Thanks for the birthday greetings everybody!

For me it was worth watching.  I'd totally go see it again if I could.  I've heard there's a lot of mixed feelings going around as to how good or bad it is.  Some people really hate it, others like myself really like it.  To each his own I guess.

I haven't contributed much to this forum in recent months, but I'd like to try!

Does anybody have any questions regarding photography?  Specifically cameras?

Plan on buying a new one?  Plan on taking a course in photography?  Being an avid hobbyist in the art of still photography, I'd be more than happy to answer any of your questions!

I guess one thing that ticks me off is the fact that they cut out a whole bunch of the story surrounding a prothean and selling it as DLC.  I don't blame BioWare in this case, I blame the EA corporate machine for that.  Thanks to the marketing bastards I'm gonna wait until the end of the year, buy a hard copy for 30 bucks used and then buy the DLC.  It's just not worth it right now.  It's not worth buying a game new for 60 bucks let alone 75.  But I was considering buying ME3 new because of how much content there would be.  That's even more discouraging to me I think.

Here's yet another video.  Today there was a little Mochi festival at the International Exchange building.  And I got in on the tradition of pounding the dough with giant wooden mallets.     As you can see, I'm wearing a happi coat representing my host university.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAxZWqbmgos

I'm a moderate drinker.  Every Friday night or weekend I have one or two drinks.  I usually grab a glass of sake, schnapps, whiskey or Bailey's.  I hate the taste of beer regardless of brand, same with gin.

Honey in water...  That's a rather interesting concept.  As for juice, I recommend any that are certified organic.  Many store-bought juices are loaded with too much refined sugar so check the ingredients to make sure there isn't any high fructose corn syrup.  Water is definitely the best option, or green tea.  Water helps you flush out any that your body has retained as well as excess salt in your body.  It also helps balance your blood sugar.  Personally, I don't really like drinking any of my calories.  So sodas are a very rare occasion for me.  ^..^;

I can definitely say that watching calorie intake is the best method for losing fat, at least from my experience.  It takes a while, but you can speed things up by exercising and burning more calories than you eat.  I don't go by weight, rather I go by appearance and what feels right to me.  Don't try to starve yourself though, because then your body will cling to that extra fat around the waist.  The easiest diet to maintain is 2000 calories in a day.  It doesn't matter where you get these 2000 calories from, but it is recommended that they have at least some nutrition in them.  In America the nutrition facts only gauge calories based on serving rather than what's in the package as a whole.  Just look at the nutrition facts and multiply the number of calories a serving by the number of servings in a package.  Because you're more likely to eat the whole package rather than the ridiculously small serving sizes.  For instance:

A standard large bag of Potato Chips has a serving size marked with 160 calories.  But, if there are 11 servings a bag, just multiply 160 by 11.  More than likely, if you start eating those chips, you will go over this serving size.  At 1760 calories a bag, you could probably eat half or a third of the bag as a whole meal since most people would become tired of the taste eventually.

As for the talk about always eating breakfast, skipping it usually does not affect a person's metabolism.  At least from my standpoint and how my body works, I've skipped breakfast and I found that it actually helps me eat less.  Then again, this is from the perspective of my body, so the best thing to do really is seek out the best methods you feel comfortable with.  Look for a routine you will be able to stick to in the long term.

On a final note, I don't recommend watching out on total fat content other than trans fats.  Fat is actually good for you, especially monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.  As I stated above, the most basic method of losing body fat is keeping an eye on the amount of calories consumed.  I've been doing that coupled with walking and biking everywhere and I'm really close to going down two notches on my belt from when I started upon arrival in Japan.

Finally uploaded another video.  Just a random video on how to open a convenience store onigiri.  xP  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnrnAt4auP8

Not really.  DVDs can be kind of expensive over here, and the only way to watch them is on a Japanese DVD player because their Region 2 lock...  

Well, I think it's about time I finally put up a few photos.  I guess I'll start off with the pics I took a couple of weeks ago when I went to Mt. Aso with my homestay family.  I'll post a few pictures of myself at these places in the "Show us" section.

For the Pokemon fans on this board, I'd like to make mention that Mt. Aso is the real-life inspiration for Mt. Chimney in Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.  And I will say that the similarities are so close that it pretty much spawned an incredibly weird supernatural experience for me.

I'll start off with a picture I took of the mountain after I rode up there.  This is at my homestay family's grandparents' house in the real life equivalent of Lavaridge Town.


Here is the Naka crater of Mt. Aso.  The inspiration for that big crater in the Hoenn Pokemon games. Swap out bubbling lava with bubbling green sulfuric water.  Those with asthma and other lung problems must watch out.  That steam has mixtures of sulfur dioxide!  

Now...  When I saw that cable car, that's when things started getting freakishly similar to my copy of Pokemon Ruby.


And then...  I finally started stepping into the Pokemon twilight zone when I found the stand selling lava cookies.  Friggen lava cookies.  xD