Anyone know where in Winnipeg would be a good place to find (purchaseable) lawn gnomes? Need it for a present (and nothing noteable found today in my search at more mainstream outlets)

Wai! Wai!
Why?
'Cuz so far all the manga series I've either scanned or suggested recently, shy of one, to the Dynasty-Scans team, are now all active projects.
http://dynasty.evalpowar.com/

-I initially got in cahoots wit' them in regards to supplying them with post-Volume 2 mag scans of Kashimashi ~Girl meets Girl~ (ala ch15-20+omake2 so far). ch15-17 out with ch18 out momentarily.
-Gokujo Seitokai followed as I had a copy of Volume 1 scans (followed afterwards by my own mag scans of Lesson 8-on) Ch01-02 out so far.
-Took initiative and sent the Uta~Kata one-off volume, which right away interested one translator.
-After getting a bit more comfortable and time-efficient with the scanning process, I scanned the initial chapters of a few other new series, and luck has it that the two series I've made available so far (still gotta do crop-jobs on the ones I haven't presented yet) are now working projects too.
1.-Strawberry Panic! ~Girls' School in Full Bloom~ (source: Dengeki G's) [yuri love comedy] First 2 ch's already translated and currently being edited.
2.-The Unknown Girl Friend - Kemeko-DX (source: Comic Dengeki GAO!) [ummm... hilarious comedy that's hard to describe. Cute childhood friend of protaganist comes out of the blue in a twisted looking 'fat/ugly-woman' cybersuit trying to court him while suited up... enemies attack... chaos ensues... yeah...] First chapter currently being translated (well, that's all I've scanned so far, though time to go scan-happy tomorrow with further chapters of these two series)

So... yeah! Dis be my current form of contribution to the anime-watching& subbing/manga-scanlating scene (last time I went into full-force mode was during a lull in the making available of certain anime series raw-wise a year and a bit back, and regularly made available full runs of certain neglected series like Galaxy Angel S4, Nin-Nin ga Shinobu-den, Sweet Valerian, etc under the Onegai-Raws monicker)

As well, in the name of improving my Nihongo as well as the pleasure of finally getting to continue reading one of my all-time favourite manga series (as the NA publisher, IronCat, went bellyup), I'm slowly (read: slooooooooooooooooooooowly) translating/editing Hanaukyo Maid Tai volume 4-up. Though, while reading through the first chapters of Vol4, I found that the scan quality was substandard, making certain characters illegible, so I've gone out of the way and made an order for volumes 4-to-12, which I kinda wanted to do for the longest time but which didn't make sense to do until now (semi-redundant to collect a series only to be able to visually 'read/view' it as opposed to actually READING and laughing it up.)

( Akadot Retail order (received January 3rd 2006) )

( Post-Xmas holdsbox buying binge at the Comic Cave )

As well, 3 tasty new season first eps to watch tonite.
- MagiKano (same character designer as Angel Tales/Hand Maid Mai, & artist for Rahxephon manga, Takeaki MOMOSE)
- Kagihime Monogatari - Eikyuu Alice Rondo (KAISHAKU! 'nuf sed!)
- Amaenai de Yo!! Katsu!! (aka S2)
...and gotta watch that Looking Up At The Half-Moon' trailer/intro thingy I got with Daioh as well...

Here's what I LURVED to bits this past year (alphabetically):

-AIR TV
-ARIA the Animation
-Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan
-Futakoi Alternative
-Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
-Gokujo Seitokai
-Hachimatsu no Clover
-Ichigo Mashimaro
-Iriya no Sora UFO no Natsu
-Kamichu!
-Mahoraba ~ Heartful Days ~
-Majokko Tsukune Chan
-Pani Poni Dash!
-PetoPeto-san
-Suzuka
-Zettai Shonen
(started 2005, but still airing)
-Eureka Seven
-Karin
-Rozen Maiden Träumend
-Shakugan no Shana

Addendum: WOW!!! I just noticed that only 3 of 'em are currently licensed! Most of the Anime Co's have been playing safe this year (though I guess that my lower interest in the more popular shonen anime shows is a factor too in regards to the list. AND... due to the fact that I've watched every Pretty Cure episode to date, Pretty Cure Max Heart gets an honorary mention)

I've fallen in love with Sleep Research Facility ; delicious drone ambient at its best. (Got the 'Nostromo Deck' tracks, but only have a snippet of 'Dead Weather Machine', which I'll order an official copy of along with my next SteveRoach.com order) Sucky thing, though, is I can only appreciate my fave low freq tracks during the day or else I confuse the neighbours. Bah Humbug! I miss falling asleep to Thomas Koner's 'Daikan' on repeat...

My ARIA calendar came in today!! (so only two days less-a-year's worth of appreciating it). Gonna pick it up along with my newest box o' Nihongo manga serial mags within the hour. (Only 8 business days this time around. Not too shabby)

I skipped out on anything New Years related (including the urge to set cars on fire which the French blood in me tells me to do, but genetics be damned!), which was fine and dandy with me.

While many did their various Xmas/NYE related things, my focus was on one particular event and digital things related to it: COMIKET 69!! (aka Comic Market, held every 6-months at Tokyo Big Sight, that building which looks like an upside down pyramid... you know the one...with millions of japanese crowding the space 'tween December 29&30)
http://www.comiket.co.jp/

Soooo... for those not clued in, an INSANE amount of doujinshi/CG/games/osts/etc from your favourite circle/artists/creators is made available. Result: a large % of da good stuff gets scanned/ripped and most-appreciatedly shared to the internet public at large, which I've been happily downloading and gawking/reading/playing/checking out.
LOTS of very fun fastpaced doujin schmup games this time around. And the usual new pack of naughty(& not so naughty too, o' course) doujins with casts/characters from the past anime season and recent manga faves in new (& usually compromising) situations. Muahahahah. [*insert 10,000 faps, followed by bitter cussing towards particular effects of Paxil, followed by Pi the Movie like benzo/glass of water/chug moment, followed by zzzzzzzzzzzzz...)
Whatever. Actually, that's not really the case anymore, and actually I'm enjoying marathoning the anime Zettai Shonen at the moment (with a break here and there, like now).

Sidenote: If you're OS is tweaked to be friendly to all things japanese, certain times things go on overdrive so most everything ends up being in Nihongo, including LiveJournal, where up at the top right your name includes honorifics (Welcome, akashic_library-SAN). Sadly, if you change your age and sex to that of a 9yearold girl, you'll NOT get the satisfaction of being called akashic_library-CHAN. :( Ah, well... back to Zettai Shonen.

Oh yeah.
I went to the Salisbury House on the downtown bridge for lunch and had myself some Cookies'n'Cream Oreo Dippin'Dots
I must say they are indeed a nifty dessert thang.

Time for a break, as my brain is starting to have a meltdown from reading too much japanese in a single stretch, my eyes are currently bugeyed and a bit strained, and staring at the monitor is actually relaxing to my occular orbs in comparison. (As well, I haven't done an entry in a bit, so now is as good as any)

In the past day, I finally got to use half of the HomeDepot shelving I've had collecting dust since moving out of the house in Van 3 years back, they being useless due to it being a no-no in my last Van abode and now my current apartment from damaging the walls and making mondo screw holes in the process of putting up the railings to hook the suckers on. Sooo... now I've constructed a nifty shelf unit specifically designed, built and placed to provide ultra-quick arm-snap access to the now growing amount of phonebook-sized manga serial mags from my favourite reading place. So far, I am quite pleased with it's inherent functionality, though it'll be a while before my eyeballs receive less stress due to my current state of slooooow-assed reading o' nihongo. O'course, the best thing about it all is the fact that I only needed to use pocket change to purchase the elbows'n'screws to complete the thing, meaning that much more left over for the important stuff (aka addictive pulp material).

My ARIA 2006 Calendar has finally shipped, along with my 4th order of juicy manga the same day. (YAY!) Though due to holiday postal conditions, who the hell knows when the stuff'll show up this time around (so likely no luck in using/staring at the calendar from day one. bah humbug. But considering last year I only recieved my Negima calendar late February, that's still a helluva lot better).

My Shakugan no Shana body pillow will finally be available for order on January 20th. Hopefully the Canadian dollar will keep on staying strong until then. (though my parents are on the other side of the fence on the matter, due to their main pension checks being in Euros, so currently it sucks big for them as they lose like $120-$150 a month. Ouch.)

Hmmm... Odd occurence within regards to my prescription info in the pharmacy 'puter net system, as various refills for certain anxiolytics and benzo's no longer exist according to those I picked up my new monthly batch from. I could care less about the Xanax refills, as it played havoc with my stomach acids (though if I had the illicit urge, I coulda sold 'em easily to one of the many Xanax junkies out there. Didn't do jack shit for me, so personally can't understand the attraction to the shit myself, but whatever turns their crank). I DO care for the Ativan and Serax refills though. Thinkin' of going to another pharmacy to verify the situation one way or the other.

Blah Blah Blah. Time to snooze, wake up early enough and go find a particular key gift for my over-energetic nephew. Ugh... Xmas...
Hmmm... Saturnalia celebrations. Who's into a booze/drug drenched orgy of carnal excess the coming Xmas evening?... ...
zzzzzzzzzzz
END OF TRANSMISSION>>>

My first 'Hot Manga Babe of the Week' selection dies on creation, as she's too fookin' new for me to succeed in finding a picture of her online and my scanner is connected to a computer elsewhere, so no pic-y, making it redundant.
('tis the new chick Kaori who kidnaps Fuyuki in the latest episode of Keroro Gunso in the December 2005 issue of Kadokawa's Shonen Ace. If I can't even yet find mention on japanese blogs via japanese search engines, then it's definitely me just pissin' in the wind. Whatever the case, she makes me 'have tent'...)