I enjoy smoking.  It helps me relax, de-stress, and it can be rather comforting in certain situations.  It came as quite a shock for me today that one of my old friends who I'd not spoken to in a while now also smokes.  Pretty much for the same reasons I do, I'm not gonna try and persuade him otherwise. 

This very same friend is also the guy who taught me everything to get back into the big, wide world of anime all those years ago.  He's the one who literally introduced me to "The Magic" in Gundam 0083 and for that, I can't thank him enough.  It was nice to be able to have a nice chat over a few cigarettes and I wish I could do that more often, but alas, I simply don't have enough time to devote to all of my friends when I'm back home.

I mentioned that I'd started watching Witch Hunter Robin fairly recently.  I will recommend this to anybody who's a fan of more eerie supernatural stuff, I'm certainly enjoying it and is a refreshing change from my usual viewing diet of mecha, maids, and mammaries.  Not that I'm losing my touch, mind you; I think everybody needs a break from most things so that they can come back to it with a new angle for appreciation. 

I also started watching two of this season's latest shows: Ah! My Goddess, and Mahou Sensei Negima.  Ah! My Goddess looks stunning; from the people responsible for the various Sakura Wars anime, each character has a very warm looking face packed with little details.  They also seem to be taking their time with this series since Belldandy only really receives around 30 seconds of screen time at the end of the episode.  Mahou Sensei Negima is the latest of animated works by Ken Akamatsu, of Love Hina fame.  To me, the show felt like Maburaho meets Harry Potter.  With girls.  Lots of girls.  Might I also add that we quite possibly have our first Welsh anime character too in this series!  What wonders will never cease.

In other news, Evangelion manga volume 9 and Lumines arrive tomorrow.  My mum in particular is rather excited at the prospects of a new puzzle game for her to sink her teeth into; she simply can't get enough of her Tetris, Super Puzzle Fighter, or Puyo Puyo Fever!