Red Shirt Volunteer

I like it the way it is. The ratings have been dropping since day 1. I think a major changeover in 1 character would only alienate the people who've stuck with it rather than bring anyone back.

I'm Gandhi!

That's somewhat surprising, but in a good way.

I'm not at all surprised at lt van roy's...

English teacher. Interestingly, when I started my job, my school gave me a set of business cards (they said "just in case" and I said "just in case of what," but that'S another story) on which my job title was written - "English tescher." How embarrassing.

Neither, though I've noticed they get weak with too much comp. use.

Plain black.

Neelix must go. Straight out into space in a transporter "malfunction." To be honest, I'm surprised nobody offed him during the course of the series. He was a total waste of space and the only reason I even tuned into Voyager at times was to see him dead.

Tried e-bay already but it was a no-go.

Actually, you're right. Unless, of course, we find out more about the probe and the possibility that the Xindi were duped.

I'm pretty happy where I am, in Kyoto. But I wouldn't mind doing a couple of years in a city like New York or Tokyo.

Hmm, I liked it. He's very frank about what happened. I'm sure other people have other stories, but he seems quite genuine. Best quote from that site:

It's because I liked Robbie so much that I couldn't crack on Voyager too hard, even though it sucks.

Couldn't agree more.

I have raw fish at least twice a week and more often in the summer. I tend to have sushi 2 or 3 times a week at work and sashimi (just "straight" raw fish) at home once or twice. It's incredibly healthy, though I can see how many North Americans and Europeans would be anxious about it.

As for wasabi, which Bysty mentioned, I had a nasty experience with it the other week, a situation in which I'm sure some of you would have gagged. I was at a pub with some friends and we decided to play a game like Russian Roulette, but with sushi. As you may know, wasabi is green paste put between the fish and the rice to give it a little kick. In this game, 10 pieces of sushi are served on a plate, and one is jam-packed with wasabi and inedible for many people. Everyone plays rock, paper, scissors to decide who eats the first one. I was #2.

On this night, the selection was a piece of squid or tuna sushi. The wasabi is hidden inside the rice so you can't see which one is the bad one until you try it. I made it through the first round OK and was still a little unsure at that point what the game was about since I wasn't paying much attention to the explanation, which was in Japanese, and we were all consuming alcohol. As we approached the second round, the tension began to build as there were only four pieces left for the six of us, meaning that two people got off lucky only having to eat one piece each.

Down to 3 pieces, I tested my luck and chomped hard into a piece of squid. It tasted fine at first, but then I noticed a spicy, burning sensation in my mouth. I managed to swallow half the sushi and a lot of wasabi without tasting it by biting it in two and piling it down. Alas, the taste was too much for me and I could fee my stomach beginning to convulse and my throat pushing what had made it that far slowly upwards. When my neck started gyrating forwards, I decided it would be better to spit out the remainder of the sushi rather than wait for it to drag the rest of my meal out with it.

I don't really hate wasabi, but it's not my favourite. If you're not sure what it is, for the quantity I ate, try to imagine drinking vinegar from a glass or eating a pet bottlecap full of salt or something. Not pleasant.

Species: Talaxian. If Neelix is a prime model, they lack any good general personality characteristics, are thoroughly irritating and have no sense of style.

Individual: I'd have to say Rom. Would he ever just stop whining? I guess he finally made something of himself in the end, but it was certainly a long time coming and I didn't have the patience to wait in the end.

hmmm... blue undies...why not just dye some white ones.

Sounds like a recipe for a nasty rash. :o

Probably, but they'll likely cut the budget, just in case. I don't see Patrick Stewart or Brent Spiner appearing again. I hope they don't try to make one for a while because the last two have been a complete waste of money for me.

Yes, it was fine for me, too.

I like Enterprise very much. I think it's probably going to be my favourite among all the series once its run finishes.

Although I feel the first season had some weak episodes, I think the writers did excellent work building up the characters and setting the stage for future relationships (I'm not talking about romance in case someone decides to jump all over this word). The characters are much more realistic in Enterprise because they show weaknesses, whereas I felt TNG characters were comparatively one-dimensional (love the series though I do). I can't really comment much on DS9 and Voyager since I missed so many episodes.

I think there are also a lot of fans who are wannabe script writers and think just because they've seen an episode five times and know what colour a certain button on a certain control panel is that they are all-knowing about the show. Somehow they think this useless information gives them some divine right to slam every little detail of later episodes. I'm so tired of hearing complaints about continuity and technology on Enterprise not fitting in with what we know from before.

Two typical complaints are about continuity and technology. As far as I can tell, there really haven't been any continuity issues that can't be resolved eventually or explained by fans who think, rather than moan. And when people go off on the technology in Enterprise looking more futuristic than TOS, well, that's just ridiculous. The tech. in TOS looked futuristic at the time the show was made, but looks stone age nowadays. My goodness, my PDA looks more advanced than anything I saw in that series. It would be absolutely ridiculous to turn back the clock to the late 1960's from a modern viewer's perspective. The show needs to look like a believable future to us now as well as maintain ties to what has gone before. Sometimes these two issues can not be reconciled and fans have to just put that aside.

Enterprise has done very well in staying true to Trek's roots - character driven science fiction.

And seriously Tinadoll, your comment that you disagree with what AE said without even knowing what the TCW is about is rather hilarious. I mentioned above that it drives me nuts when fans pick out minor details to criticise and you might wonder why I've picked this one out. Well, it's not minor. In fact, it's been one of the main premises of the show since the first episode. Not knowing what it is and then complaining about what's wrong with Trek and not having the slightest clue what's going on smacks of extreme hypocrisy.

Oh, right, my mistake. I must be in denial or something.

Those were such  wonderful pictures! You know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and you have just eloquently shared the beauty of Japan! Thank you so much. If I ever have the opportunity to visit Japan, I will insist on going in the Spring to Kyoto! 

 

And what an exquisite path to jog along!

 

But I actually have a favorite picture out of all those slide! It is one labelled "Byodo-in Temple." It reminds me of our dogwoods here!

 

Thanks again for sharing!

Oh, glad you (and others) enjoyed them, mjham. Byodo-in is very peaceful, as are all the temples and shrines around the city. My favourite is Nanzenji, which I can access by walking or cycling along the path in those pictures then over a small mountain.

I think you'd really enjoy it if you were to come at this time of year but it's quite risky since there's a high chance of missing the cherry blossoms. However, although Japan is a smallish country, if you move from south to north there's a high chance since it spans a fairly long distance.

The autumn is even better in my opinion as the mountains change from green to varying shades of red, orange and yellow. And the weather is more stable at that time, too.

Cheers,

RSV

The cherry blossoms are out here in Japan a little earlier than usual, too. There's a small canal lined with trees hanging over the path on one side near my home, so I'd been going jogging more often this past week to make sure I don't miss them this year and was rewarded today. They only last for about a week and I've had the bad luck of having it rain several years in a row on my days off.

Here are some pictures near where I live (not taken by me I'm afraid to say):

Click me

If you click next, the first two are where I jog.

Here's a link to the index for other pics of cherry blossoms in Kyoto (or at least most of them are in Kyoto).

Index of Pics

Does anyone know where the blue undies, featured heavily, in the decon chamber scenes can be purchased?

I'd find a control panel that didn't look like it was about to explode at a moment's notice and hug it for dear life. It's the only way to survive on a ship in the Trek universe as far as I can tell.

I'm not sure I want to know

Uh-huh.

I got Kirk. Told you I always get Kirk or Riker on those things.

What do you think that could mean?

I think I'm like T'Pol in that I get irritated when people make silly decisions and I can maintain a certain detachment from people around me if need be.

This test said I'm closest to Picard, which isn't far off either since I don't mind making decisions and generally can find novel solutions to problems.

I never have because I'm in touch with reality.