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http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html

Only watched six minutes of this video after typing yesterday's blog entry (Mom shared it with me through Facebook before actually watching any of it), but the message is clear: Stop treating introversion like a defect!

In fact, for all I hear about how groupthink is emphasized over individualism in Japan while the reverse is true in America, I actually wrote something in a notebook recently about how, for a lot of people, "Be yourself" is just wishful thinking even here (thankfully not so for me). That video just goes further to show that, in truth, we're probably not so different. Try telling a hikikomori (which I'm not, though I likely would be if I grew up in Japan) that they're not living life to its fullest, and they'll just argue that holing yourself up in your room is a lot more fulfilling than having to bend backwards for some group's every whim or another and make the same choices everyone else makes, down to what you order at a restaurant or what brand a baseball mitt you have.

(Was gonna post the video on Tumblr, but I'm gonna need to format my blog there in such a way that entire images (not links or thumbnails) are visible by default, the way Yincira's account is there. Will be sure to look into that at some point.)

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Just tested a free trial today, of Wondershare Video Converter, which Brian downloaded the other day. It works, but left the video clip I converted with the Wondershare logo in the middle. The real thing costs $60, so converting all my Mon Colle Knights videos to a format compatible with Windows Movie Maker can wait till another day, when I have more money in the bank.

In the meantime, since I'm not up to doing anything more this afternoon, here I go with a possible Starbound passage, since Jake's been having some ideas involving a certain restaurant chain he seemingly just found out about. For clarification, the party has returned to Japan after having regrouped from a forced separation, and is currently spending some time at Konata's house with the main characters' friends from school. Also, to avoid confusion, you'll know who the other party members are if you've read my entry's cut from the 4th.

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Depending on whether they travel back to Japan directly from Long Island or somewhere else, they might or might not bring Desiré along with them just to meet their friends and families. Either way, I don't plan on her becoming a long-term party member, hived or not, though I might change my mind on that at some point.