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Forgot to mention, but after typing up Halloween's entry at the library, I attempted to access Fanfiction.net, and it turns out that site isn't accessible without a librarian's assistance due to supposed sexual content. I told someone at the reference desk to let whoever is in charge of providing their Internet service know that that site isn't pornographic, and she said that it's beyond their control, but did temporarily unblock it for me.

My point, was that it's just kinda weird that they'd block something that is text-only and doesn't even allow explicit content (even though it does allow for R-/M-rated works), while they do allow users to freely access DeviantArt, where people do host actual NSFW images (albeit usually with a Mature Content filter). No big deal, though.

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Managed to can some of the twig piles, and mowed over the leaves and the remaining twigs. Now all that's left is raking and mowing up the backyard while the power is still down.

LIPA came to Masem Court at 6 PM yesterday. I came out to see whether they'd actually take care of the tree, and they were speaking to Chet Bernacki, who was out with his son Dail, his daughter Nicole, and Nicole's boyfriend Rob. I greeted each of them, and also asked Dail if he found a good job by now, and he said he's a painter now.

Anyway, the guys from LIPA told Chet that they'd start working on the tree an hour from then. As of this morning, I got up and went out at 6:30 this morning to check their progress, and it appears that at least they managed to cut it into pieces. It was still dark, and I heard an owl several times on the way back, before noticing it fly over our house upon leaving Masem Court.

Still a matter of time before the town comes to clean up the tree and fix the power lines. We didn't know when it would come, considering that the situation is much worse in Jersey Shore, Staten Island, and even Sayville (just five miles away from here), where the storm actually claimed lives and destroyed homes. Given that things weren't even that bad after last year's hurricane, we had reason to assume that it could be a week or longer before we got any help at all, and Mom even told me that Hamid told Dad that it could be that long before the gas stations receive new supplies of gas either. While other residents still do have electricity, we're lucky to even have a generator; I recall Dail telling the LIPA workers that they don't even have one of those, or anything whatsoever.

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Power's back up!

And right after the generator ran out of fuel only a short while ago.

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Anyway, this morning, I noticed a tick on the top of my right thigh, and plucked it off. Later on, I noticed that a tiny red ring had formed where I was bitten, and Mom had to arrange an appointment with Dr. Mattimoe.

Took care of one of the tree segments in the ivy patch some time before I noticed the ring. While I was busy, I noticed a deer in our neighbor's yard directly across Masem Court from us. I kept an eye on it for a few moments, to make sure it wasn't about to charge at me, and then made a run into the house as it ran in my general direction. It instead ran into the ivy patch and to Eddy's driveway. (Mom speculates that it must have been disturbed by the sound of the LIPA worker's chainsaws as they were cutting that tree on Masem the rest of the way up.)

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On the way to Dr. Mattimoe's office, we noticed two of those long lines of cars waiting to get gas, one on the Long Island Expressway service road from North Ocean Avenue (only two blocks from where I used to work at McDonald's), and the other on Route 347, extending from well past the clinic. Coming home, they were both gone, which suggests that the gas available at both stations had run out. (Been hearing about such lines on the news, but this is the first time that I actually saw any of them in person.)

After someone had me weigh myself inside the office, it turns out I've lost four pounds since my last visit in March.

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Asked on Yahoo Answers recently as to whether anime such as Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh reflect real life in Japan. Here's what someone assuming the name Mike has had to say:

Actually I have watched Lucky Star till it was discontinued, and I personally knew one of the contributors (who is Canadian). Believe it or not L.S. is more or less based on Canadian culture, with the guise of Japan. My personality is based on Konata and her dad, and Kagami and her sister are actually two best friends from my high school (the L.S. informant got dismissed). She mainly got a lot of her ideas not only from me, but from a math teacher who taught in Japan because of the J.E.T. program (Temple University Japan). So even though I'm not a huge anime fan you get the pleasure of meeting Konata [himself].

As for individuality Japan has been known to have a completely different culture than that of those "western devils". In some cases business has been abandoned with the Japanese because of egalitarian methods in a casual sense. I'm not sure I can explain it well but the Japanese are not really the same politically but adhere to social norms at an extreme level.

If you are interested there is a video of a Borat like character who shows how uptight people might be in Japan. This probably isn't the best video to demonstrate the latter, but the guy visits [Yahoo Japan] in the show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2hhjao8D…

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121028083458AAc99tl

This .pdf webpage that I found recently also has its own take on how Japanese culture in real life is both similar to and different from how it's portrayed in anime:

http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=honors_program_theses

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Saw the owl again upon going outside this afternoon to check the LIPA workers' progress with the power lines. It was a dark gray color, and it flew through our pine trees and above where the Sezneys used to live (just diagonal from us from across the Long Island Avenue/Masem Court intersection).

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Tomorrow, back to Earthbound, for real!