Laughter in the Snow

Bye Bye Bloggy

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:09:58 GMT

So, right, wanted to tell you all that I have been moved off of LJ for like a month. If you want to know where, email me or ask me IRL. Not posting my new blog URL because I am too misanthropic to want people to be able to find me too easily, especially after the random episode in November where someone in real life was telling a friend of mine about my blog and completely got the wrong impression and my friend thought I was secretly a dick. Grr.

So yes. Gone from LJ for the most part (I still read friends' posts though, no worries there =P). Ask me if you want to find my new blog.

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:18:11 GMT

I just realized I kind of think of facebook status updates in a similar manner to how I thought about updating livejournal. Just abrogated greatly because no-one will read a page long status update =P

As a result I have started thinking in little up-to-three-sentence blurbs about my life. This is interesting but I also don't want to post about that shit all the time. People would hate me =P

So I should probably come back to blogging, do that regularly like I used to so that I will have a journal of sorts to look back on as well as keep up my non-academic writing skills. Might be nice to be able to write personal stuff and/or fiction again regularly.

In other news,
1. I may be migrating to either blogspot or wordpress, because what Livejournal has done to itself makes me sad (but I will miss usericons and mood themes soooo much!)
2. I have a part of a song stuck in my head, but it's from my childhood (pretty sure) and in Latin, which I didn't know much of when I was little, so it's mostly just sounds, not even letters. I am bothered because I want to ID it and listen to it but I have no way how D= So I am listening to Carmina Burana in hopes that one of the songs is what I'm looking for. Because I'm pretty sure it's not Gregorian chant >_<''
3. I like the word in Chinese that comes from the characters of my username, Kasuri, which turns into Fei1Bai3 (fly white) in Chinese. It means the particular style of brushstroke that comes out all feathery and ripped looking because the brush is a little dry. (check out zh.wikipedia.org for more on that future me)

That is all for now.

Love you all,
~K

As promised, the year's meme.

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:01:48 GMT

January: Holy crap this corset was reduced like months and months ago!
February: OHMYGOD I was just in the biggest fight of my life

but it was amazing and now I am broken and have touched the doyle owl.
March: So, I was reading through the J. Peterman Catalogue and ran into some turkish bathtowels, in the description of which they were chatting about this really old bathhouse the Cağaloğlu Hamami, which sounded really cool so I went to their website, http://www.cagalogluhamami.com.tr/ .
April: You know, I realize now that this is probably one of the harder semesters on me of my whole life.

May: I've been meaning to post.
June: I got a package, I got a package... ^-^
July: So, I went to my third VNV concert last night- I realized I hardly have any visual memories of the first concert, out in Seattle with Goetsch, which is kind of sad.
August: It is looking at the commonplace as though it were surreal and the surreal as though it were commonplace that creates what I want to write.
September: AHHH NEW COMPUTER COMING AHHH
October: I heard the horse-head fiddle, the morin huur
Singing the song of loneliness
That was playing in my heart.
November: It's been a long time since I've seen the face of death.
December: I keep dreaming about her
This time I remember very vividly a book I was glancing at as we were wandering in the back room of a bookstore.

Awesome eh? Happy new decade, folks.

~K

Ah, and there's also this

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:14:26 GMT

http://www.hlj.com/product/CSP30272

Seig Zeon! XD

By the way, Merry Christmas.

I keep dreaming about her

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:33:11 GMT

This time I remember very vividly a book I was glancing at as we were wandering in the back room of a bookstore. It was called "And They Followed the Phoenix". (a mind corruption also goes "And They Were Following the Phoenix", because for some reason the first statement feels as though it is in present tense)

I can't find it on Amazon, or using Googlefu. I'll keep looking. But I'm betting since I remember it so strongly it's the title of a book I'm going to write.

Maybe about her, and the dreams. How I have no inclination to accept her as unliving. 'Cause she's not.

I held her close a little, after chatting (and some unknown adventures earlier in the dream- a shame they were lost, I get the impression it was awesome). I had the sad thought looking into her eyes that she must be feeling some survivor's guilt, what with Jess still in a coma and all- the assumption being of course she's still alive. But we both knew what I was thinking and skipped around the subject. She felt so skinny: under her right shoulderblade was wet. She even seemed shorter than me, I don't know why.
But we wandered into the back room, and she moved off, asking in her boisterous way "Where are the real books?" I asked "You mean fiction?" and then I was looking at this book. It was kind of artistic on the cover, a bust portrait of a woman in black (hair) and red (dress/bosoms?) and tea-stain brown (skin), made of short thick lines that didn't connect on a yellow like old bones. She looked vaguely mid 18th century, but her hair looked like it was up in short ponytails poking out to either side, even though she was a woman. She looked very fine nonetheless. (top shelf of a bookshelf that curved, mostly facing a window out, right next to some short stairs leading to the upper level)

When I woke I wasn't sure I was awake. But then I knew I had been dreaming and that I was in the Bainbridge house, so I called Martin to tell him before I forgot everything. Hence this small picture.

I'm hungry so I'm going to try and eat before Ben gets here. But I wanted to get this down for myself.

Consumerwhoredump

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:40:54 GMT

And I fell in love with Ayya again.

Problem is, Martin and I want the same boots, and since they're custom I think they're a reasonable price D=
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/footwear/tabi/spiral-tabi

I also really like this:
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/jewelry/pendants/the-pearl-compass

And in other news:
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/jewelry/rings/ring-lalique
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/womens/jackets-and-vests/yin-vest-taiji-edition
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/womens/jackets-and-vests/onyx-jacket
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/womens/dresses-and-skirts/vendetta-dress
http://www.ayyawear.com/store/womens/jackets-and-vests/inanna-coat

That's all I want to talk about my life right now I guess. Things are too difficult for me to feel comfortable sharing here now I think with who knows who.

Back to consumer whoredom,

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:51:51 GMT

After a whole bunch of actually meaty posts, I present you with this:
The Tauntaun sleeping bag!

I've been on the mailing list for months (approximately since april fool's day, when they presented it as a product but didn't actually have it). Finally the other day they said it was on pre-order!

I am sorely tempted. My geekery almost feels incomplete. But I never go camping or spending the night other places that don't have blankets and couches. It would be mildly useless. Where would I keep it?

But it's SO AWESOME is it not?

To someone I don't know who

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:35:26 GMT

Is really all what you took from my last post that I was angry I didn't know who it was who hit her?

Seriously, fuck you. I don't even remember writing that. I was just wordpuking, thought processing. That was definitely not the point of what I wrote.

Grrrrr. I can't deal with you people. Look, I'll leave posting options open so you can say your piece, but know that I'm not very happy with that interpretation of my feelings. The thing I am most angry at is really dealing with the grief of others, and that's not all that angry. I guess a part of me wanted to be angry but there's nothing to be angry at. But things keep changing, each moment I feel different, each day I work out something new. It's been three days. Think how much has happened in that time for you.

I can handle speaking, but not speaking with. I need to speak though.

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:17:30 GMT

It's been so long since I slept well, the half dreams where I'm talking to Lindsay aren't helping. I can't handle any more talking to people. I just want to sleep, remember what problems I was dealing with before eleven last night.

I've told the same story a thousand times today, heard Martin saying it a thousand times (and really, what is the difference between him and I, except for the love he had for Lindsay). It's like I'm stuck at this aperture where the only focus is her, and by reference myself. The senselessness is astounding because I cannot reconcile it with anything I believe. No god, impartial or not, would kill this woman I have loved just to remind me about death, and to teach me how to deal with it as an adult. I am obsessed with her death: I had to do some serious thoughtwork to stop myself thinking about the moment she died, in my own body. I felt my bones break and the crazed, quick yet agonizingly clear moments of a crash so many times last night I couldn't tell you.

I am a cruel person. My thoughts are selfish. I will not share them in this medium. One I will share is that I wish I could have her boots, as a memento. We have the same size feet. Had.

The relationship net twangs something ridiculous with this sudden ripping of a single knot. It really brings the lines of relationships to light: who is frayed, who is just vibrating, who knew her, who doesn't.

I have a playlist. Altan Urag's Requiem: Straylight Run's Existentialism on Prom Night: and from the one moment today when I felt I had dealt with it, the funerary song from the end of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. It doesn't work anymore though.

The question keeps coming back. I am more in a state of confusion than of sadness, or anger. Why? How could she be gone? More and more it feels like some sick joke. I can't handle talking to anyone about it anymore because... Because it feels like I'm perpetuating this horrible lie? She was telling me how I should" Press the action button to rock your thesis!", just a few hours earlier.

My appetite is gone. I may not be eating much of anything for a while. It just makes me sick.

I keep replaying the times we had. When she and Martin and I were walking to the Pub at The End of The Universe to talk about how to be a threesome, I picked her a dandelion and she kept it. Sleeping in bed, the three of us, her hand and mine met and interlocked over Martin's stomach. Most strong is the image of her fluffing her hair when I last saw her, saying how she had just cut it.

I never realized how lively she was. Martin said to Brian on the phone (so many phonecalls today) how he can't say she's dead: it is the most incorrect adjective to use about her. She and I were going to have a dragon vs. shark fight.

She never got to see my finished costume. I had been thinking of making the tail just for her to see.

Will I ever be able to go to the pub again? I may have to, with the wake and all. But I know I will not be able to sit at the table from that night with the dandelion, when I first had chocolate stout. I feel sad that she never came over much to our new house after we moved. We were all so busy this summer. But when Martin lost his job there was more time to hang out...

That's the hardest part. Bearing his grief too. As well as everyone else I meet. Walker woman's curse, this empathy. But Martin is my life, no difference. But I just want to run and run, it's been so hard sleeping with him anyway after the two nights he spent away, but how can I sleep without him? How do I handle this?

I do it alone. I write in my LJ, like I used to do. Martin went off to the Hawse to be with everyone there. If I can't handle even him, I can't handle anyone else there. Cameron, who called us, has been someone I could manage mildly, but we haven't spoken much beside logistics since he called last night.

I know what dirges sound like. I sang them with my throat through my tears.

But is this incorrect? Am I not feeling this? Am I just picking up on everyone else? A part of me wants to say I loved her like a lover, to belong to this mess of grief more strongly somehow, but I know I didn't. I loved her as a friend. My obsession, could it be from everyone else's grief?

This is why I am writing this alone in my room, and not leaving to talk to anyone for the next while. I need to deal with this alone. But expression is quite important too. Again, why I'm here.

I can't tell if I'm shivering with cold or emotion, and if emotion with which. Altan Urag's Requiem strikes all these chords. (I don't think I will be able to play it again without thinking of her in the future.) I don't know what to say to anyone. She's gone. That's all.

I just want to sleep. Please, let me sleep. Everything will untangle and right itself if I sleep. Let my dreams not be ones of her: If anything, let there be no dreams at all. I need to wake up strong and lively and able to face all the things that are still here. Because, really, it all is: my thesis isn't gone. My classes didn't get hit. The issues of money and rent and food are not somewhere in a...

I don't even want to say it. It can't be true. I want to write myself a story that she just ran off somewhere, was taken somewhere, anywhere, somewhere where she exists yet.

But I know where she exists now. It's in our stories, the remembering. The way the relationship net has come together, from all corners of the country, to recreate her presence even if only for a moment.
She's here. In my heart. The footprint in the sand.

I can't say I'm numb anymore. That would be a lie. But the confusion is immense. If only it would start parsing itself... since I know I can't parse it any further. I've explained everything. Accidents happen. Lindsay is gone. Jess is in the hospital. There will be a funeral. Things to deal with. My mind runs to all the things that are needed to be done.

But I don't know anything at all. Her image in my mind is sheared off, flat now, without dimension. I have been trying to add the demarcation of "this person is dead" to her in all of my memories, and it doesn't work. The sense of revulsion about the dead is there, but she's not the one who is dead. It won't make sense. Maybe ever.

The only thing I do know is that she's okay. That's what all my dreams told me. She's alright with this, somewhere. Or maybe somewhere, it's me being alright with this, this never seeing her again. This tragedy. One way or another- life moves on.

I hate to say these trite things, you always hear them. "Oh god! I'm so sorry. I can't believe she's gone. Life keeps on going. She would have it this way." I want to strike myself for hearing them, for speaking things like them. There is anger, I suppose. It's all directed at me. I am like a little ball of frustration- confusion does that to me. I hate when I can't figure something out.

I just want this to blow over soon, get back to what I was doing, not feel guilty about that either. It would be nice. I could pretend she's back in Europe. Who knows? Maybe that is where she is.

I miss her. Funny how you only miss people when they're gone.

I don't think I can write anymore. It's starting to fray. I'll let this go.

It's been a long time since I've seen the face of death.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:56:23 GMT

And it struck so without reason, too.

I already miss her. This is going to be a hard november, I think.

At least I got to dream of her briefly last night- I fell, she caught my hand. I was sure it was her but I couldn't really see her- we talked for a bit. We're going to watch Coupling sometime after all =) I think she was trying to cheer me up. Told me to stop worrying.

I couldn't stop thinking. It's going to be a full week of almost no sleep at this rate. I didn't get to finish my pages either, or the Lankavatara sutra reading we had for today.
At least I started that though.

Right before I woke up, I was standing on the sidewalk,
facing the road. She was in it, just out of arm's reach-
Walking by to my left,
Wearing that hat she wore when she cross-dressed,
using a cane.
She moved on, looking only forward.

Sockdreams! (pseudo-consumerist post alert)

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:13:48 GMT

Grand Opening shots-21
Originally uploaded by niqkita

So, I don't remember if I actually posted about sockdreams while I was in Taiwan, but that's when I discovered them and fell in love. Turns out a Goldfish works there, so when they moved locations and had a grand opening we went to check it out. It was awesome! I am now addicted to stockings but I am poor and therefore can only have my one pair for the next however long D=

But it was much fun. I had been having a very strange day full of work and no-one being around so I was made relentlessly lonely. Sighing everywhere. It was weird, but hanging out with Lindsor and looking at socks remedied it. Does that count as retail therapy?

But you should seriously check out their stock. It's bloody awesome. And I want moarrrr XD

Istita Orwou Tatayai

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:32:26 GMT

I heard the horse-head fiddle, the morin huur
Singing the song of loneliness
That was playing in my heart.
I want to ride blazing across the steppes,
The dry wind taking my hair
And turning it to ribbons, flapping wildly
Off of stupas far from here.
Rush along the river's edge-
Watch the herds of wild horses
Undulate across the land like thunder.
Out there, alone:
The dawnlight breaking across the land
And highlighting the brilliant blue of the sky's arc.
The haunting notes echo across, away,
And within.
You would take my hand
And keep me with you?
If you can keep up, I will let you.

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:33:03 GMT

I just had my first entirely aural dream. I thought I was awake. It was very strange.
So I nap in my room, but I'm still aware of sounds, and if anyone enters my room while I'm sleeping (basically, if Martin comes in) I notice. I was dreaming and then all of a sudden I heard him open the door, head to his closet, and start moving around. After a couple seconds I was like "well, I'm not going back to sleep now, and it's nice to see him I will roll over and smile at him", but as soon as I did roll over the sound faded to silence, and no-one was there.

This is extremely sad.

LOL I paused for a bit to check some things and Martin came up the stairs without all his stuff. It actually did happen I just managed to miss him entirely.

Lol.

~K

a lot of expression required and status updates just don't do it.

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:19:53 GMT

And I haven't stayed up this late
Since the last time I wasn't with you.

And the last time I felt this way
This strange way, somewhere between twitterpated
and anxious, you flashed your eyes
on the arms of a woman I loved
And it told me you thought of me too.

And the last time I wrote this much poetry
within a few hours
was at a crux of my lifetime,
stretched between myself
and love, and God,
a god I no longer call out to,
years of academics missing.
My heart is thrumming,
and I want to know everything,
because I can't make it up for myself.
Tell me each story,
Let me know
how your eyes flashed

And I know, it's been too long
since I was at the beginning

Do you suppose that I would come running?

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:00:10 GMT

I'm listening to this song by Elbow called The Bones of You and the chorus repeats "And I'm five years ago, every thousand miles away". And I wondered where I was around now five years ago. Turns out, the 18th is Wife's birthday- we spent the dinner at a nice turkish restaurant, and they made me put money in the bellydancer's skirt/waist/thing. On my mind was the future, but mostly in relation to the past- my story of Shiori, Juri and Nawanai (who some of you may know the players of now) had recently just finished, and I was aware of having lost both of those people forever. And although I considered Ben and Wife to be the closest thing I had to best friends, it seems obvious to me I felt as though in a floating world of sorts.

http://users.livejournal.com/_kasuri_/2004/09/15/ http://users.livejournal.com/_kasuri_/2004/09/18/

This was before my halloween costume on the eve of Bush's second reelection. Before visiting Reed.

I guess it is true. How much has changed. But right now, with this one, I feel like I'm five years ago, a thousand miles away... Although I suppose the feeling really belongs to more like five years ago and nine months.

My baby is out really late. I hope he'll come home soon. We both should sleep.

And I love you and miss you.

~K

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:21:56 GMT

Look at this!
PORTLAND, OR, US 09/10/2009 4:18 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
ONTARIO, CA, US 09/10/2009 2:18 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
ONTARIO, CA, US 09/09/2009 11:27 P.M. IMPORT SCAN
" 09/09/2009 9:25 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

It really was traveling through the night! I couldn't sleep much after 7:00 or so because I've been worried that the UPS guy will show up.
I am a dork yes. But at least I know I am a dork with good reason!

so excited

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:00:17 GMT

AHHH NEW COMPUTER COMING AHHH
It was in Chep Lap Kok, HK yesterday, and it's in Anchorage already today! It may be heading my way as we speak!!

ANCHORAGE, AK, US 09/09/2009 4:22 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
" 09/09/2009 12:39 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
CHEK LAP KOK, HK 09/09/2009 7:29 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

I mean, what does departure scan mean? Is it in a truck this very moment zooming south? Am I going to beat my current computer in with a stick?

No baby, I didn't mean that. You will get a very nice treatment when the new lappy comes. You will be pampered and cleaned up and given a shiny new OS. Maybe you'll even get Windows 7 if I wait until October to send you to a new home!

Oh dear. I feel so strange right now. I think I will need to chillax tomorrow besides doing work. School is going wonderfully but Martin is all stressed out because he isn't in school, and I am of course reflecting that stress. lamesauce. Obviously I need to hang out with more people. Or just sit alone at home listening to good music and smiling.

I wonder though, are there really perfect people for us, out there? Or would they just get annoying after a while? It's a strange thought, I tell you.

Also kittens I want them, geekologie had a video of a kitten going om nom nom as it ate and I was all d'awwwww

Perhaps someday I shall post what's up these days? Man, for a blog I kept so diligently in years past, it has certainly faded now. I don't know what I'd do if I had to switch to Blogspot though, I would miss my moods and my lj icons D=

This is how to do it

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:08:42 GMT

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:44:45 GMT

Contemplation: It is the intelligent mind that contemplates death, but it is the strong mind that continues to live in the face of it.

(I'm really worried about Amanda I hope she's okay)

enigmatic post is somewhat enigmatic (I'll post more someday but it may end up being on blogspot)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:48:29 GMT

It is looking at the commonplace as though it were surreal and the surreal as though it were commonplace that creates what I want to write. Like today on Prairie Home Companion, the note about the pterodactyl in the Kansas City Zoo, fleeting, but it is the thunderclouds that draw attention.

OMG, writing teh famis peeple.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:49:35 GMT

So, I went to my third VNV concert last night- I realized I hardly have any visual memories of the first concert, out in Seattle with Goetsch, which is kind of sad. But I do know that each time I have gone, it has been an amazing experience: not only is the music my favourite in the whole world (especially loud and live with the bass thumping in your chest) but Ronan and Mark have the best stage presence possible, warm and friendly and humourous: they're just such awesome people!

So I wrote Ronan a letter on Facebook, because he said he had been found by his highschool friends there XD I know, creepy fangirl. But hey, this is my first letter to a quote unquote famous person! I never did finish the letter to Edward James Olmos, after all. So I feel all silly and fangirly. But I thought it would be good: it seems like they're the kind of people who would appreciate heartfelt thanks for their music and character.

But yeah, a good concert. I liked one of their two openers, Ayria, although she was a little mm goth chick raging about the heart, but she had a good voice and it was good music. War Tapes though was not so good- the guitarist was super exciting, and the singer's voice was great and unique, but it seemed both of their talents were wasted on the type of music and the lyrics. And the bassist seemed like... disaffected. Always kind of weird to even meet those kind of people. Who are just like blah whatever life sucks.

But Lindsay like dragged us to the front of the stage, which was amazing because the venue, Berbati's Pan, was very very small! But that meant we were right there, getting soaked with sweat from not only our neighbors but also Ronan... =P But everyone was so euphoric it was wonderful. I was just excited. I still feel this strange numbness from the rest of this last year, but it is most certainly hard to be numb in the face of such amazing music and people =D I wish I never had to go back to school again. But, my qualification exam is coming up in less than two months now, and I've hardly started to study... Sigh. Someday I will be done. And then if I ever do school again god damn it, it will be very very far from now when I've forgotten how ridiculous Reed is.

And I have forgotten about this post three times so I'm going to post it. Love you all.

~K

D00D AWESOME

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:54:34 GMT

DSCN2600
Originally uploaded by Katherine Fallen

I got a package, I got a package... ^-^ It's from Australia! And the Internets. Thank you internets!

More pictures can be seen here.

Crap, I'm on this wanting things mode again.

Sun, 10 May 2009 06:24:07 GMT

Look at this cute dress! I actually really love this site. I was given it in an ad on the side of facebook and there are so many cute things. It is unfortunate.

Like earlier today, Tildy and Sarah and I were talking about swimsuits, and I just wanted to show them this one that I really like. And I was thinking, I really ought to buy that because it's adorable. Good thing it's sold out right now, because I haven't even started working yet and I just spent a ton of money thanks to end of year stuff (mostly on the materials for the pants for the Religion profs- I haven't given them that receipt yet either because I'm really unhappy that I bought too much material, and that cost like $88 bucks and I don't know if there was enough room for that on the budget.
Whatever. I'll just email Ken and see how much there was left on the budget. Blehh.

Now I really ought to work, by the way, HAHA hatemylife

EDIT: LOL, I just discovered that ModCloth actually carries that swimsuit even if her etsy site doesn't: they also have this other one, which requires a much curvier lady than their model, for which I am certain I could fit the bill =)

shit I got to read okay see you (also it's awkward because Martin is done with everything and is just like, Let's go to bed it is bedtime! But I am like "I have some 155 pages of reading I absolutely ought to do, and I got to stay up" but I'm all sleepy and it's like whyyy temptation. Martin is called Lucy for a reason, I guess =P

EDIT 2 WHICH ISN'T EVEN FIVE MINUTES LATER: Oh em gee, look at these shorts! They are too cute for me I will explode.

For those sorts of people who might like having a fake engagement ring (I'm looking at YOOUU Jess)

Sat, 09 May 2009 18:27:30 GMT

http://mstaken.com/

Believe it or not, I was forwarded here because of the youtube video. Link from Lara on her Facebook.

Which you should also watch. It is kind of funny. Except for the puking part but you know =P

So basically it's all amusing. I bet they even get a huge market for this product too.

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:42:02 GMT

So, in other news: I really want this.
A nice bag from a comic I adore

The awesomenesss
also since when did I get into bags? Probablywhen my purse was stolen, I keep looking for something to replace it inmy life -_-

I also want to link you to a really interesting discussion on copyright law:
http://www.questioncopyright.org/understanding_free_content

Yay pictures! And speaking of pictures, a very interesting and quite possibly helpful way for many people to learn Chinese:
http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Through-Tone-Color/dp/0781812046/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238847882&sr=8-1

Simplified, unfortunately. And I can't play with it because ALL THE COLOURS ARE WROONNGG lol. But an interesting way to utilize synesthetic association for new languages. I wonder how much good it actually does the great deal of people.