Due to the yearly event called a birthday, I have come away with some goodies.  DVDs of Spirited Away, Princess Monoke and the complete series of Maburaho, some random book calle Wrong About Japan, a wad of cash and some candy.

As you can see, it's a bit of a theme there.  There's something about the emotional response I've found in these animated features that goes beyond live action that I can't understand.  Related to this, something odd is that I actually had an emotional response to a tin of candy.

Grave of the Fireflies branded Fruit Drops

Before you go and call me crazy, let me explain this.  A recurring object in the movie Grave of the Fireflies is a tin of fruit drops.  Given my lack of subjection to the object, it's hard not to relate it to the movie, despite relative dissimilarity of the packaging.

On an unrelated note, I am now retired from Tetris DS play.  I spent at least an hour and a half on one round of endless Tetris DS in which I ultimately quit because it was 5:30 in the morning and I hadn't slept.  I reached the limit of 999 lines, and was up to level 104.  Just as I quit playing Break Em All in the middle of a game because I had reached the maximum level and had no expectation of loss, I am done with Tetris DS.