Plum blossoms

[aimeekitty]

so monday I was actually seriously sad about it being rainy. I wanted to go to a garden. and the forecast said it would be raining all week. Then suddenly it was not rainy on tuesday!
... but then my check-engine-light came on *_* so I had to take my car into the shop. and they said that they'd keep it most of the day. sadness... no garden... So I left my car there and got a shuttle to my house.

.... ...... and then I realized I'd locked myself out of the house! AGH!!! HAHA!
(I've done this before... but I used to be able to sneak into my house. but we'd had burglars in the area so now we have it so I can't break into my house. lol.)

my husband was super sweet and came all the way home to let me in. (without even the slightest grumble!) So he decided to work at home for a few hours. And gave me his car so I could go to a garden.
HURRAY!

so I went to:
SCHABARUM REGIONAL PARK
17250 E. Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

it is a sister park to Kairaku-en Park in Japan.

because I heard from my sensei that there were plum trees blooming there. When I first got there I was like "huh. lots of green and no plums" but I kept driving... and eventually I came to a whole enclave of blooming plum trees of all kinds! Bright pink, light pink, double blossom, white... so pretty! The sky and sunlight was totally magical today too. I just sat for a while after taking photos. and then took more photos. and then sat.

I love plum blossoms. they look like little teacups.

the general area is this:










there were random groups of people that would come and stare at the trees for a few minutes and leave. lots of cute old ladies:


tons of random plum photos:

Comments

[slave-to-anime.livejournal.com]

Oooh, so pretty. Looks like those are going to be really gorgeous by the weekend.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

:D I thought you'd like them! My photography isn't as good as yours, but I thought of you yesterday when I was taking photos. :D
I bet they will be full bloom this weekend! I'm going to go back probably on saturday or sunday unless it rains.
(lol I'm tempted to cosplay and scare the old ladies)

[aree.livejournal.com]

Wow really lovely blossoms. Thanks for sharing the photos.
I love the depth of field shots.

On the anime industry I think it's that the kids don't want to pay the prices for the legal dvds. Maybe what they need to do is hook up with itunes kids are willing to pay itunes prices.

I hope the server move goes well.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I hate "those kids". >:X *grumble grumble*

[aree.livejournal.com]

I know I'm still upset about not gettingthe rest of season two of Rozen Maiden.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! The blossoms are just so perfectly formed and small! Great shots!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I might not have thought to go out if you hadn't suggested it! ^_^

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I need to take my own advice - I've got this wee puki here and I want to take his picture!!! But the lighting is pretty bad - I try to only ever use natural light - because it just won't stop snowing!

My "narnia" driveway -

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

wow, that's so pretty!

can you m ake a snowman? :D (you should.)

I would get everyone dress up. Ready in their winter clothes.

[ginarolo.livejournal.com]

Take Christmas photos for next year! I got two dolls waiting for snow here. But it's hasn't happened as yet.


Really pretty on the trees but boy does that snow looks deep.

Re: I would get everyone dress up. Ready in their winter clothes.

[zagzagael.livejournal.com]

Thanks both of you! I did go out and play in the snow with a kidling! And gina, I will set up some winter shots!

[esques.livejournal.com]

You are SO lucky. So lucky. What I would give to leave near to a place so beautiful!
http://aimeemajor.com/images/photos/2008jan/bplumm17.jpg
Lovely!!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I think if we ever leave here I will fall into depression and get addicted to MMORPGS.

(Thankyou!!)

[gothiclibrarian.livejournal.com]

We have 2 miniature plums in our backyard we planted a couple years ago in honor of the Pugs.

I'm researching other trees now since I want to plant one for the baby this spring...maybe another plum though...hmmmm...

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

luckeeeee! :) that's a great idea.

[gothiclibrarian.livejournal.com]

You've got a wee garden, right? Any light?

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

oh, very very tiny. XD... it's probably like 3 by 5 feet. I have ferns.

[gothiclibrarian.livejournal.com]

No trees for you!

I sent you em but upon re-reading it I'm freaking that it was insensitive.

::stuffs face with choco cake and shuts up::

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

I didnt think it was insensitive!

I am going to make cookies though. *death glare*

[twotone]

Geez. That would probably explain why I didn't have any job assignments for all of last year. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up for this year, either. :/ We had to submit my earnings for last year to a mortgage broker and he called us back because he couldn't believe my income was that low.

On a brighter note, those are some lovely pictures! I can't wait until the weather warms up in my area and the blossoms start appearing.

[umiyuko.livejournal.com]

I love plum blossoms! We have this huge one by my house that blossoms with our lilacs and makes the loveliest smell. I'm gonna miss it while I'm here in Savannah! But a tree's flowering outside my dorm, and I'm really curious to see what it is!

And on the Anime Industry... I think it's floundering for two reasons:
A.) There's simply too much product- I know when I go to the WALL of Anime DVDS at most video stores, I'm really intimidated and have no idea where to start. (I'm a bit more comfortable with manga in bookstores, but eh.) A lot of reviews on series are scattered and possibly biased. And, it's hard to find good series; there are so many duds being licensed now, that it might just seem exhausting to push the piles of slush away, to find one gem. (I personally think that's the fun part.)

and B.), as everyone has mentioned, those awful kids who don't buy the DVDs and swipe episodes from BitTorrent. These are usually the same kids who sit on the floor at Barnes and Noble and read entire volumes of manga and then put them back on the shelves. There's a place for that. It's called the Library. Call me bitter, but as the daughter of an author, that makes me irritated.

Another factor that might be rather small, is that some anime clubs refuse to screen series that have been licensed. SCAD's Anime Club, Kamekaze Sushi, doesn't play anything that's been licensed. Only Fansubs. Now, on the one hand, it's finding neat, cutting-edge series fresh from Japan. On the other hand, the practice is drowning its own industry by doing that. Now, they try to encourage that if you like the series, to buy it when it does get licensed and the DVD comes out... But most kids don't. Which irks me.

What's interesting is, some kids are willing to shell out $50 or so for a Naruto headband or another good like a wallscroll or figure, but if asked to buy a DVD, they freak out and say it's too expensive. Hmmm.

Wow, long entry is long. Sorry.

Anime

[kayjkay.livejournal.com]

I think asking for 20-25 dollars for a DVD with 2 to 4 episodes is kinda nuts really. I do it for titles I really love (Fruits Basket, Wolf's Rain, Cowboy Bebop), but I think that the demographic that used to have all the expendable income for anime is growing up, and while there are new teens to replace those going on to college and whatnot, perhaps they didn't get snagged like we got snagged. I just don't have the time to watch as much as I used to... and if I do, its normally older stuff like Ah My Goddess and Record of the Lodoss Wars...things I already have.

And on the subject of your photos, they make me happy. My old Apricot tree is long gone and my apple tree isn't blossoming yet but that certainly reminded me of my parent's place :)

Re: Anime

[lizzelizzel.livejournal.com]

'I think asking for 20-25 dollars for a DVD with 2 to 4 episodes is kinda nuts really. '

I agree :( Also, we KNOW they don't have to do that, we KNOW they can fit it all on one or two disks.
I just rent anime now. I know less and less people who want to have giant disk libraries of movies(lack of room, disks get scratched). As with music, the future is the internet. I wish Netflix's streaming movies worked on my MAC.

Re: Anime

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

Hey I just recognized your icon from etsy :)

Re: Anime

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi icefox,

I think asking for 20-25 dollars for a DVD with 2 to 4 episodes is kinda nuts really.

I third that! It's even more nuts when they later re-release the series via economical complete series or season DVD sets at a FRACTION of the cost of the individual DVDs they first released 8(! It's so not fair! Now I'm waiting for things to be released in complete series or packages at the lower cost instead of buying them individually!

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi Aimee,

I can't believe ADV is failing now too! I've always thought of them as one of the big anime distributors here.

Those plum blossom pictures are beautiful! I just wish I could SMELL them too ;(!

[lizzu.livejournal.com]

There's been a lot of discussion among my friends over the last year or so about what's going wrong with the anime industry, and what it really boils down to is:

1) Can't compete with the instant gratification and cheapness of internet downloads. (By instant gratification I mean seeing episodes virtually the day they come out, as opposed to waiting up to two years for a show to be licensed and produced for our market.)

2) The North American consumer wants to purchase series in cheap sets, like how most Hollywood TV series are put out these days. A lot of the North American anime companies want to put them out that way right off the bat. But Japanese companies almost always refuse to license without the single-volume requirement, which increases the cost of production.

3) A lot fo crap has been produced and licensed without thought. Not every anime ever made has to be licensed and released over here. Companies -- and consumers -- are only now starting to realize that.

Code Geass is held by Bandai, which at present is still getting some support and backing from its parent company in Japan, so I think it's safe. In fact, I think Bandai's relying on the show to save them (they're not doing well at all). Not sure where Ouran stands.

[zalem.livejournal.com]

Those pics are too pretty. :)

Yeah, first Geneon and now this? It's getting really bad. I'm pissed off enough that Gurren Lagann is on hiatus. Even though I've already seen the whole series I would have loved getting a box set eventually. Now who knows if that'll ever happen.

Hope Bandai is still in good shape...if so then no worries for Gundam or Code Geass.

But I think you could see this coming. The industry is SATURATED with titles. They got too excited about things and started bringing over titles left and right...many of which were not yet proven to be popular among either japanese or western fans. That's why fansubs are a GOOD thing...cause you can properly gauge how a series is doing among fans. But lately they've been buying up titles really early on and then it turns out those titles are bombs...so they lose money. Basically, they are licensing too much and now it's coming back to haunt them. They better not blame fansubs completely for this (though I admit it does impact some, I still say the really popular stuff will end up being bought anyway and that is the stuff they want to be bringing over not the garbage they've been licensing), they are in this state because they got really greedy.

[utenatai.livejournal.com]

So pretty! I want to go play now.

[uminomamori.livejournal.com]

man... just can't win. Getting stuff illegally is too much of a pain in the ass now and I can't afford to buy dvds so I wait for everything on netflix. How about saving money by not bringing over the sucky titles?

[kyubikitsy.livejournal.com]

Those are lovely photos of the plum blossoms! They are by far my favorite flower~ :D Thanks for sharing!

I think the anime/manga market is going through the same problem that the music industry is encountering - the de-valuation of media. The people of this current generation have grown up with not CDs or tapes but digital transfer of files - and free for that matter. How can a company really compete with that?

On the same token, they insist on flooding the market.. and sometimes too much of a choice doesn't equal more sales. If I see kids in aisles of bookstores reading through the latest manga and not equalling a sale in the end, that's definitely a sign that the writing's on the wall.

I believe the same thing is happening in Japan where their media costs more than twice what we pay here. If we look at record charts, it's very rare for CDs to sell the way Utada Hikaru's first album sold. (I'd speculate if it's even possible anymore?)

And lastly, if I've been reading right, even the biggest Anime conventions are being affected by this. The big companies are no longer attending en masse and sponsoring these events like they used to. Unless there is a real revolution in how things are done, the anime industry is going to seriously fail.

[gogolotus.livejournal.com]

I was going to go see the plums with the kimono club too but the rain scared me away D:

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

yeah, they ended up canceling a few days before. are you on the email mailing list?

[gogolotus.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think my mother is. I think I'll go and take a look this weekend : )

[zorichan.livejournal.com]

Such pretty photos. I wish I could get out there sometime but the trip would be a long one.

And sad to hear about all the anime titles being cut. =\

Beautiful trees.

[ginarolo.livejournal.com]

So many colors! I bet it smells wonderful. Can't believe blossoms in January! I love L.A.

[restless-wings.livejournal.com]

Very pretty!

We have those and pear trees around here, but they were confused & in-bloom late last year (our fall was very spring-like), so I don't know if they will bloom again on-time this year.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Those are so pretty! I wish something were blooming here now!

[minuberry.livejournal.com]

I wish it was warmer here so it could be pretty here too!!

The pics are awesome~ PRETTY!!!

[ibr-remote.livejournal.com]

Aaah ! So beautiful !

and your icon is so cute and lovely too
( ^ ^ )

[pumabaerchen.livejournal.com]

Wow, how gorgeous :)
It makes me feel really happy just too look at those pics!
Thank you very much for sharing ^-^

[aaronstjames.livejournal.com]

More proof that any time spent in a garden is time well spent!

Gurren Lagann?! 5 Centimeters per Second!? AUGH! I think the fact that Wallflower was ever made into an anime says enough about what's wrong with the industry. I actually felt insulted while suffering through that first disk.
I suppose that there are a lot of people like myself who no longer buy everything (there's too much now) and simply rent it. The dolls took over the DVD space and money. Why can't they just do digital downloads and save some plastic?

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

yeah, I rent through netflix a lot. I have to really really like a series to buy it.

however, stuff I like is not always popular, so I worry if they are only going to bring over the "sure thing" more mainstream stuff that I'm going to miss ou t on things I really enjoy that are a little more fringe. Like Mononoke (not hime) will probably never come out here. :\

I am happy lots of them are moving to slim-dvd cases though. I think they look better anyway and of course take up less space. these aren't VHS, why must we pretend they are with the cases?

[jinyo.livejournal.com]

Pretty! That bridge looks nice, from what I can see.