I happened to find an old PC microphone lying around, so here's an audio post I recorded last night. Admittedly it took me several tries to get this down as I don't have any terribly capable recording software on the laptop yet and therefore ended up using the default Sound Recorder program in Windows with its bloody 60-second limit. If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears -- I'm not looking to really pay for anything and I don't need the program to do much more than record my voice (though amplification, noise reduction, the ability to cut and paste, and other such features would be nice), so freeware programs are preferred. Thanks!

In other news, my beloved Sony stereo headphones have stopped working -- the right channel has died 🙁 -- so I spent much of yesterday searching in vain for a new pair. I ended up buying a set of Logitech headphones with a built-in mic, but I freaking hate these things. (I wish I'd found the aforementioned mic sooner, since then I wouldn't have bothered with the PC headphones and their mics and might have ended up with a more acceptable pair.) What happened to headphone designs? I remember when all headphones had the great big cups that go over your ears -- I like that; it's comfortable -- but now headphones are all about these weird "new" clip-on pieces and earbuds and things that I just can't get used to. I DON'T WANT THINGS INSIDE MY EARS, THANKS. But these ones that I bought have another common problem (which incidentally I couldn't tell by looking at them in the package, grrr). They look more like regular headphones, yes, but they're fucking flat -- like more expensive versions of the ultra-cheap headphones that come with $3 orange cassette players. But unlike those, with their cheap foamy earpieces and flimsy headbands, these Logitech deals are made of hard plastic and leather and HURT when they press against my ears. And then the sound starts playing and they make the interior of my ear feel super hot. Ugh. What happened to decent, normal headphones? My last two pairs were Sonys of more/less the same make, but I didn't see them anywhere despite going to like six different stores. 🙁

Oh, and while we were out, we happened to be in the PX when they did some raffle for free Home Shopping Network jewelry, which consisted of this super happy perky woman bouncing throughout the store giving little pink tickets to everyone she could find and announcing multiple times over the PA that everyone who wanted to participate should come to her podium ASAP. "It's almost time for the raffle, folks -- in just over another minute some lucky patron will win FREE JEWELRY! It'll be in 60, 59, 58, 36... I count really fast, so hurry on down to the podium between the book and giftware sections RIGHT NOW!" Of course, nothing involving the HSN is so simple, and the raffle was preceded by like a 20-30 minute talk about various jewelry pieces which those in attendance were required to vote on by a show of hands as this woman gleefully held them up and explained their various FANTASTIC attributes. This woman was seriously excited about the jewelry (or at least she was really good at pretending), so it was kind of amusing and a little scary. Admittedly, I've known people like this woman -- they're the kind of people I'm always happy to meet for dinner when I visit from out of town and like to hang out with at parties, but assuming that they're always like that I'd probably vomit if I had to see them on a daily basis -- and I always wonder what they're like in private. If I found out that one of these women was actually reading Lovecraft behind closed doors and doing watercolor paintings of graveyards, I'd probably start spewing Petrarchan poetry and propose on the spot.

One more thing: in addition to my imagined perky social butterfly with a dark alter-ego, I think I'm in love with 2-day shipping. I generally order my DVDs from DeepDiscountDVD (psst, they've got a 20% off sale going until the 17th; just type SUPERSALE in the coupon box to reap the benefits) with the free shipping option. Now, I really like DDD, and they've always done right by me. There have been several times that I've failed to receive my DVDs, but a quick e-mail to their customer service department always results in the DVDs being promptly resent. Admittedly, however, the free shipping thing is kind of dodgy. You might receive your DVDs in the stated 7-10 days, but then again they might not show up for three weeks -- especially if you order during the holidays or one of DDD's seasonal sales (like now). But seeing as how Father's Day is coming up and I wanted to be sure the wares arrived by this weekend, I went ahead and paid for the 2-day shipping on my Sunday evening orders from DDD and Amazon. At 10:45 this morning, I saw the UPS truck outside the house. After it pulled away, I found two boxes on our porch. And yeah, I could've gotten two more DVDs with the money I paid in shipping, but THE SHIT IS HERE ALREADY. So in addition to the neat stuff I got for my pop, I've got a bunch of shiny discs for myself as well (I always go nuts during the 20% off sales): "Sliders" Seasons 1 and 2 (16+ hours!!!), the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy, Orson Welles' The Trial, Demon City Shinjuku (because there always has to be anime), "X-Men Evolution" Season 3, and the BBC adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I've been looking forward to seeing the latter one ever since I read the book, since it's one of the few books I thought was kinda weak and would be better as a movie. I'm hoping I'll be able to refrain from buying any more DVDs for the rest of the summer. Terribly unrealistic, I know, but we'll see how long I can go. 😉

Until next time, then. Ja ne, minna-san!