D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel

I received the deck of Hanafuda cards from Club Nintendo, which are a type of Japanese playing cards. The cards we're used to has numbered and face cards (13 total) divided via four suits. The hanafuda cards are instead separated via the twelve months instead of numbers and face cards, with each month represented by a certain type of plant, and also containing four cards.

However, the four cards of each month aren't just separated into one of four suits, but into a more complicated configuration. Some of the months are unique from the others. Each month has at least one Special card, which features another element like an animal. The Nintendo deck slightly redesigned most of the Special cards to feature Nintendo characters. Pretty nifty. :)

The Special cards from the hanafuda deck. Some months have more than one Special card so there are more than 12 in total.

There are also Ribbon cards which have a ribbon shown in the picture. Of these there are red, purple, and poetry ribbons. The poetry ribbons look like red ribbons but have writing on it. (see the Jan-Mar cards) The remaining cards are considered Normal cards.

The full deck of Club Nintendo's hanafuda deck. The left column from top to bottom is Jan-Jun, the right column is Jul-Dec.
January: Pine [Matsu (松)]
February: Plum Blossom [Ume (梅)]
March: Cherry Blossom [Sakura (桜)]
April: Wisteria [Fuji (藤)]
May: Iris [Ayame (菖蒲)]
June: Peony [Botan (牡丹)]
July: Bush Clover [Hagi (萩)]
August: Chinese silver grass [Susuki (薄)] (Nintendo has it as Pampas grass)
September: Chrysanthemum [Kiku (菊)]
October: Maple [Momiji (紅葉)]
November: Willow [Yanagi (柳)]
December: Paulownia [Kiri (桐)]



Case the hanafuda cards came in.

They do look much nicer than regular playing cards, and it requires you to familiarize with the deck to remember which cards belong to which month. I'm still trying to learn the rules of the game Koi-Koi so I might be able to get someone to play these cards with. :D

"I'll add you to my travel partner list."

Halfway mark! Unfortunately this semester is much busier than the last, and I'm already worried about some of these courses from the first lecture. I'm also going to the lab in the mornings now so I'm actually taking the GO train. Not used to waking up so early again =_= However, it still feels better at the end of the day when compared to staying at the lab after classes until late. Hopefully my PI will give me a break this semester due to the workload and restricted lab resources...

This Christmas was such a needed break from everything. I tried to indulge in as much gaming as I could to clear some of the backlog before spring semester presents itself. Managed to get some Ogre Battle 64, Ouendan 2, Pokemon Rumble, Band Hero, and Nostalgia. Band Hero's subdued difficuly level is pretty good for GH/RB noobs like me who can only last on Hard difficulty, maybe eke out a few of the easier songs on Expert. Plus the songlist is less boring. Of course, I'm lucky the game supports the RB drum which is the one I had. Somehow I think the RB drums feel a lot better to play on compared to the GH drums.

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New Year's wasn't spent anywhere special, but was enjoyable nonetheless. Have a great 2010, a year which we can finally pronounce again as two two-digit numbers!

First thing eaten in 2010: Turtles chocolate (again, seems to be a theme)
First thing drunk in 2010: Some Chardonnay wine from Pelee Winery
First thing played with in 2010: Band Hero (I didn't manage to get drunk, probably would have been more fun that way)
First thing resumed in 2010 after celebrations: UTAMA foruming, I think

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Just today I finally found a frame for the piece of artwork I got many years ago from Epcot in Florida's Disney World. I think it's called Oriental Letter Art, where you can have someone's name or a message written out in fancy oriental characters which consist of various symbolic elements. They paint using this cool flat-tipped sponge and bright watercolours. I'm pretty sure this purchase was fueled by the tourist's souvenir frenzy but I don't mind having it around. They simply ask you for your name, then you go walk around the park while they paint your name and you can come back to see how it turned out later.

I thought the stand was personally run by the artist herself, but it turns out they have a website where you can even order art online.



There's the design. (Click for larger image) According to the brochure they handed out, the symbols mean:

Sun: hope, faith, and love

Dragonfly: dream

Bird: peace

Ship: perspective (K)

Rainbow: promise, love, hope, and peace

Crane: longevity and noble mindedness (E)

Cactus: patience and hope (I)

Mountain: perseverence and stoicism

Dragon: honour, credit, bravery and pride

I definitely like the birds and the mountain, and I like the Japanese-y vibe of the dragon. My sister actually got one of these done even longer back when we visited Victoria, BC. Her name sports other symbols like dolphins, lighthouse, shrimp (a rather ornate one at that), and some tangle of flowers which I think are orchids. Unfortunately she lost the symbol sheet so we can't know for sure what dolphins are supposed to stand for.

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I'm dismayed to find that BPT is still down for the count. In the meantime I've assembled a few quizzes on Sporcle, and I'm still trying to get some iSketch in whenever possible.