Manga Mania

So I picked up the latest two Futari Ecchi which arrived this week, volumes 30 and 31.

They introduce another new character, Nakahashi Suzuka, a drop-dead cute 22 year old OL who starts working the reception desk at Makoto's company. This leads to a fascinating discussion of sexual harassment at Japanese workplaces: what it is, who common it is, how serious the consequences are. One of Makoto's co-workers crosses the line, and their boss (a permanently angry woman in her 30's) gives all three guys in her department a lecture that leaves their ears fried. This is a little wasted on Makoto, as he's your atypical Real Nice Guy who never dreams of sexually harassing anyone - he's more likely to be the one harassed.

And we get to see the office lesbian Arisa-chan again, who deserves a lecture on "sexual harassment in the workplace" herself, the little skirt-chaser. ^_^

Finally, who could NOT have predicted this? One family unit at "Animal Mansion" (this series runs in Young Animal Magazine...), the condo complex where Makoto and Yura live, is a father and his 16-year-old daughter, Rie-chan. Another resident is Watanabe-san, a 24-year-old teacher at the all-girl school Rie-chan attends. And Rie-chan is developing feelings for him, although she's hoping they can remain platonic friends. At the same time, she's also dealing with her father's rapidly developing relationship with the divorcee in the complex. Her confusion leads to some funny incidents and miscues.

Dear aunt:

From a Microsoft voice-interpretation product demonstration:

"Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1123221217782777472

Sad news from my hometown

Some of you may have seen that report on City-TV about the row houses that burned down in Oshawa overnight between Thursday and Friday, in which one person lost their life.

That row of housing is one I'm very familiar with. It's about 8 blocks from my old homestead, where Dad still lives, and about four or five blocks from where my paternal Grandfather used to live. I've walked by them many times. They were built back in 1910, and as a result were a firetrap waiting to happen. The wood inside was probably drier than Death Valley. And there were no fire blocks in the common roof (the fire code of the day didn't require them), which allowed the fire to spread with devastating quickness.

My thanks to the local Royal Canadian Legion hall, which is providing temporary sleeping space for some of those left homeless, as well as the local Red Cross.

The national Fire Code has rightly been called "the most sacred book ever written by man", for every rule, every standard, every word within it is written with the blood of innocents - someone, sometimes many someones, died for every single paragraph within it. After this weekend we may have another paragraph to write.