It's true..

[cloasters]

Pity, Tomy's "Savings Bomb" toy bank doesn't appear to be available in the US. Are we too famous as extravagant spenders? Or is 'profligate' the right term? Their Japanese site in English isn't too helpful, dang my ignorance of Asian languages!

[cloasters]

Japanese is said to be easy to pronounce properly for native English speakers. The difficulty is that the language is very difficult to speak properly because the difference in social rank between the speaker and the listener makes a big difference in how the language is spoken. Maybe Chinese is easier? Not exactly, tonal languages are difficult for us. In other words, English sounds stranger to Chinese people than their language(s) sound to us. It's always something!

[Daniel ~]

Warm eyes, the best translators.":O}

[cloasters]

Much preferred over the cold fish eye. Except perhaps in bizarre Nihilistic neighborhoods.

[cloasters]

Come to think on it, most worthwhile games take place in very Nihilistic virtual worlds. Maybe that's why I'm not a real gamer? Or is it because I'm hopelessly slow in virtual-land? Naw, no way. Cough.

[cloasters]

Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving!

[Daniel ~]

Dito!

[cloasters]

As marvelous as it could be. Ta, Daniel.

[cloasters]

Wool is good at keeping you warm even if it's wet, btw. But must it itch so?

[cloasters]

Anyone know where the island of Elba is?

[Daniel ~]

No, but I use to and that makes me sad.":O}

[cloasters]

There are much less salubrious places to be exiled. I imagined a barren rock for Napolean's use, but it's a nice island off the west coast of Tuscany, Italy. Dangerously close to France, one would think. Deep down, people tend to love authoritarian figures, guess they wanted to keep him handy if they missed him too much. He returned to France after only nine months on Elba.

[Daniel ~]

Thank you, it had slipped from my grasp! I toast you, oh, wait that's melba....":O}

[cloasters]

I forgot too. I thought it was in the South Atlantic, lol.

[cloasters]

Spiritual or religious? Difficult to separate them I think. Or is that only the 'endlessly fascinating me?' Didn't Tom Wolfe come up with that one? Spot on! If there's an empty spot on your case, fill it with the ever stylish FREE case badge from AOA. Just send me a Private Message.

[cloasters]

Argh, Christmas approaches rapidly. cloasters, get off your lazy duff!

[cloasters]

OK, I bought some books for a step-uncle. Is there even such a thing? Families tend to be fractured in this modren world, I guess step-aunts and uncles must exist. And then there's the framed cover of the last edition of October from the New Yorker. Scary! Let's see... my step-brother, he's difficult to buy for hmm. Sent a Christmas present to AOA, check. Lot of dead relatives, their gifts are a snap to figure out. Umm...

[cloasters]

If.. Wasn't that the name of a movie?

[cloasters]

Once in a while I wish I had cable tv. Yet my friends tell me that they get 70 channels--of stuff not worth watching a lot of the time. Less tv is a good thing, I'll try to feel virtuous with my almost useless antenna on the roof. Apropos of? Duh..

[cloasters]

I got out of bed at the sinful hour of ten AM today. Turned on the PC, but couldn't connect to the Web. What the hey? After three tries at rebooting the router and unhooking the phone line from the wall plus two hours of toe tapping, Eureka. Lost in space, aaah!