to Win95; and I can't remember how I got rid of it. I suppose one just continues to poke at options and menues until something finally clicks. A surprising number of people who charge for their trouble-shooting services seem to do that too- click menues and hope to find something that even remotely connects to the problem. Grr.

ETA: what it takes exception to is not having Outlook listed as the default. Do that and the prompts vanish. But why does a command to 'open file' in Photoshop require a 'messaging request' in my email program; and why can Outlook alone handle these 'messaging requests'? Sounds fishy to me.

Comments

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

As usual, one discards everything to focus on obsession of the moment. So, Ima Ichiko. What to dooo? It turns out that she's really prolific, and there are regular editions and bunkoban, none of them of the really cheap, and I don't know where to even start, and tachiyomi is out of the question. Help me Obi-wan Kenobi Manga Guru! (Or not. Whichever applies.)

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

bunkoban
That's twice I've seen this word today, what on earth does it mean? Help me, Fangirlese Guru, you're my only hope.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

The smaller than ususal square little editions, same size as a Japanese paperback, that clasic shoujo and, well, lots else get reissued in, greatly to the detriment of the artwork and the reader's eyes.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Specifically, which Ima Ichiko? 100 Ghosts is what I'm assuming, though I just finished two others and am about to wail on Aesthe about artists who don't/ aren't allowed to finish series etc.

100 Ghosts doesn't lose by starting in medias res and gains a certain strangeness thereby. I'm willing to send you my bunko that covers stuff in the several wide-han that I possess, if you want a taste of what she's like and just how... illusive her dialogue is.

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

What she said. ^^

I've only got one set of these, Hagio Moto's Poe no Ichizoku. They're like small, chubby hardcover books with paper jackets. I'm not 100% certain how content compares to the tankouban or wideban editions, but I've always had this vague impression that bunkoban comprise more pages.

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd been squirreling around online one night and fell over some scans of one of her books ("B-Grade Gourmet," yaoi in theory, but not very :), and some extensive digging turned up another ("Otona no mondai"). She's very funny in an understated, dry way. Q. told me you'd posted something about her before, but I didn't realize she was the one who'd did that series you've mentioned until Yet More Digging turned up the scans of the prologue chapters.

Whew. So I looked her up at a few bookstores, and was stunned at how many books she's published. Yow. This why I'm not really sure where to start and what might be tabled some far-flung day.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Generally, yes. About a volume and a third of the usual manga makes one bunko. Useful to keep in mind if you're going mid-series from the standard sized into the bunko: it's what kept me from missing out on the best part of Hi izuru.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Just finished reading two of her BL-but-not-quites. Stuff published in Chara won't get hard-core very soon. One doesn't read her for the sex but the gradually disclosed and altering relationships. OTOH even I find her a slow read cause of the casual 'drop 'em into the situation and let 'em figure out who everybody is and why.' 100 Ghosts is worse than the BL stuff for that: she *tries* to be misleading there.

You're welcome to sample my two when I've done the reviews. 'Still a step away from Heaven' and 'Where have all the Daddy-Long-Legs gone?' (well, not quite: but more or less.)

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

(I can take or leave teh lurid sex scenes.)

Actually, those reviews in themselves would be way more than sufficient for my purposes. Yes, write reviews! Uh, please write reviews, I meant.

Her books seem to be mainly those taller ones (size ??) and run about 850Y upward; my thinking is that shipping must be a painful thing, so we're not going nuts here.

she *tries* to be misleading there.

Oh joy. ;_;