My Own Personal Ghost Detector

It came!!

J and I were farting around on the computer one day and found this--a Baketan, a ghost detector!

It's supposed to read disturbances in electromagnetic fields (or something) and warn you if a spirit is about. You push the little button and it blinks different colors as it searches for other-worldly presences. If it flashes blue it's informing you there's a guardian angel nearby. Green signals normal. And red equals DANGER! DANGER! Will Robinson!! To remedy this, you hold down the button to send up a force field, thus protecting you and yours.

It also makes sounds. It, um, translates the supernatural chatter it picks up. Once when I was messing with it walking up the dark stairs one night (everyone else was already asleep), it suddenly screamed "Help Me! Help Me!" Scared the living Sh%t out of ME! I tell ya.

What is also a hoot is that the Baketan is constantly searching for spectres 24/7 and if it discovers one, it will begin to flash and beep and yell at you. Which makes for interesting situations when you're on a crowded train and a tortured voice starts bellowing from your bookbag about the state of its soul. I smile and wink at the other passengers and imagine them all rushing home to blog about me the nutcase. We're all the same in the end.

Here's mine in action. While I was filming it my cat freaked out. You can hear her in the background.

So, J and I each bought one. Mine's on my cell phone and his on his DS. We've had them for about a week now and feel we're pretty safe. Well, I assume we're safe as long as we don't cross the streams.

Teenage Angst

Last week my son and I got into a fight over something trivial. I think I breathed or something. I can't remember exactly. No, it isn't that bad yet *knock on wood*.

He was practicing English at the time of our disagreement. In seventh grade all the Japanese schools introduce English into their curriculum. Now while J's speaking and listening English is flawless Simpson-ese with a smattering of Star Trek-ese and a smidgen of Myth Busters-ese, his reading and writing aren't quite up to snuff. But that's okay because they have them writing a page or two of simple sentences. Stuff like that.

This is what his notebook usually looks like. I go and help him with the punctuation and spelling errors later.

Well, the day of the blowout he was writing and when I glanced over I saw this:

It was hard to stay mad after that. I was so much more obnoxious as a teen.

Also, the Evil Bear has enlisted the help of a friend and the brainwashing is near complete. The dog's turned feral. I'm scared.

*Edit to add cute pics*

Actually, the above is Cha's demented stare. Here's a couple of how he usually is 99.9 percent of the time.

Just hanging around...

And entertaining friends and family....