Wait--You do what?

In a house holding 4 people that like to stay home to watch TV and use the Internet, the various utility bills get pricey at times. To save money on utility bills, I try to use less energy and water with certain activities over the year.

The laundry dryer uses a lot of energy to dry clothing. I only use it about 6 times a year, while each of my family members use it once a week. I hang my laundry to dry along with my bedsheets each season, hoping that I can save at least $2 per year. I encourage my family members to do the same, but they like the soft feeling of clothes after it's been through the dryer.

Why do we need to take a daily shower? It's not like we get that dirty everyday. I know that by taking a shower every morning or night I can reduce the chances of getting sick or grow fungus somewhere on my body. I can also wash away dirt and pollen from my hair. But do I have to shower even though I didn't leave the house or make a mess of myself on certain days? Honestly, I don't take showers when I'm shut in my house for days and don't feel like showering. Of course, I change clothes when I do that.

On days when the sun shines bright, I keep my curtains and blinds open. That way I wouldn't need to turn on the light switch in the house. Sunlight hurts my eyes more than light from lightbulbs though, so I wear sunglasses indoors sometimes. Sunlight also makes me feel tired, so I sleep.

I remember learning from Jughead in Archie's Comics that sleeping is the ultimate way to save energy and money. It's comfortable and you don't need much when you're sleeping.

I think I could save more money if I was working day and night though. I wouldn't be losing money because I would be making it. *kekeke*

Nemu Nemu

I was surfing on the net and landed on someone's LiveJournal. Their LiveJournal entries had comics about a toaster named Toasty. There was a website on the comic images, so I typed it (www.nemu-nemu.com) into my browser's URL bar.

It turns out the comic isn't about a toaster! Only those few pages were. The main characters of the comic are two [adorable] magical stuffed animal pups. With its clean lines and distinctive art style, I think I'm going to be reading about magical stuffed animal pups for a long while.

What I found in my room 4

Lookie lookie at what I found in my room. A pikachu and a Transversion tag. If you press the pikachu's stomach, it makes a "pikachu" noise. It can make two different noises. I've been trying to make out the pattern they follow, but noise 1 and 2 always seem to be randomly played. Transversion Loop of New York is a fashion brand that usually makes bags and carrying accessories. I decided to keep the bag's tag because it's made of plastic.



Money!! I need 50 cents in change to take the nearest bus to the closest GO bus station. Keeping money ready-to-go on the table is pretty handy when you're in a rush. I tend to run out of change in my wallets from buying food, so I often don't have money to take the bus.

My pet rock Rocky sits in front of my computer monitor everyday. It's been sitting there long enough for dust to collect. Mwaha.

I didn't plant the onion as planned. It's still in my room. Growing. Don't mind the messy desk in the background.

The Toronto Comics Art Festival 2011

Okay, so TCAF. My friend Lorena invited me to the event, but I have never been to it before. I mean--I've heard of it a few times, but I never remembered to go. I am getting most of my information from their website and so far, the event sounds exciting.

I've tagged this event as a convention, but apparently the Toronto Comics Art Festival is not a convention. According to the website, it is a festival and is unconventional. I will have to experience the event to understand the whole meaning behind that.

TCAF will be held at:

the Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada

May 7th to 8th, 2011

Admission is free.

There will be guests from a variety of comic book genres and styles, including Natsume Ono (the artist behind the manga Ristorante Paradiso) and Darwyn Cooke (darwyncooke.blogspot.com). Sweet, right?

I'm really looking forward to this event.

Website: http://torontocomics.com


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Shop Spot: Sunny Ltd.

Sunny Ltd. is one of the earliest shops in Pacific Mall since its opening. It's amazing how well they do business to this day. I remember they used to sell only Asian gifts and stationery, but now they sell mostly anime related merchandise. Their business card states that they sell gifts and car accessories. I'm guessing that the anime stuff they sell go under gifts.

You can find a lot of amazing anime-related things in their shop. From jewelery to clothing to mousepads, notebooks, keychains, CDs, card decks, stickers, posters, and plush dolls. Lots of plush dolls. Just a heads up: they aren't Kikiwai or Anime Xtreme.

I really need to stop spotlighting Pacific Mall shops. Okay! Next time on Shop Spotlight: some store from downtown Toronto!


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Wall's Matter

One of the old shop spots I blogged about closed a few weeks ago. :( Their website is still up though.

I feel bad about blogging shop spots. Most of them have closed, but I suppose that's normal with shops in Pacific Mall.

The closed shop is Wall's Matter: link

What I found in my room 3

THE ONION. It grows!

My father gave the onion water Saturday afternoon, but it still grew about 10 centimeters on its own without soil or liquid water since the last post about it. I'm thinking about planting it in the backyard in a few days. I wonder if it will still grow after planting it.

Convention Activity

The Scavenger Hunt:

Make a list of cosplays you want to see at a convention and look for them! Keep track of the number of the same cosplay characters you see.

I skipped March Toronto Anime Con and the Toronto Comic Con for school work. I bought tickets to Anime North though. I have no choice but to go! (Unless I get shipped to work 13 hours seven days a week at a far away place with no escape routes again. I missed Fan Expo because of that.)

Bah!

I've been sleeping less than 4 hours a day these last two weeks. The worst case was 30 minutes of sleep. The only day I got to sleep 9 hours was Friday night to Saturday morning. I didn't think writing five 18-paged essays in two weeks on time would be that challenging if I already finished research. I ended up handing them all in 3 or 4 days late. I had smaller assignments due between those essays, an examination yesterday and one assignment due today. There's one more 18-paged essay due for Friday. I guess I should have spent more time on assignments the weeks before the last 2 weeks rather than sleeping, reading comics, going to lectures, doing readings, following the news, going to social meetings, practicing archery, and bathing. Hm... but I had assignments back then too. *sighs* I miss my 10 hours of sleep time.

In those two weeks, I noticed my body changing. No, it wasn't puberty--it was worse. My nerve system seems to be messed up: my hands and legs shake when I try to stand still. They used to not do that! My eye lids feel numb, my stomach makes noises 20 hours a day, something keeps shaking inside me below my rib cage, my shoulders are scrunched up, my face's skin is breaking out with bad acne, and my chest hurts. I keep seeing things that aren't there whenever I'm able to keep my eyes open, and I can't stand steady anymore. I find myself walking down hallways and stairs like a drunk! I won't be surprised if I die in the next week while studying for exams.

I hate how my family is having financial issues too. I have to get a job as soon as possible. I was planning on taking tree planting and gardening courses this summer but my parents gave me a bad look when I told them about it.

My invisible friend keeps asking me if I can die yet. Maybe, dear. Maybe.

I should stop wasting time on blogs...

What I found in my room 2

Remember the onion I mentioned being used as a stink absorber in my room? Well, I woke up one morning and noticed it had something green on it. To my surprise, a plant was growing. It's been exposed to sunlight but I never watered it or put it in soil. I guess onions don't need soil. Maybe the water in the air replaced the need for liquid water? Should I be worried about it growing?

I guess I'll let it continue growing until I feel it needs to be thrown out. It may start growing fungi on it like the onion before it.

Squirrels could take over the world 6

As my parents are talking about how stupid I am to my other family members in the room next door, I shall share this picture and not do my overdue school work.

Halfway through my Wednesday lecture at school, the fire bell rang. All students had to evacuate the building. I left the building at an exit different from my fellow students and waited for the bell to end. As I was waiting, a very fat squirrel ran up the tree next to me and proceeded to eat what I believe was a cracker. It spend about 15 minutes eating the cracker, then laid down and stared in my direction with its arms under its chin (if squirrels have chins).

It wouldn't stop staring at my direction! I tried not to pay attention to it but it kept... staring. I played solitaire on my iPod for awhile until a friend of mine jumped at me, scaring both the squirrel and I. The squirrel ran away and instead of greeting my friend, I said "you scared it away!"

We had a little chat about school and Pacific Mall afterwards. The fire bell was still ringing while we were chatting.