Chibi Uchisute is EXCELLENT! Seeing someone badass get all
adorablefied feels like ..revenge? No, not quite. More like figuring
out that doing something fun but wrong is legal, and then doing said
thing. Like, if Uchisute were a cat, you completely just shaved him.
Not that I endorse shaving cats or understand the people that do it.
OH! Here we go, this one's better: it's almost like you just shaved
his eyebrows off. Or cut off his mental ponytail. Why do all of these
have to do with hair removal? Weird.. I apologize...

Yume does look really cool. I'd like to know more about him~ Next
entry: Yume Gaiden! ...Please?

I wouldn't mind going to Africa at all. It's warm there, and there are
zebras and lions and giraffes. I hear the food is quite good, too. And
I'd take that over akumafication any day. But I'd probably go and get
myself lost, and turn up 15 years later with strange tattoos and
African ninja skills. [Er, actually, it's more likely that I'd get
eaten by a hippo. But don't tell me that, it will make me sad. Yes, I
am saying it myself, but it's inside some denial brackets so I'm safe
from the terrible knowledge for now.] God, so much crack. This morning
I was shaking because I hadn't had enough caffeine. Maybe that's why I
can't think.

Anyway, OMPEUDGNW will pull itself back together and get some stuff
done later. I think I'm more Bak and you're more Komui. But really,
neither of us are enough like either of them to make too much of a
comparison. Is it odd that I like Bak's outfit? Maybe not his silly
hat, but the boots are cool.

Ginko got here yesterday, crashed in front of the fireplace in my
office lobby and hasn't woken up yet. *sigh* I guess, to a mushi-shi,
staying in one place for a while means taking a vacation. I blame
Adashino for this. I'm tempted to borrow one of the science division's
caffeine/glucose IV's and hook him up to it. Ginko shall be
uncomfortably energetic to make up for his unproductivity >}

Haha, that breakfast story is right out of a shojou manga. So,
is this guy just a friend, or was this a strategic oh-hey-I-like-you
breakfast? Go on, divulge your secrets to M-chan. Everyone else is
doing it! *Aizen smile*

So, the french press~ yes, get it. Here, have this amazing tutorial
that will make your coffee a SUCCESS!

1. Make sure the beans are ground for a french press. This would be
the coarsest grind setting on an in-store coffee machine, or... maybe
15 seconds in a smaller grinder? What's important is that it's an even
grind. The size of the particles should be consistent. If you have a
cheap grinder, it'll give you a range of coarseness from espresso-fine
to almost-whole. This will create sludge in the bottom of your press.
Of course, the type of filter in the press will play a role in this
process, too. If it's a nylon filter, it can handle a finer grind. A
mesh filter requires alot of coarseness. You can always ask for your
coffee to be ground when you buy it (make sure to tell them it's for a
french press), if your own grinder doesn't work. But it's really much
better to grind your coffee right before you use it.

picword: Tesla

2. Be careful to measure the right amount of grounds. The rule of
thumb is 2 tbsp for every 6 oz of water, but it also depends on your
water temp, grind, how strong you like your coffee, and some stuff we'll do in later steps. So really, the best way to tell is to adjust the amount you use over time once you're used to using a press.

3. Your water should be pretty hot. I can't tell you exactly how hot, because I never myself measured how hot mine was. Usually, if you boil your water before step 1 and then let it cool, by this point it should be the right temperature. I would guess... Around 200°F. But not more than that.

4. Once your water and grounds are in the press, use a knife or chopstick (not a spoon. makes it too... swirly? I'm just picky. stir with whatever you want) to stir the solution in an even, circular motion (not up and down at all) until the coffee "blooms." This is when a bit of golden-brown froth forms on top. It really doesn't take much stirring.

5. Put the press/lid thing on top, and let the coffee steep for 2-3 minutes. If you've got a larger press, then 4 min would be better, but for most presses steeping that long will make the coffee too strong. This is another one of those things where you'll just have to figure out what you like and adjust your method accordingly.

6. Slowly, using even speed, push the press down. Make sure it stays completely straight, otherwise grounds will escape. That's it! Voila! You've got coffee!

Bonus~: If you heat milk to the point where it's too hot to touch but not boiling (maybe... 170°? It's been so long since I bothered to take the temperature) and then pour it into a clean french press and move the filter through it quickly a couple times, it'll foam the milk so you can make a sort of latte-capuccino hybrid! [Most people would say that you could foam it less to make a latte and more to make a cappuccino, but that's technically not the case, so you can name this drink whatever you want]

And back we go to regular conversation. Why can I not imprint it into my mind that me trying to eat sushi in public is a bad idea? *siiigh* Really, if my mouth was just a little bigger, it would work. But as it is, I have an embarassing time trying to fit stuff in there :/ The sushi was really good either way, though ^^

I have to emo over something just a little. Ichigo beat Grimmjow. Honestly, WHAT?! That's just plain unlikely. And it makes me so sad. I hope Ulquiorra will beat his face off. I really have nothing against strawberry-kun, but I hate how he's somehow miraculously on the same plane as captain-class shinigami that have been at it for 3,000 years, when he's only been a shinigami for a year or two. I'm sick of his tragic hero act, too. Alright, so I do have a few things against him. *shrug*

Running out of library comp time, so I'll talk to you later~

picword: ulqiorra at your service

whatever happened with your meeting with dr benedek? i'm assuming you meant the head of language department at uga... rachel and amy know him pretty well :)

Word up~!
I met with him, and then he had me talk to someone else~ So then I met with Dr. Kaufman, and that guy wants me to give him a more detailed idea of what I'm planning to do, and what I'd like to do in Japan. He wants to help me get over there to study without having to enroll in college first. :D

What a tiring day.. and my art final definitely didn't help. Today, my value range was not comprehensive. *sigh* And my composition wasn't nearly as dynamic as last time. And the charcoal I bought isn't as moveable as I'd like it to be. I feel like kickboxing, but apathetically. If that's possible?

How astute D-san is! Androginy is becoming a major fashion movement. Every magazine has an androgynous shoot in it, lately. Maybe, we'll eventually all become like one of those animes where the male and female characters are impossible to tell apart? :0 That might be amusing. It'll become regular conversation to say, "So, are you a boy or a girl?" Maybe we'll get androgynous pronouns too, or start referring to people as "it."

Have you ever read Yotsuba&? It's so. cute. I don't think there's a plot, but it's adorable and hilarious, so does that matter? Plots are for srs bsns, not little overly-audacious girls and their misadventures. Too bad little kids in real life are so needy and boring.

I think Ginko may have some sort of chemical imbalance. Chronic fatigue? Szayel is going to look into it, so we'll know soon enough. Ginko has caffeine radar I think, because as soon as the IV got within a foot of him he woke up and attempted an escape. Genma, who's this week's Potted Plant Ninja (the ninja that's assigned to watching over the office lobby from behind the potted plant) caught him on his way out, and we took him down to the science division right away. I expected Adashino to be upset about this, but instead he was amused enough to volunteer to be Szayel's lab assistant. Reever was very happy to see the office lobby free of unconscious nomads once again. I'll keep you posted on the rest.

Naruto is the best place to come up with original characters, isn't it? That's where I came up with the 'me' I play in my imagination |D But by all means, ramble about Yume.

The sushi I was referring to... is a tiny bit bigger than grocery store sushi ;__; My mouth is inadequate. Even the grocery store stuff sometimes doesn't fit. And all the kinds I like are always that big! *cries* Cruel world.... shutup I'm not cracking up, this is really sad. *snicker-um, I meant - sniffle* see? reallly sad.

Hmm... You're right about the Ginko-logic. It must be airborne, spread fast.. Could we be dealing with a hot virus? *phones Szayel* This is dangerous. We're gonna have to detain Ichigo and give him an antidote - *dramatic music* if indeed we can derive one...

So when you get yourself a french press, tell me how your coffee turns out! I got a new espresso maker for xmas, and I still haven't gotten around to making anything overly good with it. Maybe this weekend.

picword: Uryuu is having a bad day.

Dad-killing party has been unanimously approved by OMPEUDGNW Espada, captains, and me. So it's a go! Let's have it on an oil rig or somthing - international waters allow for more fun. We'll need some Midori characters and as many sadistic mad scientists as we can muster. Szayel (8th Espada, very insane sciencey-type who likes to use human test subjects. Sorry, I realized I'd been talking about him and you don't know who he is! How rude of me v.v) will be so happy for a batch of new test subjects! We can even invite Mayuri (12th division captain, similar to Szayel but maybe 20-30x more creepy)... I wonder if Kisuke has a darker side? Maybe he's too nice. *shrug* But this will be messy, and I don't actually want to see any of the people who'll be there... So I'll be happy to read the report after everything's done. *rubs temples*

Speaking of our dear mad scientists, Szayel and Adashino have mostly finished up analyzing Ginko. Their report isn't ready yet, but the lab results are in at this point, I believe.

OHGASP tomorrow's Thursday! YAY! New eps of Bleach come out subbed on Thursdays. I'm way too addicted to this one ^^; even though seeing episodes of stuff you've already read through is never incredibly exciting. Well then... I'll stop rambling, because I really don't have a ton to say ;;;

picword: we're all mad here