Animation Weekends Shared

It makes me happy that my children share the things I love. It gives us more common ground and makes for livelier conversations. I am looking forward to the days when I can stop being the one who disciplines them and more really just their friend. Common interests make it easier to build bridges and memories to keep the relationships strong, I hope, long after they are all older and have moved on to having their own families.

Some of the things we enjoy doing together is watching cartoons. Everything from Disney to Avatar. Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes, Power Puff Girls, Voltron,  Macross, Totally Spies, Amazing Spies, Bakugan,and the list is endless. Of course Asia has always had great animated work. All the robot shows- Voltes V, Mekanda Robot, Mazinger Z. Though not cartoons but still something we enjoy are the shows like Star Rangers, Bioman, Mask Rider Black and yes, the Power Rangers. The list would go on and on and on.

The kids introduce me to new anime all the time and I introduce them to the ones we enjoyed growing up. Though they have watched Voltes V and Daimos, these have not become their favorites. I introduced them to Vandread, Curious Play (Fushigi Yuugi), Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho) and of course, my favorite, Detective Conan. Though none of us speak Nihongo, we all prefer to watch the original Japanese anime with English subtitles.

Recently we watched some Sailor Moon movies. I promised them that these would make them laugh. How could they not with titles like Sailor Moon and the Black Dream Hole? Gist: Sucking in the sweet (kids dreams) and using the resulting energy to open the black hole where badness will spill out. Hmmm....what does that sound like to you? We all agree that it's great to watch for laughs. Pretty Girl Sailor Moon (PGSM) the live action is still the best series of that show and OMG on the dialogue and the voice acting!

Seriously, TV may be bad for us because it creates couch potatoes but it also helps create good memories and common bonds. To the creators, authors, producers, artists and people keeping the cartoon/animation industry alive, I say THANK YOU and I hope you never get tired of doing what you do. More please!

Nail-a-holics

I finally made time to check out nail-a-holics in Gateway Tower. The receptionist immediately advised me of their 10% discount as soon as I walked in. That was nice! She offered different services to help me choose though I had already said I just wanted a basic mani-pedi. Never hurts to listen since how else would you find out if there's something new to try, right? At the end though, I still settled for the basics.

The attendant, Sheila, led me to a comfy arm chair in the inner left hand section and offered tea or juice. (Naturally, I went for tea). There was only one other customer in that area so it was pretty quiet except for the background sound of sea / surf / beach inspired spa-like music. She quickly got to work on my toes. She had very gentle hands-I barely felt my feet being worked on.

Another girl worked on my hands. I found it a bit strange that she didn't know how to shape my nails into an oval cut. I finally re-cut and shaped them myself and she did the rest of the cleaning and painting. She was very nice though. She allowed me to test out the different colors since I couldn't decide on the color since almost everything appealed.

I was there for almost 2 hours. They didn't do my hands and feet at the same time and they redid my hands twice due to polish errors. But the result was good. I have pretty and happy hands and feet.

The cost of the service is pretty standard for having nails done in the mall. They charge extra if you choose an imported brand of nail polish. Interestingly, they are more expensive than my regular home service. That was a surprise to me. Would I go back to nail-a-holics? Yes but more as a once in a while treat than my regular service. I'll stick to my awesome home service.