I can't sleep

Earlier, I fell asleep on the couch. Sean was sitting at the kotatsu and I wanted to be near him. I also wanted to ask when we were going to watch the latest Smallville, but he was busy so I was waiting for a break in his game. I guess one didn't come.

I woke up at about 12:30 and got online, where I did some reading and chatting and basic puttering around, and then I started trying to sleep. But I just sort of lie there, and nothing happens.

So I got up and got a few things ready, like the rent check and my tax documents, and organized some of my paperwork, and put my magazines in the bathroom. Then I tried to sleep again.

No dice.

So finally I gave up and got back online. I wrote some emails that needed to be written and sent out an invoice. I'm hoping that dealing with unfinished business will help turn my mind off, because it's just racing. I lie there in bed and I just can't shut my brain down.

I guess I've been staying up too late this weekend.

My car is at a real mechanic's shop, so tomorrow Sean and I will be sharing his car. I think what we'll do is let me keep the car, because that way we don't have to get up as early. We'll take him to work first (he's on his 9 to 6 this week) and then I'll go to my job. Originally he was going to drop me off first and then go to work, but that would mean I'd be in North Augusta two and a half hours early, and we'd both have to get up at a ridiculous hour.

I'm still probably going to get up at a ridiculous hour, because I have some more contract work to do.

This contract stuff is starting to wear on me. But I like it, so meh. I haven't done any extra work all week due to moving and the car situation. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to getting back into it or not.

I'm currently watching a new anime called Fate/stay night. (Yes, in English, with that capitalization.) It features...a normal boy with powers he doesn't know he has. Maybe that's just my genre?

But really, it's not all that similar to Kyou Kara Maou. For one thing, this guy, Shirou, is apparently attractive to girls. It's not quite harem, but it's close. For another, Shirou isn't the king of a country in another dimension(?). And of course, there aren't bishies everywhere.

The anime does share some vocabulary with KKM, though. Maryoku, for instance. The fansubber I'm using (the one that gets releases out the fastest, natch) translates maryoku as "mana", which is interesting. And I guess that makes sense. I don't know enough about the fantasy genre; I never would have thought of mana.

There is a difference in Japanese between mahou and majutsu, or "magic" and "sorcery". I'm still trying to figure out what the difference is. Here are some definitions from Jim Breen's WWWJDIC:

魔法 【まほう】 (n) magic; witchcraft; sorcery; (P) [Ex][G][GI][S]
魔方陣 【まほうじん】 (n) magic square [G][GI][S]
魔法使い 【まほうつかい】 (n) magician; wizard; sorcerer; witch [G][GI][S]
魔法的 【まほうてき】 (adj-na) magic [G][GI][S]
魔法瓶 【まほうびん】 (n) thermos flask; vacuum flask; (P) [G][GI][S]

魔術 【まじゅつ】 (n) black magic; sorcery; (P) [Ex][G][GI][S]
魔術師 【まじゅつし】 (n) magician; conjurer [Ex][G][GI][S]
魔術的経済学 【まじゅつてきけいざいがく】 (n) voodoo economics [G][GI][S]

I find "thermos flask; vacuum flask" hilarious. Is the connotation that being airtight is magical? What sorcery is this? :D

Anyway, those definitions don't help much. I got the impression from Kyou Kara Maou (and my understanding of the suffix -jutsu) that majutsu was more like a skill, something you had to learn, while mahou was more of an innate ability. Kind of like how we can all learn to walk on our own, but have to work a little bit at things like reading. But I don't know if that is actually the case, or if there is some other difference. The definitions give majutsu a darker connotation, but that doesn't necessarily conflict with my understanding. After all, black magic is unnatural because it does things that go against the normal flow; learned skills, it could be argued, are the same. It's not natural, for example, to build a skyscraper.

But obviously I'm just guessing here, following context clues, just like how I built my English vocabulary. It's a great system for remembering, but not necessarily for total comprehension. So those of you in the know, please feel free to enlighten me.

I went to Kohl's today and got some nice tops and a new pair of pants. They were finally selling shells; I guess it was just too early last time I went looking. I got three: a blue one, a brown one, and a pink one. I also got a short-sleeved purple sweater and a sleeveless blue sweater thing. I was going for tops that will be comfortable in the heat, but still nice-looking. The new pants were my response to not having any decent casual pants. I love my low-rider jeans and khakis, but the jeans have a hole in the butt and the khakis get terribly wrinkled. Both show their age. I was hoping to find replacements, but I ended up with some olive slacks instead. Meh.

When I was going through my paperwork I discovered a 10% off Kohl's coupon, so maybe I'll go back ;P

I don't feel tired at all, but I guess I should try to sleep some. Get at least a couple of hours in before the new day. So...'night.