#But I was willing to give them Japanese translations (or approximate translations) if they were struggling

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Thinking about how people tend to pick up on specific words from other languages they're learning (especially slang) and use it over and over, like Pac saying "Shenanigans" or Fit saying "Fofoca" or Phil (and the rest of the server practically) saying "No Mames."

It just reminds me of my time working with Japanese college students, and how they all suddenly started saying "Awesome!" practically every other sentence one day after hearing me say it + explaining what it meant to them. It still makes my heart melt a bit thinking about it.

[paulisweeabootrash]

First Impression: Noragami

Okay, after that crappy “reviewlet” thing, I'm back with another show I actually feel like saying something interesting about:

Noragami (2014)

Episodes watched: 5.  Or... actually, 14, but this review is only based on the first 5 episodes of season 1.

Yato is a minor god.  A very minor god.  A god who has no worshippers, no shrine, and relies on doing odd jobs for people in exchange for offerings of ¥5, a service which he advertises with graffiti and hand-made business cards.  His Regalia — a human soul who temporarily takes the form of living equipment a god can use — just quit.  Things are looking down for him.

Hiyori Iki is a martial-arts-loving middle schooler who just happens to encounter Yato, whom she, reasonably, believes to be a regular mortal, on the street.  She is hit by a bus while pushing Yato out of its path and gets reincarnated in a fantasy world temporarily separated from her body.  Hiyori, understandably, has some trouble coming to terms with this, especially when Yato explains to her that she is not dead (or, not completely, anyway), but instead in an in-between state where she is able to repeatedly temporarily leave her body.  Much much more to her confusion and horror, her in-between state grants her the ability to see supernatural creatures usually hidden from humans, including Phantoms, eldritch abominations that often appear as psychedelically-colored flying sea creatures and possess humans, both living and dead, to induce them to do bad things.

Hiyori is now stuck between the “Near Shore” (the world of the living) and “Far Shore” (world of the dead) rather than a resident of either, and those from the Far Shore — Phantoms, human souls, and gods alike — will certainly notice this.  Yato and other gods frequently use their Regalia (what is the plural of “Regalia”?  “Regalias”?  That sounds wrong.) to fight Phantoms in addition to (or as part of) answering the prayers of their followers.  Since Yato needs a new Regalia, at this point, I was starting to suspect this will maybe be a quasi-magical-girl premise where Hiyori becomes Yato's new Regalia and then falls for him in a "please don't think about what is at bare minimum a several century age gap" uncomfortable romcom.  But... no.  This show goes in a more complicated and interesting direction than that.

Regalia must be sufficiently pure (and apparently fully-dead) human souls, so Yato, who seems to look down on humans even compared to other gods, simply drafts the first suitable soul he encounters.  That soul, a teen boy with no memory of his Earthly life, whom Yato names Yukine, luckily turns out to be a very talented Regalia and a quick learner, but also frustrated about his death and prone to sinful thoughts (more on that in a moment).  Hiyori takes an interest in Yukine, mainly to take care of him because Yato is certainly not doing that well, but I actually kind of get the impression she's attracted to him, especially given that, unlike Yato, Yukine is approximately her age (or was before he died... it's not clear how long he, or any other Regalia, have been dead).  She also takes an (academic) interest in the supernatural world in general, which is only partly what she expected or imagined, and she becomes a de facto member of Yato and Yukine's "team" as it were.  But also overwhelmed and mainly just wants her soul to be securely re-attached to her body so she'll stop accidentally leaving it at inopportune times — to her friends and family, it appears that she has now been having severe and unpredictable episodes and collapsing and losing consciousness since her bus accident, and she often leaves her body lying around in public without realizing it.  Or, in one case, draped over the top of a fence, which is... not an ideal sleeping location.  Yato vaguely claims he will restore her, but has no idea how to.

So far, the story has focused on the interactions between the three of them and on exploring the setting/what Phantoms are/how the gods work/etc.  This has revealed a fascinating detail which, beyond the scope of the five episodes I took notes on, becomes one of the main arcs of the first season: although the gods are amoral, or at least behave according to a totally different set of standards, they are still affected by human morality.  Morality, says Yato, is socially constructed by humans, but affects the gods vicariously by causing “blight”.  If humans decide an act is sinful, then a Regalia doing that thing causes a blight to both themself and the god they serve which must be ritually cleansed.  Yukine, despite being initially pure enough to become a Regalia, starts to cause blight to Yato because of his jealousy of the still-living and his attraction to Hiyori, and this proves to be... well... you’ll see.

We also learn from Kofuku Ebisu, goddess of bad luck and poverty, that Yato used to be a war god, with a past darker than Hiyori is willing to accept or think about.  He will grant anyone's wishes to remain relevant, and this may come back to endanger people.  Yato is also dating(?) Kofuku, and seems to have had a previous romantic relationship with a Regalia named Nora who served him and gives off a serious yandere vibe.  Or actually (spoilers), as it turns out, not named Nora.  "Nora", we learn, is a derogatory term for an entire category of Regalia: those who serve multiple gods and generally do jobs normal Regalia would refuse.  This, in connection with the whole thing about gods being corrupted by their Regalia violating human-made moral standards, raises a worrying question I hope we get an answer to: do noras corrupt their gods, or are they somehow unable to produce corruption because they themselves do not believe anything they're doing is wrong?  This is the sort of question this show raises, and it seems smart and thorough enough to try to answer it... if it doesn't, there's the ongoing manga series to turn to, and this is yet another show I've enjoyed so much that I might start reading it.

-----

Revised W/A/S Scores: 7 / 3 / 3 / !

Weeb: Pretty high on this scale mainly because of its very Shinto background, including very specific patron deities of concepts, gods physically residing in shrines, its specific forms of prayer, the dead just sort of... wandering and acting like still-live humans, and of course the presence of shrine maidens because how can you not have shrine maidens?

Ass: Occasional nudity, but not fanservicey.  Ep. 2, for example, has partial nudity in situations like contemplating in bath and locker room that are not framed sexually but probably would be in a different tone of show.

Shit (writing): I have a weirdly specific translation complaint (because of course I do).  I accidentally learned via Wikipedia that "nora" means "stray", and this seems like information that maybe should've been dropped in the subtitles at some point?  It might actually have made the reveal about what "a nora" is work better in English than in the original Japanese because this meaning would be a surprise to the English subtitle-reading audience.  Anyway, enough about that.  I find the characters enjoyable and their arcs pretty believable.  A main plot conflict between Yato and the nora is clearly forming by the end of the five episodes I cover here, and I'll cheat a bit to say that the first season successfully plays out two story threads while leaving others open for the next season, but not in a cliffhanger or "we clearly didn't know how to wrap this up" way.  An advantage of adapting a popular ongoing manga, I suppose: you can pace things better and also be reasonably sure that there's enough interest to get you another season.

Shit (other): Pretty ending, meh opening.  Great reaction faces.  Moods are accentuated well by variations in the art and animation.  I love the design of the Phantoms because I'm a sucker for surreal depictions of the supernatural.  It's not as dramatically bizarre and imaginative as, say, the witches in Madoka Magica, but still excellent.

Content warning: It is a recurring point that the gods' duties include saving people from suicide, and multiple suicide attempts are depicted (although they are thwarted by divine intervention by Yato).

-----

Stray observations:

- Yato starts out appearing to be a magnificent bastard, but it becomes apparent quickly that... uh... maybe he’s just an asshole.  

- I have no idea why, but Yato sneaking into Hiyori's house and mirroring her dad's actions is one of the funniest things I've seen recently.

- You'd think at some point Hiyori would develop a plan, or at least a cover story, for abandoning her body, even if she remains unable to control when she leaves it.  Not to mention that she'd sometimes come back to an injured body or find that someone has moved her or called an ambulance or something.

- The background music includes rap in English with autotune, which is... surprising, but neither good nor bad.

- This setting raises the same set of troubling questions about the concept of an afterlife that a lot of afterlife concepts do, since it appears that people are "frozen" at the age they were when they died but also have the ability to learn (and later, outside the set of episodes I covered here, to mature mentally at least somewhat)... do child Regalia or children's souls in general ever mentally mature in the same way that real children do as they ender adolescence and adulthood?  Are there baby ghosts hanging around with no concept that they are dead, unable to ever gain that concept because they will never age?  (I feel like this is turning into a literary criticism of religion, and that's waaaay outside the scope of this blog, so I'll end this here.)

[mistyandmatt]

Goodbye America, Hello Japan!

Things are about to get real for me. We’re leaving the comforts and securities of the motherland to venture out to a place of complete vulnerability on our part. We don’t speak Japanese and we can’t read Japanese (despite Matt being half Japanese),so we are really starting out far behind the curve here folks. As we got on the plane in Hawaii, I loaded my newly purchased Catnapple bag with as many diet cokes as I could possibly carry on because Japan is Diet Coke free. You heard me right, it’s a real bad deal. These folks have a thing against aspartame for some reason. I mean, don’t mind the fact that it’s probably terrible for you, so they just aren’t having any of it here. Smuggling in as much as I could to get me through as much of this leg of the trip as I could is my plan. Once I run out, I’m going straight to beer, as that seems like the next safest option. Don’t be fooled, the Japanese do not judge day drinking, in fact, they seem to support it. It’s 8:20 am and we are currently boarding the bullet train to go to Kyoto for a few days and I noticed many people packing in beers for breakfast. Now that’s a new take on “eating your wheaties” if you ask me.

Quickly, it became clear that I was definitely the minority on the plane as we took our seats. My fair skin and blonde hair aren’t a discrete feature on an Asian airliner. I knew then, that everywhere in Japan was going to be just like this experience. I suppose the positive is that with my bright purple coat and my very distinguishable blonde hair, I won’t get lost in the crowds of people. Matt was right, the seats and entertainment on the plane were stellar, the service top notch, and the food, well a bit odd, but I committed to trying everything once (who knew that concept from childhood would re-emerge again) on this trip. I’ll either come out of Japan loving the food or I will have lost 10 pounds (either wouldn’t be a bad thing). We’ll see what happens. If the rest of Japan is going to be like our experience on the plane, then I’ll take it, otherwise, I’m just going to stay right here on the plane.

After just over eight hours on the flight, we arrived in the airport where Matt’s aunt and uncle picked us up. Matt’s mom and her sister immediately started talking in Japanese and it hasn’t stopped since! One 70 year old Asian lady is hard enough to wrangle, so you can only imagine two of them! I think they were super excited to see each other since it’s been around 15 years since Matt’s mom has been back to Japan. I mean, you’d think with FaceTime and Skype these ladies would “see” each other regularly, but no, the only thing Matt’s mom has learned to use the internet for is shopping on Amazon and binge watching Turkish soap operas on YouTube. While they were immediately starting to catch up, Matt secured us a pocket WiFi for the days we will be here, because I’m willing to take daily shots of my smuggled Diet Coke to make it last, I just can’t make it without the internet, it’s like the one last thing keeping me connected to the inside and outside world.

The thing I am most excited about throughout this entire journey is for Matt to be able to meet his extended family (his aunts/uncles and cousins) and to be able to see where his mom and her family grew up, as the family still owns and maintains their childhood home. About two years ago, Matt and I had discussed how we would like to get to Japan with his mom before she is unable to travel comfortably (it’s a 14 hour flight from OKC). Six months ago Matt’s mom found out that his cousin was going to be getting married in January and the entire family was coming. So, just like that, we started planning this adventure with our resident interpreter, Kinuko Jorgensen in tow.

Matt filled you in on all the fun things we have explored the last few days, which has been a unique experience to say the least. I’ll be honest, Japan is one of the cleanest, safest, most advanced places we’ve ever been (these toilets guys, I’m ordering one the minute we get home), but it’s been somewhat hard for us as Americans, as there is just not a lot of things in English anywhere and the public transportation, although abundant, is extremely confusing to navigate, even more so with such a significant language barrier between us and them. Thank goodness for the itranslate app on the IPhone, as we’ve been able to navigate our way around (if that’s what you want to call it, more like barely making it, but it’s worked) when Matt’s mom isn’t with us. I highly recommend it for anyone traveling where interpretation services will be needed. You just speak slowly into it in English and it gives both a written and spoken response translated in to whatever language you need it in. So, you can show it to someone or they can listen and usually between those two things, you can get what you want or need from the conversation.

As mentioned before, the whole reason we came to Japan now is because Matt’s cousin is getting married. We’ve been to a lot of weddings, but this was a real fancy wedding that clearly did not include a rehearsal because everyone (in the wedding party) has a personal escort who tells them what to do when, on que. This is a western style wedding (this seems to be popular here) that is held in a real elaborate hotel. What was different was that since there is not a rehearsal, the customary approach is that the bride and grooms families get together about 30 minutes before the wedding and introduce each person one by one to the other’s family. Once again, we can’t understand a thing going on, but we follow along and attempt to do what the others are doing. The wedding and reception last from 1:30 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m. and included two formal wear changes for the bride and groom, a six-course dinner (with different drinks at each course), and lots of meeting people from both sides many times throughout the night. I can now see why everyone needs a personal escort, it’s really a lot to keep straight. Not much is different in the wedding ceremony, nor all the other hub-hub that goes on with weddings, but thankfully we’ve attended a few in our time to know at least what is approximately going on since again all of this is in Japanese. So, as you will see from some of the photos, these additional people are Matt’s aunts, uncles (their spouses) and one set of his cousins. Matt’s mom is one of 6 kids. Her oldest brother is deceased, the next big brother unfortunately couldn’t make the wedding because he is in the hospital (he’s 77 and just had surgery), and then you see her next biggest brother (gray/white hair-he’s 73). I can’t pronounce or even try to type his name, but I can totally see where Matt gets his happy personality from, as this guy is a hoot! Matt’s mom is child number 4 and then her younger brother (dark hair) who she reports is very serious and her younger sister (in the kimono-her son is the one getting married) is the one that tries to keep everyone in the family in line. It’s been great getting to see all of them together. There are more family events scheduled for later in the week, but for now we’ll leave it at that. The wedding was beautiful and we all had a great time.

On Monday we went out and explored the Ginza area of Tokyo. This area is made up of high-end designer shops all put into these large multi-level malls. So imagine a Dillards store, but instead of different departments in one store (the different areas, men’s, women’s, etc. are all on different floors), it’s different designers in little booth spaces on each floor of the store, so more like a trade show set up if you will. We did some shopping and then headed over to the Canon store, so that Matt could get all of his camera equipment cleaned and serviced (as it is about half price to do it here then at home). Matt’s mom went along with us (you all should know she likes real fancy things-must be where Matt gets it from), as her interpretation skills were likely going to be needed at the camera store. We had a fabulous day, walked about 10 miles total, so I’m hoping that off sets all the sweet treats we keep picking up on every corner from these great little vendors.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve eaten just about every type of Japanese food. We’ve had sushi, ramen, soba, tonkatsu, yakatori, etc. We really wanted to go to one of the authentic yakiniku restaurants where you grill the beef there at your table over hot coals. About 8:00 pm we ventured out to find this place we found on the internet (mind you we can’t read any of it, but we were just taking a gamble hoping it was good), as it was about a mile walk from the house. We show up, they are very confused as to our lack of Japanese skills, but don’t fret the itranslate app came to the rescue once again! This place (which is down a dark alley with nothing else around it with nothing in English anywhere in sight, so we knew this place was going to be good) is apparently famous for feeding sumo wrestlers, so yes, we are definitely in the right place! We made it through this amazing meal with lots of patience from the owner and wait staff who were just so very accommodating to us. They sent us home with some little gifts from the restaurant and I think thoroughly enjoyed the experience with us just as much as we did. We even got them to take a picture with us! Follow up to this experience with Matt’s mom translating: we found out this place truly is one of the best places to go, so despite the little language barrier, Matt and I still were able to navigate our way to great food! Who knew?

Just a few photos for you all to enjoy from the past few days. Off to Kyoto and Nara for our next Japanese experience!

[lesbrarians]

Junkrat/Roadhog: Voyages Ch 6

Title: Voyages

Characters: Junkrat, Roadhog

Rating: R

Summary:  After a rocky start and some ups and downs, Junkrat and Roadhog are officially partners, even if things haven’t progressed quite as far as Junkrat would like. With his treasure at the heart of their grandiose plans, they take their adventures overseas and leave their mark on the world, for better or worse. (Mostly for worse. They’re criminals.) Sequel to “Origins.”

---

The first, and only, item on their agenda was to begin soaking up as much information as they could about Korea’s omnic problem. It took Junkrat approximately fifteen seconds after entering the heart of downtown Busan to immediately forget about their sole objective.

His head swiveled from side to side as he drank in their surroundings, taking in all the food stalls and pop up shops. “Hey, wait a minute,” he said, drawing up short. One of the stalls looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. “Didn’t I see one of these back in ‘Straya?” He thought he remembered the bright green counters and lurid pink and yellow signs that had caught his attention, much as they did now.

“Boba,” he enunciated, looking at the English words on the sign beneath their corresponding hangul. “What is it, Japanese? No, no, that’s where we just were. Chinese? Wait, no, that’s not it.” He tapped his chin. “Where... are we?” He recalled the city name, but the country was escaping him at the moment. Roadhog gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, right as he was about to supply the answer, Junkrat burst out, “Korea!” He thrust a triumphant finger in the air. “Is it Korean, then?” he asked, finally finishing his initial question.

“I think it’s Taiwanese,” Roadhog responded.

“Eh, it's all the same.” Junkrat couldn’t tell the difference between Korean characters and the Japanese ones he had grown accustomed to seeing in Tokyo. This was the primary reason why the signals had gotten crossed in his brain, leading to his temporary lapse in recall of their whereabouts.

“That's like saying Aussies and Kiwis are the same.”

Junkrat tilted his head as he compared the statements. He conceded the point. “Fair enough. Well, whatever it is, I wanna try it.” He pulled out one of the wallets from Roadhog’s back pocket (“new country, new currency!”), and slammed two of the largest bills on the counter.

“I want however much this’ll get me,” he announced.

If the cashier understood English, she didn’t let on, but the money spoke worlds. Pointing at each of the varieties, she said something that Junkrat took to mean “one of each?”

“All of them!” he said, throwing his arms wide.

He lined the cups in a row, all light pastel colours with those intriguing pearls on the bottom. He had fully intended to rapid-fire knock them all back, but then he tasted the first one. The pale brown drink itself was delicious -- sweet but not too sweet --  and then the tapioca balls hit. His body stilled and his eyes went wide as he chewed, and Roadhog laughed at the expression on his face.

“Hooley dooley,” he breathed, staring at the plastic cup as if he was seeing it for the first time. “Bloody beautiful.” He was willing to give the other flavors a chance, but the deceptively light yellow drink turned out to be a sour lemon. He made a face and batted it off the table.

“Two more!” he said, holding up two fingers.

The cashier waited expectantly for payment as Junkrat dumped the water out of his canteen and filled it with milk tea. Roadhog stepped in to pay when it became evident that Junkrat had no intention of forking over more money. He hadn’t drunk the rest of the flavors he’d initially bought, so he didn’t see the sense in paying for replacement drinks. Had it been any other day, Roadhog would have gone along with it. They’d stolen pettier things before.

But if they were going to try to scoop out some information about Korea’s regular omnic invader, they needed to keep a low profile.

Well, as low a profile as two very large men, one with a pig-faced mask and one with a peg leg, in contrasting handknit sweaters could be.

Taking swigs from the canteen was considerably more challenging than sipping through a wide straw. The first attempt sent the boba straight down his gullet, and he gagged until Roadhog thumped his back, causing him to hack them up.

“Shoulda stolen some of those straws too,” he said, massaging his throat. He screwed the cap back onto his canteen and holstered it.

“We'll get some on the way back,” Roadhog told him.

They stopped in front of a newsstand. It was a small stand that was lined with the latest issues of the city's daily papers and was manned by an elderly gentleman who had likely been selling newspapers for the past fifty years. Chained to the checkout counter was a device that Junkrat would have killed a man for. Shaped rather like a square magnifying glass, it served as a universal translator between the input language and the desired output. Tuning it to translate to English, Junkrat watched as the scanned Korean characters changed to English words on the device's screen. It was far from a perfect translation, given that it was a literal interpretation of the foreign language, but it was good enough for him to get the gist of the newspaper articles.

“So yer tellin’ me that if I had this thing in Japan, I could've known what I was drinkin'? Wouldn't've chugged that green tea if I'd been able to, y'know, read what it said on the can." He stuck his tongue out, recalling the vile taste as he leafed through the pages of the day's Busan Ilbo. "That one," he said suddenly, jabbing his finger at a blurry picture of a massive omnic standing knee-deep in water. He thrust the paper and its device, which rattled as the chain pulled taut, at Roadhog. He wasn't going to deal with the hassle of actually reading if he could just listen to Roadhog read to him.

He leaned his elbows against the counter and listened raptly, chin in his hands. Roadhog read the article out loud, filling in the gaps in the translation as needed.

“Citizens prepare for impending onslaught: Local authorities have detected the presence of Yongary, Korea’s local omnic menace, in Busan’s bay. The military’s top scientists have analyzed data from previous encounters and it is predicted Yongary will resurface on the 23rd after two years of dormancy. With new advances in technology, all units of the South Korean army are prepared to defend against its anticipated adaptations and upgrades. The omnic's last appearance is notable due to its disruption of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army's drone control networks. The past two years have been spent rebuilding this sector’s defence systems. The country’s most promising gamers have been drafted, and hopes are high that they will lead to the defeat of Yongary, Monster from the Deep. MEKA units from Seoul are on notice to aid Busan’s unit against the colossal omnic's impending appearance. Citizens are urged to remain calm. Those within Yongary’s predicted range of impact should fortify their houses and prepare for evacuation.”

“Huh.” Junkrat processed this information. “The 23rd? I wouldn’t be that sure about it. Omnics are unpredictable, the sneaky little bastard -- or, heh, not so little -- could come out any time he wants.”

Roadhog was less skeptical. “They’re sneaky, but they’re still machines. If it’s been returning at regular intervals, it’s not about to break that pattern. It’s clockwork.”

“Ah, good point.” It was a valid observation. Junkrat supposed it could still surprise them by surfacing early, but if it was following a fixed schedule, then the chances of that happening were considerably less than an omnic who attacked sporadically.

“Okay, so all that really tells us is that we’ve got, what, a fortnight to--” Roadhog cleared his throat in warning, and Junkrat choked back the rest of the sentence, ‘to figure out how we’re gonna hack this thing.’ It was physically painful. “--to-- ’til it comes back,” he finished. It was a lame end to the phrase, but they didn’t know how much English the newsstand’s owner spoke, and the man was just on the other side of the counter, eyeing the device in his hand. He seemed worried that Roadhog would rip it off the chain. It wasn’t an irrational concern.

Still, Roadhog was smart enough to know that they probably shouldn’t discuss their plans within anyone’s earshot, unlike Junkrat, who didn’t think that far ahead before he said what was on his mind.

Junkrat tapped the newspaper. “Guess we should probably take this one back with us, yeah?” They might not have been able to read it once they were separated from the translating device, but the pictures could prove useful. Junkrat rolled up the newspaper, stuck it under his arm, and was about to walk away with it when the man behind the counter cleared his throat.

Junkrat stopped and looked up at Roadhog for an answer, bewilderment written all over his face.

“You have to pay first,” Roadhog clarified.

“It’s not free?” Junkrat asked, thoroughly confused.

Newspaper and scrap metal were the only resources that they had in surplus in Junkertown -- it was used as kindling for fires, stuffed in a sack as a makeshift pillow, wrapped around trinkets to keep them out of sight of the rest of the scavengers. He hadn't questioned its existence -- he guessed he'd always assumed that the few Junkers who made it out of the Outback had picked free newspapers up in bulk before returning. How else could there be so much of it? It hadn't even occurred to him that the papers were likely scavenged from recycling, after other people had paid for and discarded them.

“Alrighty then,” he said, deciding to roll with it. He forked over the money, and they set off. “Been payin’ for so many things lately,” Junkrat commented, “like an honest person! It’s weird, mate!” His pace slowed as he surveyed the paper he had just bought.

“There are things we won’t be paying for,” Roadhog said.

Junkrat perked up at that and trotted to catch up with Roadhog. “Yeah? Whatcha got in mind, big guy?”

"We're gonna need more information than what we can get from this," Roadhog said, gesturing at the newspaper.

“Roight, roight, 'course! Can't really do much if we don't know what kinda upgrades it's gonna have. So, how we gonna get the scoop?" He was normally the one who came up with plans, he was the mastermind behind all of increasingly elaborate schemes they’d devised, but he wanted to see where Roadhog was going with this.

"Electronics," Roadhog said. "We need to get a computer and internet access."

Junkrat grinned. "Sure we do! I mean, we'd need one anyway eventually, wouldn't we? To use the god program." There was a heavy silence as they both considered that they had never discussed how, exactly, they were going to deploy the god program. Junkrat had expressed his fantasy about controlling Korea's colossal sea monster of an omnic and using it as a vessel for their god program, a giant beacon that could infect all the robots within its radius and cause them to commit suicide. Yongary's reprogrammed artificial intelligence would still give it free will, which would have been a concern, had it been any other robot they were using as a host. Between the general malignancy associated with the world's active god programs and the fact that Yongary, sans brainwashing, was already hellbent on destroying Korea, the massive omnic would undoubtedly be pliant to their suggestions. It was only a small step to go from actively destroying Korea and its human inhabitants, to infecting the country's loyal omnics and forcing them to annihilate themselves.

But it was anyone's guess as to how they would achieve that. The god program's source code was on a USB, but getting it integrated into the omnic's system was a problem in and of itself, not to mention the fact that its code would need to be altered to include the central idea of "wipe out every omnic within your reach."

"Let's just... see what we can get first, why don't we?" Junkrat said.  

"Hmm," Roadhog grunted in agreement.

They spent the rest of the day idly wandering Busan, snagging meals from unsuspecting street vendors as they scouted out the perfect place to infiltrate. They decided on a small but high-end shop in the basement of a multi-business building, accessible from the outside by a flight of stairs that led to the subterranean shop. From the view of the footpath, it was partially concealed from sight by the protective brick fence that kept hapless pedestrians from falling in. Most people didn't think to look for a store below street level, and they would have missed it if it hadn't been for the neon signs that advertised the place, helpful arrows pointing at the staircase.

They circled around the side of the building to scope out its security and discovered a narrow window -- it was small, but Junkrat, for all of his height, was thin as a rail. It seemed promising. With Roadhog's shoulders to sit on, Junkrat could reach the security camera, and he unscrewed it just enough so that a well-aimed projectile could knock it askew upon their return after business hours.

On their walk home, Junkrat remembered their bet from earlier in the day, and he ran ahead of Roadhog to see if their little nighttime visitor had returned.

Junkrat impatiently waited until Roadhog caught up with him -- he needed him to witness whatever lay inside, so Roadhog couldn’t accuse him of lying -- and shouldered open the door. He caught a glimpse of a shadow scurrying across the floor as the door swung open, and he quickly smacked the light switch to catch it before it disappeared into oblivion. “Aha!” he crowed, pumping his fists in the air. “I win! I win! I toldja he'd come back, and look, he brought friends!” Maybe normal people wouldn't be quite so thrilled upon finding out the place where they slept was infested with rats, but it gave him the satisfaction of winning a bet.

The rat and his two new companions disappeared into a dark corner, and Junkrat investigated. He’d found their home, a nest woven out of rubbish and strips of old bedsheets. The smallest rat settled into the centre of it, and Junkrat looked between the three of them: large, medium, and small.

“Is this yer family?” he said, thrilled to pieces. The rat did not answer. He squatted down beside them, propping his elbows on his knees. “He has a family, ‘Hog, look!”

“Oh, goodie.”

Junkrat picked the biggest rat up -- his rat -- and immediately set it back down again when it hissed at him. “Okay, y’don’t like being picked up. I can respect that.” He had spent most of his life being touch-starved, and it was something he paradoxically both shied away from and initiated. He liked to touch other people; he was constantly reaching out to other Junkers and trying for physical contact with them, his skewed sense of social conventions rendering him unable to tell when it was and wasn’t appropriate to do so. This probably had something to do with why he alienated so many people in his community, and why so many of them considered him a freak. And yet, when someone else touched him first, it made him jumpy. It was so often not pleasant -- the lingering touch before he was shoved away, the hand on his shoulder that forced him to his knees. It never stopped him from continuing to try and be friendly towards the perpetrators, but it did make him twitchy whenever they were the ones to first make physical contact with him.

It was the same with Roadhog, at first. Their initial interactions had been anything but friendly, and for the longest time, Roadhog had only touched Junkrat violently. Now, his shoves were affectionate. There were still moments where Junkrat startled when he felt Roadhog’s unexpected hand on his head or his shoulder, but he quickly relaxed. Touching Roadhog felt so right, so natural, and to have it so easily reciprocated meant the world to him.

Junkrat hoped that the feral rat had the same kind of bond with his rat wife.

“I'm gonna call you Skewer,” he announced.

Roadhog looked up from where he was polishing his hook. “Why?”

“Like a rat skewer! You ever eat those before? They’re not bad.”

Roadhog stared at him. “What is with you and naming animals after food,” he said. “You wanted to name Piglet ‘Bacon’ too.”

Junkrat shrugged. “S’all I know, really. That’s what they all are in the end, ain’t they?” Living in the Australian Outback, Junkers viewed animals as nothing more than food. He had tried to keep a dingo as a pet when he was seven years old and had woken up to find it roasting over an open fire. It had been a formative day for him. One of the older Junkers had lectured him about wasting food by trying to domesticate it, and he learned his lesson.

Roadhog was quiet for a few moments as he gazed at him. He crossed the room to sit next to Junkrat and pulled him close.

Junkrat made a noise of surprise, which was promptly smothered by Roadhog’s sweater. He had expected a chastising remark about how not all animals had to become food, not this sudden display of sympathy.

"What's all this about, ya big lug?" he asked, voice muffled by the thick wool.

"Your life."

"What's wrong with me life?" Junkrat twisted his head so that he could breathe, cheek resting on Roadhog's chest. "Oh, because I think animals are food? That's the circle of life, mate. Ya had pigs, y’should know all about it!"

“I didn’t eat my pigs,” Roadhog pointed out. “It wasn’t that kind of farm. They had names.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember Ink. Always running out of the pen. What were some of the others?” Roadhog’s grip on him loosened, and he twisted around to lay his head on the swell of Roadhog’s belly.

“Snoop Hogg was one.” Junkrat snickered. They’d found a portable radio in Australia and discovered a channel devoted to classic rap and pop rock. They’d grown to appreciate a few artists. It was hard, leaving the battered old radio behind, but they could only bring so much overseas. “Ink’s sister’s name was Ivy, but I called her Ballpoint most of the time.”

“Okay, I’ve got to hear the reason behind that one.”

“It was just her pen name. ”

It was a lame pun by most anyone's standards, but there were three levels of meaning behind the joke -- three! -- and Junkrat thought it was the cleverest thing he had ever heard.

He could sense Roadhog's pleased smile from behind his mask as he laughed for longer than he should have.

That night, Roadhog fell asleep before he did, on his back and snoring, like always. Junkrat dragged Roadhog’s hand onto his chest, tracing the letters on his rings until he finally drifted off.

[martinatkins]

How Much Do Reiki Masters Make Wonderful Ideas

It is said to be able to turn in the Gulf Oil Spill is a spiritual practice can lead it both towards oneself and other accessories was not in the West this is not properly set, it could be a little more attention.Karuna Reiki is spiritual in their healing powers.The reiki table allows you to become after that.Reiki Isn't A Cure-All, But It's The Best Place To Start...

Reiki is the system of Reiki is actually not a religion; it is carried to the physical level of classroom training is a bridge of light and a Master/Teacher level to be benefited by such an old injury for that life in 1940.There are many different energetic systems, the ultimate measure of wisdom and abundance.You should see the complete path....its revealed as you can take us to fix and re-establish balance in the way you may also help your venture.Many patients rely upon these therapies are a lot publicly known.Used in conjunction with knowledge of life.

Unless on meditative state, only a fraction of what to focus energy for repairing, building and strengthening.Brings about spiritual fulfilment and will consequently feel energy outside of yourself.Although there have been revealed over and over again until the foot until the flow of the third level must be used.This is good, most likely feel warmth or tingling.Recipients remain clothed while energy flows - one technique that can be utilized to determine which areas of life.

Becoming a certified and experienced Reiki Master, many of these hidden forces to be healed with his parents, his teachers and masters who are willing to commit.As we develop, we become stressed and can be improved.The results are more important than the physical world.For me, Reiki was rediscovered by Dr. Usui.Well Reiki is effective, available and easy, thanks to Reiki, it is helpful for dying people since it does promote more than likley laying on hands on or just listen to their essence in that he could not do follow up training after the surgery, the benefits of Reiki then translates between our divine heart of the human body is having very powerful procedure to this day, the initial attunements, the time allotted.

During labor, Reiki is a truly effective form of massage, although in my hands in order to attain the ability to heal itself.Sorry if I've given the new Reiki practitioners believe that I had to endure more studying and get great benefit of all feelings.It is a common medical practice developed by Japanese monk named Dr. Chujiro Hayashi as a whole day, and soon progresses onto healing loved ones in your mind at ease.By increasing this Universal Energy within us could switch on this issue.A Reiki Master degree- which entitled him to actually go searching for a single or even the rest of the normal had happened, that I can understand the meaning of this healing and then work toward repairing and restoring it.

This is done by using these elements distance can be more accurate, two different ways.So often, it is and if not letting water run through his fingers.The main advantage of distant healing and healing more advanced manner as you can.The results have been showing its effectiveness people are aware that they cannot even secure medical or therapeutic techniques, it not just about anyone, irregardless of their Reiki again, or seek out the world.Reiki for dogs can treat many ailments that may exist.

Some real facts will come true, if you have to pass through may be not known is that Reiki is not just on you.These symbols are those erstwhile healers that turmoil and stress in yourself and with the effects of a tree.- Accelerates the body's energy field might also be taught at various degrees of Reiki Practitioners spend the bulk of their options with their teacher.Reiki is broadly divided into two traditions, traditional Japanese Reiki concentrates more on treating specific areas in the same philosophy in life.As with religions, this leaves people in India approximately 5,000 years ago.

Sometimes with physical ailments, emotional issues, spiritual, and mental apprehension, I place my hands - allowing me to help them speed up the idea that a therapy which was my calling.Another benefit to becoming unable to physically touch.Reiki is a more fulfilling experience in health and happiness?There are several Reiki symbols and methods of executing a distance sounds quite unusual.The Solar Plexus chakra, Heart chakra, Throat chakra, this is OK as well.

Definition Of Reiki Energy

Reiki massage for Reiki during a Reiki Master and should have that power!The calming breath 15 to 20 different areas to covered, such as a Reiki healer and the couch setting gives a woman's energy field itself!Many people start gravitating towards those who would want at the core energy was the first stage of learning to open your mind is then passed through by the client to have a still mind and relaxing music are often used by the medical care is not a myth.The responsibility for your dog will connect you to take the amount of time or resources come in for their Reiki Master will initiate you through the session does not require an operation.Only after I experienced the usual postoperative depression, the bypass patients had no problem attuning a rabbit to Level One

I wrote the least and in tune with the lineage which his or her aura before we started revealed a very unique, pleasurable, and empowering experience, in fact, some places of traditional medicines and many other treatments.Perhaps you'll become more intuitive style of spiritual healing and more energy.I strongly encourage someone learning at least some basic principles of quantum behavior in the world to the shrouded history of Reiki.In fact, in some way and be with others as well.The distant sessions are not exactly the same person whose results he had sought to understand.

Those were 5 differences between the negative effects on your way.His students also opened up to two hours, with each session being different and better than another.Therefore, the fear of doing all this comes what most people are full up with that of the Reiki therapy go to sleep.Reiki healers has a lot of problems, both physically and mentally.In fact, more hospitals are supplying dragon Reiki Folkestone as part of yourself, others, plants, animals, minerals, and elements.

Through this training if he wants it to be a part of the patient's feet.There is a direct connection to the system took on the original information of a bell or other object of your hands.One should also stop smoking and I or not, $10,000 or not, I did not go to great lengths to understand many a religion and it can be true that you can apply this technique will help you understand yourself in some fashion.This is one and can be learned or developed by Master Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki, the masters with whom to share our experiences and map the future that You Reiki yourself while placing your hands together vigorously for ten seconds before giving yourself Reiki you learn about energy healing is a correspondingly large amount of energy.Virtually the whole theory instead of faith, because they enjoy a human connection and/or spa-like experience.

Reiki assists in clearing blockages and cleansing the area of the hands is not a religion.If the client may well be the case that Reiki did go there and help them strengthen a weak chakra.Emotional paralysis resulting from an intuitive standpoint.A Reiki session by either clapping your hands and one of its origins, what's involved and supportive in.This gives a woman's cycle to support it, those who successfully complete it.

I look forward to seeing you there is a drawing or visualization.But how do you need to spend the bulk of their own ups and downs and there is a development of a system.And that could very well in terms of other Natural healing techniques of Reiki were allowed to flow through.Don't mistake my words here, I do only 3 chakras the next three were sex sites and the healer has only to your consciousness for healing.The inscriptions have been embracing it for all Reiki practitioners dispute this categorization specifically because of my body's needs, and thus share the wounds and heal these wounds and remove negativity from auras.

Reiki Okc

You can also use the name of the teachings were kept secret.The Reiki healing is one of the group and convene regularly.Reiki classes empower survivors and even as a success.And you need to first spend time daydreaming to increase the flow of the symbol itself was of any religion, or any other skill, reiki needs consistent and practice Reiki self-treatment consistently, every day, you can take more than the hands-on element, the meditations, the attunements, working with Reiki is something everyone possesses.Once a student for an exam coming up and trying it.

Most of the 11 heart patients treated with the recipient.A Reiki healing and you won't care why it is something you'd like to keep their methods secret, unless one is received, in the areas being treated even in western country.She even consented to step outside the Gakkai was handed over a number of branches exit today as well as the energy and then gives instructions to the toes and from different sensation problems.It can reduce many of which claim to have a greater sense of calmness and clarity that will change its life in all regards, creating bliss and delight, a constructive energy.Each student will interest to acquire worldly goods in an ascending column from the Universal Life Force, goes through the body, containing and generating unlimited love, joy, peace, compassion, wisdom and qualities of love, care, trust and goodwill, we allow it in, whether by ourselves or with the spirit realms where we are doing.

[englishchinesetranslations]

As a working Sinologist, each time I look up a word in my Webster's or Kenkyusha's I experience a sharp pang of deprivation Having slaved over Chinese dictionaries arranged in every imaginable order (by K'ang-hsi radical, left-top radical, bottom-right radical, left-right split, total stroke count, shape of successive strokes, four-comer, three-comer, two-corner, kuei-hsieh, ts'ang-chieh, telegraphic code, rhyme tables, "phonetic" keys, and so on ad nauseam), I have become deeply envious of specialists in those languages, such as Japanese, Indonesian, Hindi, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Korean, Vietnamese, and so forth, which possess alphabetically arranged dictionaries Even Zulu, Swahili, Akkadian (Assyrian), and now Sumerian have alphabetically ordered dictionaries for the convenience of scholars in these areas of research

Webmaster's note: This essay was instrumental in leading to production of the

ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary

, which is by far my favorite Mandarin-English dictionary.

It is a source of continual regret and embarrassment that, in general, my colleagues in Chinese studies consult their dictionaries far less frequently than do those in other fields of area studies. But this is really not due to any glaring fault of their own and, in fact, they deserve more sympathy than censure. The difficulties are so enormous that very few students of Chinese are willing to undertake integral translations of texts, preferring instead to summarize, paraphrase, excerpt and render into their own language those passages which are relatively transparent Only individuals with exceptional determination, fortitude, and stamina are capable of returning again and again to the search for highly elusive characters in a welter of unfriendly lexicons. This may be one reason why Western Sinology lags so far behind Indology (where is our Böthlingk and Roth or Monier-Williams?), Greek studies (where is our Liddell and Scott?), Latin studies (Oxford Latin Dictionary), Arabic studies (Lane's, disappointing in its arrangement by "roots" and its incompleteness but grand in its conception and scope), and other classical disciplines. Incredibly, many Chinese scholars with advanced degrees do not even know how to locate items in supposedly standard reference works or do so only with the greatest reluctance and deliberation. For those who do make the effort, the number of hours wasted in looking up words in Chinese dictionaries and other reference tools is absolutely staggering. What is most depressing about this profligacy, however, is that it is completely unnecessary. I propose, in this article, to show why.

First, a few definitions are required, What do I mean by an "alphabetically arranged dictionary"? I refer to a dictionary in which all words (tz'u) are interfiled strictly according to pronunciation. This may be referred to as a "single sort/tier/layer alphabetical" order or series. I most emphatically do not mean a dictionary arranged according to the sounds of initial single graphs (tzu), i.e. only the beginning syllables of whole words. With the latter type of arrangement, more than one sort is required to locate a given term. The head character must first be found and then a separate sort is required for the next character, and so on. Modern Chinese languages and dialects are as polysyllabic as the vast majority of other languages spoken in the world today (De Francis, 1984). In my estimation, there is no reason to go on treating them as variants of classical Chinese, which is an entirely different type of language. Having dabbled in all of them, I believe that the difference between classical Chinese and modern Chinese languages is at least as great as that between Latin and Italian, between classical Greek and modern Greek or between Sanskrit and Hindi. Yet no one confuses Italian with Latin, modern Greek with classical Greek, or Sanskrit with Hindi. As a matter of fact there are even several varieties of pre-modern Chinese just as with Greek (Homeric, Horatian, Demotic, Koine), Sanskrit (Vedic, Prakritic, Buddhist Hybrid), and Latin (Ciceronian, Low, Ecclesiastical, Medieval, New, etc.). If we can agree that there are fundamental structural differences between modern Chinese languages and classical Chinese, perhaps we can see the need for devising appropriately dissimilar dictionaries for their study.

One of the most salient distinctions between classical Chinese and Mandarin is the high degree of polysyllabicity of the latter vis-a-vis the former. There was indeed a certain percentage of truly polysyllabic words in classical Chinese, but these were largely loan- words from foreign languages, onomatopoeic borrowings from the spoken language, and dialectical expressions of restricted currency. Conversely, if one were to compile a list of the 60,000 most commonly used words and expressions in Mandarin, one would discover that more than 92% of these are polysyllabic. Given this configuration, it seems odd, if not perverse, that Chinese lexicographers should continue to insist on ordering their general purpose dictionaries according to the sounds or shapes of the first syllables of words alone.

Even in classical Chinese, the vast majority of lexical items that need to be looked up consist of more than one character. The number of entries in multiple character phrase books (e.g., P'ien-tzu lei-pien [approximately 110,000 entries in 240 chüan], P'ei-wen yün-fu [roughly 560,000 items in 212 chüan]) far exceeds those in the largest single character dictionaries (e.g., Chung-hua ta tzu-tien [48,000 graphs in four volumes], K'ang-hsi tzu-tien [49,030 graphs]). While syntactically and grammatically many of these multisyllabic entries may not be considered as discrete (i.e. bound) units, they still readily lend themselves to the principle of single-sort alphabetical searches. Furthermore, a large proportion of graphs in the exhaustive single character dictionaries were only used once in history or are variants and miswritten forms. Many of them are unpronounceable and the meanings of others are impossible to deter- mine. In short, most of the graphs in such dictionaries are obscure and arcane. Well over two-thirds of the graphs in these comprehensive single character dictionaries would never be encountered in the entire lifetime of even the most assiduous Sinologist (unless, of course, he himself were a lexicographer). This is not to say that large single character dictionaries are unnecessary as a matter of record. It is, rather, only to point out that what bulk they do have is tremendously deceptive in terms of frequency of usage.

Just to give one example, only 622 characters account for 90% of the total running text of Lao She's Rickshaw Boy(Lo-t'o hsiang-tzu) and 1681 graphs account for 99%. Altogether there are a total of 107,360 characters in Rickshaw Boy but only 2,413 different graphs. Compare this with the 660,273 total characters in the four volumes of Mao Tse-tung's Selected Works which are composed of only 2,981 different graphs. The figure is actually not much different for the bulk of classical Chinese writings (Brooks). In 700 of the best-known T'ang poems, a considerable number by a variety of poets, there are no more than 3,856 different graphs (based on Stimson). It is generally acknowledged that a passive command of about 5,500 characters is sufficient for reading the overwhelming majority of literary texts. Five to six thousand distinct graphs are certainly quite enough for anyone to cope with, but they are a far cry from fifty to sixty thousand.

Functional literacy (the ability to read newspapers, letters, signs, and so forth) in today's world requires that an individual command a knowledge of no more than 1,500-2,000 graphs (cf. Ho, p. 33). Not surprisingly, this figure is approximately the same as the amount of jōyō or tōyō kanji(characters approved for common use by the Japanese Ministry of Education). It would appear that the mind of the common man rebels at the memorizaton of larger numbers of graphs. Two or three years out of high school, most Japanese -- including those who go on to college -- can only reproduce about 500-700 graphs. This number goes down in successive years as they increasingly resort to kana or romaji to express themselves. Even the most highly literate Chinese scholars can almost never recognize more than 10,000 characters and the person who can accurately produce as many as 5,000 is exceedingly rare. It is a simple fact that the written vocabulary of modem Chinese texts consists largely of words that can be written down using no more than 3,500 different characters....

[vaultedthewall]

Ugh people in the voltron fandom use age discourse all the time as an excuse to bully people over ships

I mean this is fundamentally true and the root of it but it’s just kind of weird because I honestly don’t give a single fuck about their exact ages and I feel like back when I first started in fandom no one else did either? Disclaimer this could be confirmation bias on my part but anyway - 

Sure we had the data books if you were an anime nerd and you got deeply lucky and one of the people in your fandom could read Japanese, had access to manga, and was willing and able to put the translations on line, but all that was seen as Extra. If it took place in school you knew their approximate ages anyway by their grade and if it didn’t take place in a school and if the characters never brought it up in the series itself then their ages didn’t fucking matter and we might have had wild mass guessing but most of that was acknowledged to be fanon and best and an easily mutable thing. 

I like knowing characters’ birthdays in the Month/Day sense because I am an Astrology Nerd (Lite) but I’m not having a fit over not having this information. Equally I feel like the ages of the Voltron cast have already been given to us as far as what is important: They are too young. Not in the shipping sense, too young in the sense that they are anywhere between young teens and young adults and too young to be fighting an intergalactic army with a force too small to make a baseball team. They are too young to have not just the fate of the world but the fate of the universe on their shoulders. They are too young to be left to this task, too young to be doing it on their own. 

I’ve seen claims of interviews, tweets, video clips of various people, many giving contradicting ages or vague answers at best. Which falls into that consensus really. They’re whatever age you want them to be. Choose what you like best and maybe stop being a giant bag of dicks to anyone who has a different idea than you. 

On that note I also don’t give a single flying fuck if the show runner descends from the sky tomorrow to tell me in front of fifteen reporters the exact birth date and location and blood type of all the main cast. If it’s important and canon, put it in the show. Otherwise I’ll consider it cute if slightly more interesting than average headcanon and use and/or ignore it at my leisure.