I am absolutely very envious of you dreaming of Zhu Yilong, getting to help him vacuum a carpet, meeting his dog (!), and communicating with him. That is awesome on so many levels. :D

no Japanese-speaking parent ever named their kid Masaka.

Omg, that is pretty bad. I suspect it's one of those "surely all girl names *must* end with 'a'" fallacies.

Maybe I'll do what I did for my graduate thesis

Oh wow, cool. (I feel like I could do that with the plot that has been driving me insane for months.)

pics

Love the bridge and the cat (beautifully color coordinated with the leaves :D), and the gorgeous steampunk composition of the second one.