I'm actually going to be away from the computer for the weekend. I've got vacation until may 9th though, so I'll be going out of my mind with boredom by tuesday and making fourteen posts a day most likely.
Also, first attempt at seat of the pants ps2 back up failed. I should be able to get tit straightened out within the course of a week. zyaa ne.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
a whole new ballgame
I went on a little bit of a shopping spree today. The long and the short of it is that I am now blogging via my new wireless lan in the back room. I'm really amazed at how easily everything fell into place, just how it was supposed to. I even skipped most of the instructions, and flew by the seat of my pants (in japanese), and here I am! writing more stupid blog entries about the hardware I use to blog!
(incidentally, all the easy stuff I just mentioned was done in windows. blah!)
(incidentally, all the easy stuff I just mentioned was done in windows. blah!)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
I'm a mac fayg.
I am also a power user+ at oink's, but that's beside the point.
It's not my intention to waste a perfectly good blog documenting my switch, but I am amidst the switch now. Or rather, I am in the midst of becoming a mac too guy.
Got everything situated last night; now I just need a bunch of cables and a router to create a happy little computing microcosm. First impression, yeah it's easy, but I don't trust it. It's also a fair bit more powerful than my old piece of shit... but I don't trust it.
I'm not really sure what it is about osx, but somehow, I don't really enjoy just sitting at my computer in the same way I do with windows. It just seems like there's nothing to do. I don't have my bookmarks ported yet; my mp3 drive isn't yet recognized (seems there's a size limit to the ntfs drives that osx can recognize), and I don't even know where to begin to look for all the little necessities like finalspoof... not to mention a heavy resistance to starting over when I've gotten so cozy in my 5 year old os.
the big picture? I think it'll take some settling in time, but I'll grow accustomed to my new digs.
(incidentally, here's a good reason to switch. anyone know much about job's politics?)
It's not my intention to waste a perfectly good blog documenting my switch, but I am amidst the switch now. Or rather, I am in the midst of becoming a mac too guy.
Got everything situated last night; now I just need a bunch of cables and a router to create a happy little computing microcosm. First impression, yeah it's easy, but I don't trust it. It's also a fair bit more powerful than my old piece of shit... but I don't trust it.
I'm not really sure what it is about osx, but somehow, I don't really enjoy just sitting at my computer in the same way I do with windows. It just seems like there's nothing to do. I don't have my bookmarks ported yet; my mp3 drive isn't yet recognized (seems there's a size limit to the ntfs drives that osx can recognize), and I don't even know where to begin to look for all the little necessities like finalspoof... not to mention a heavy resistance to starting over when I've gotten so cozy in my 5 year old os.
the big picture? I think it'll take some settling in time, but I'll grow accustomed to my new digs.
(incidentally, here's a good reason to switch. anyone know much about job's politics?)
Monday, April 25, 2005
switch
So my mac mini shipped today. This makes me lame. I'm not sure that it's inherently lame to be a mac user, but to jump on the bandwagon now? Today I hang my head in shame. Dasai.
Maybe it's alright. I can live in a carefully designed shiny plastic world along with the cool people and the people who want to look like cool people. Maybe I can just consider it good practice for living in Tokyo.
PS. they also both cost too much.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Thursday, April 21, 2005
knowing when you're beat.
wow. this blog is brilliant. I grabbed it from Jaime's most recent post. It's a guy writing about being Japanese in Japan in English. His subjects are interesting, his style is charming and his english has that special feel to it that only comes from really capable foreigners.
(I think you know what I mean. The word choice is correct but not what would be natural for you and me. There's a foreign air about it, and it works to defamiliarize the language, and in turn force a bit more analysis.)
Maybe my Japanese will have that special feel someday... but my money's on no.
I'm gonna drop him and marxy and a few other links onto my link list on the right later today.
(I think you know what I mean. The word choice is correct but not what would be natural for you and me. There's a foreign air about it, and it works to defamiliarize the language, and in turn force a bit more analysis.)
Maybe my Japanese will have that special feel someday... but my money's on no.
I'm gonna drop him and marxy and a few other links onto my link list on the right later today.
flat flat flat.
murakami says it. momus says it. that prick friedman says it too. The flyer on my desk touting an Alfonse Mucha show at the local shopping mall sure as hell says it. The world is getting flat, and it's mostly a good thing. Sure they mean different things... on the surface.
They're on about the dissolution of protection schemes, whether those be the perceived difference between art and commerce, the legal and physical barriers to exporting all labor to poorer countries, or the distance between anything high and low. It's all turning into a postmodern mash-up and it's good they say.
Now, the destruction of the idea of authenticity within the fashion world I think makes sense. We can't buy our way into any kind of authenticity other than authentic consumerism. Maybe the art world is really just putting on airs when it pretends that it's significantly different from advertisers and product designers. I'm not inclined to think so, but I can see it. In the same vein, if we don't erect legal barriers (that is to say arbitrary distinctions based on nationality) to replace the physical barriers that oceans once represented, low-end and gradually higher end jobs will trickle away, or wages and job security will flatten with the third world. I don't like that, but maybe it is just.
The missing thrust of this though is that when we squish it all flat, not everyone's going to come in smiling and appreciating plurality. I think the real effect of flatness being played out in america now is the religious right's war on everything. The church used to be placated with it's smug sense of "high"ness and the whole pie in the sky promise seemed to be enough to keep them from wanting to tinker too much with the earthly realm. But as they've been pulled down (by science), and the everyday pulled up (through consumerism) they're feeling the pinch. No longer able to perceive the courts as "high" but ultimately "beneath" them, the church has started to show a lot of interest in destroying the courts. There are literal advocates of theocracy in America getting on cable news these days. Sure wild plurality is one kind of flatness, but totalitarian theocracy is another, and it's a lot easier to imagine.
The other target of the right of course is the intellectuals... and by extension, intellectualism... analysis and reasoned debate. That's how we got where we are, with the news media actually pausing to admire the deftness of scott mclellan's "almost lies". Our old venerated systems of democracy are just another method, and they're losing out to the Straussian idea of guiding the populace with useful fictions.
The totally imaginary idea of fashion or musical authenticity is just a metaphor for the old systems that we should defend despite the increasing plurality and flatness of the world. Without some moral absolute (like Allah, or so), our deepest beliefs are subject to question, and it's only through a tradition and a wink and nod that we don't continually assail our beliefs about democracy, murder, welfare, and so on. In a flat world, that need not be the case.
If the world were really going to go totally flat, I'd expect that the most utilitarian morals and ideas would come out on top, but MONEY. Accumulations of money and power will never be flat. If you don't know the american news, you don't know the power of money. Totally anti-populist laws get hyped by a media in the pockets of those in power. Agendas that suit those already in positions of wealth and power are pushed and their opponents villified. Accretions of money and power only grow, and the flatness of the world is broken into two discreet non-contiguous surfaces... the haves and the have-nots.
That's what I see as the fruit of flatness boosterism. Intellectuals will be the first to hang.
flat flat flat.
They're on about the dissolution of protection schemes, whether those be the perceived difference between art and commerce, the legal and physical barriers to exporting all labor to poorer countries, or the distance between anything high and low. It's all turning into a postmodern mash-up and it's good they say.
Now, the destruction of the idea of authenticity within the fashion world I think makes sense. We can't buy our way into any kind of authenticity other than authentic consumerism. Maybe the art world is really just putting on airs when it pretends that it's significantly different from advertisers and product designers. I'm not inclined to think so, but I can see it. In the same vein, if we don't erect legal barriers (that is to say arbitrary distinctions based on nationality) to replace the physical barriers that oceans once represented, low-end and gradually higher end jobs will trickle away, or wages and job security will flatten with the third world. I don't like that, but maybe it is just.
The missing thrust of this though is that when we squish it all flat, not everyone's going to come in smiling and appreciating plurality. I think the real effect of flatness being played out in america now is the religious right's war on everything. The church used to be placated with it's smug sense of "high"ness and the whole pie in the sky promise seemed to be enough to keep them from wanting to tinker too much with the earthly realm. But as they've been pulled down (by science), and the everyday pulled up (through consumerism) they're feeling the pinch. No longer able to perceive the courts as "high" but ultimately "beneath" them, the church has started to show a lot of interest in destroying the courts. There are literal advocates of theocracy in America getting on cable news these days. Sure wild plurality is one kind of flatness, but totalitarian theocracy is another, and it's a lot easier to imagine.
The other target of the right of course is the intellectuals... and by extension, intellectualism... analysis and reasoned debate. That's how we got where we are, with the news media actually pausing to admire the deftness of scott mclellan's "almost lies". Our old venerated systems of democracy are just another method, and they're losing out to the Straussian idea of guiding the populace with useful fictions.
The totally imaginary idea of fashion or musical authenticity is just a metaphor for the old systems that we should defend despite the increasing plurality and flatness of the world. Without some moral absolute (like Allah, or so), our deepest beliefs are subject to question, and it's only through a tradition and a wink and nod that we don't continually assail our beliefs about democracy, murder, welfare, and so on. In a flat world, that need not be the case.
If the world were really going to go totally flat, I'd expect that the most utilitarian morals and ideas would come out on top, but MONEY. Accumulations of money and power will never be flat. If you don't know the american news, you don't know the power of money. Totally anti-populist laws get hyped by a media in the pockets of those in power. Agendas that suit those already in positions of wealth and power are pushed and their opponents villified. Accretions of money and power only grow, and the flatness of the world is broken into two discreet non-contiguous surfaces... the haves and the have-nots.
That's what I see as the fruit of flatness boosterism. Intellectuals will be the first to hang.
flat flat flat.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
back to school
(I'll probably not be able to rip off this photo for long)
I just finished my first (abbreviated) week of school in the new school year. The jury is in, and it's official, I kind of like this week's school. It had the teacher I met at the rock show, and 99% genki happy-go-lucky students. I got all but one of the classes eating from my hand, and that one still liked me they just didn't "get" me.
Winter is all the way over now, so I rode my bike to and from school this week, straight through sakuragawa, the sakura-darake neighboorhood in Aomori shi. Not a single blossom has popped yet. I think theres a (distinctly) small pleasure in getting the blossoms after everyone else. The national extravaganza is already over, but we've still got the whole shebang to look forward to.
In unrelated news, the new pope is benedict XVI, right? Does he have to choose the name of a former pope? Or is he free to get silly and be pope robocop the first?
Sunday, April 17, 2005
good times in store?
I mentioned that at the Asa Chang and Junray show I ran into people I knew. That's only a small part of it though. One of the people I met was a teacher with whom I'll be teaching a lot this year. What's special about that is that it seems that she's pretty informed about music and listens to a lot cool shit, but even better, she has a bunch of friends who do the same.
Now, I'd never say that it really reveals a person's character that much, but I feel a lot closer to people who listen to good music. It's also a crucial element to "how we are cool" these days. A person couldn't really be cool without listening to cool music, and even if they're not otherwise really cool, listening to good music gives quite a few cool bonus points. That is to say, I may well have the chance to meet the (heretofore presumed non-existent) cool kids in Aomori.
In other coolness and nightlife related news, a link. Aomolive.
Until now, the only place I'd seen any sort of worthwhile nightlife guide was Call magazine, but that's a whole different creature, there. Aomolive seems to be a pretty good compendium of what's going on any given weekend in this ken. wai wai.
Now, I'd never say that it really reveals a person's character that much, but I feel a lot closer to people who listen to good music. It's also a crucial element to "how we are cool" these days. A person couldn't really be cool without listening to cool music, and even if they're not otherwise really cool, listening to good music gives quite a few cool bonus points. That is to say, I may well have the chance to meet the (heretofore presumed non-existent) cool kids in Aomori.
In other coolness and nightlife related news, a link. Aomolive.
Until now, the only place I'd seen any sort of worthwhile nightlife guide was Call magazine, but that's a whole different creature, there. Aomolive seems to be a pretty good compendium of what's going on any given weekend in this ken. wai wai.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
the web has a hang, and I'm getting it.
So, I've been around on this here internet thing (or prodigy or bbs's or some junk like that) for a long long time now. I remember using "The travelling businessman" or some other silly named bbs back in Colorado Springs in 1991, but things sucked then.
Things suck less now. The web is big and diverse and robust and fast and and. I felt like I was really on good terms with everything a boy should know about the web about 9 years ago, but lately, I'd felt like a one trick pony.
But now I've got a blog that is inexplicably being visited (sadly, I wound up being my own 100th visitor), a flickr site that's being looked at (over 100 views on one of my photos too), a really delicious set of rss feeds, good ratios at all the right torrent sites and now finally, my first torrent upload... it's even all legal stuff that is somewhat hard to find and worth having! I even got my last entry linked by someone who thought I was being lame, and followed the link back to the source via my sitemeter (like a proper 14 year old girl). He was right, I was being lame but.... not entirely. If you're not unhappy with IE don't switch to firefox; that's the moral of that story.
Things are alright on the web. That's not the only place though. Today I went to see the Asa Chang and Junray show (which I posted at upcoming.org incidentally) at the teeny tiny cafe, and met a couple of people I know there. First time since coming here that I've actually done something both cultural and cool. Also wandered around in the warm weather and took a bunch of new pictures today. I'll put them up at the aforementioned flickr site. It's been a good day, and a good couple weeks, on and off the web.
Things suck less now. The web is big and diverse and robust and fast and and. I felt like I was really on good terms with everything a boy should know about the web about 9 years ago, but lately, I'd felt like a one trick pony.
But now I've got a blog that is inexplicably being visited (sadly, I wound up being my own 100th visitor), a flickr site that's being looked at (over 100 views on one of my photos too), a really delicious set of rss feeds, good ratios at all the right torrent sites and now finally, my first torrent upload... it's even all legal stuff that is somewhat hard to find and worth having! I even got my last entry linked by someone who thought I was being lame, and followed the link back to the source via my sitemeter (like a proper 14 year old girl). He was right, I was being lame but.... not entirely. If you're not unhappy with IE don't switch to firefox; that's the moral of that story.
Things are alright on the web. That's not the only place though. Today I went to see the Asa Chang and Junray show (which I posted at upcoming.org incidentally) at the teeny tiny cafe, and met a couple of people I know there. First time since coming here that I've actually done something both cultural and cool. Also wandered around in the warm weather and took a bunch of new pictures today. I'll put them up at the aforementioned flickr site. It's been a good day, and a good couple weeks, on and off the web.
Friday, April 15, 2005
firefox really really sucks.
damn. I just spent a long time putting together pictures to show just why firefox really really sucks, but I can't get a place together to put the picture right now. Rest assured, firefox really really sucks.
Tabs are nice... and I suppose that the open sourcey plugin functionality makes for some nice things, but really, I can control winamp via winamp. (iTunes is another terrible, over-rated program).
But what really gets me is how UNcustomizable it really is. Or rather how difficult it is to customize to your own tastes in usability... especially mouse-centric use. In IE I have my drop down menus, my buttons, and my links menu squeezed into one row, and the next has the address bar (without a stupid go button) and the google toolbar with a couple of its extra functions. There is easily 10 times more functionality in the google toolbar than that stupid websearch bar from firefox. That's it. Below that is the webpage I'm viewing.
With firefox, there're at least three rows of crap (if you want you links menu), including a go button that's not easily removed (compared to windows)... and it's uglee. Windows may not be beautiful, but it has a businesslike dignity to it, and even though I'm using the default colors and icons from windows 2000, it looks a lot more modern than those stupid kiddy buttons.
I don't know, maybe themes fix the problems. Maybe if you're willing to put a lot of effort into customizing it, it works much better than IE, but I'm not willing. If you've only got safari, I'm sure it looks good, but I've got IE.
Incidentally, the counter-intuitive interface with a reputation for flexibility with really limiting interface makes me wonder about what osx is going to be like. I'm certain I'll be angry at first, but will I ever grow to like the interface, or just sell my mac mini and buy a real computer?
Tabs are nice... and I suppose that the open sourcey plugin functionality makes for some nice things, but really, I can control winamp via winamp. (iTunes is another terrible, over-rated program).
But what really gets me is how UNcustomizable it really is. Or rather how difficult it is to customize to your own tastes in usability... especially mouse-centric use. In IE I have my drop down menus, my buttons, and my links menu squeezed into one row, and the next has the address bar (without a stupid go button) and the google toolbar with a couple of its extra functions. There is easily 10 times more functionality in the google toolbar than that stupid websearch bar from firefox. That's it. Below that is the webpage I'm viewing.
With firefox, there're at least three rows of crap (if you want you links menu), including a go button that's not easily removed (compared to windows)... and it's uglee. Windows may not be beautiful, but it has a businesslike dignity to it, and even though I'm using the default colors and icons from windows 2000, it looks a lot more modern than those stupid kiddy buttons.
I don't know, maybe themes fix the problems. Maybe if you're willing to put a lot of effort into customizing it, it works much better than IE, but I'm not willing. If you've only got safari, I'm sure it looks good, but I've got IE.
Incidentally, the counter-intuitive interface with a reputation for flexibility with really limiting interface makes me wonder about what osx is going to be like. I'm certain I'll be angry at first, but will I ever grow to like the interface, or just sell my mac mini and buy a real computer?
Thursday, April 14, 2005
january caution
january caution
Originally uploaded by notnato.
I put the twelve pages from the JT smoking courtesy campaign up at my flickr acct. To see them all on the same page... here
Or to obviate the need for me to take those pictures in the first place, skip the middle man, and go straight to JT.
the hits keep pouring in.
what, now there's stuff to do?
After a whole winter spent in a hard-to-keep-warm apartment it's nice to have something to do, but where was the fun two months ago. Tonight in Hirosaki, they're showing the Ramones documentary somehow in association with Yoshimoto Nara (who will be there, evidentally) followed by a party at magnet, and tomorrow in our very own Aomori City Asa Chang and Junray will be playing in the smallest venue imaginable, cafe quatre.
I'm probably going to skip the first, but I might go to the asa chang show.
Stack this on top of unseasonably warm weather, and it's a good time to feel like doing something. I wish i did.
I'm probably going to skip the first, but I might go to the asa chang show.
Stack this on top of unseasonably warm weather, and it's a good time to feel like doing something. I wish i did.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
100% pure adrenaline, man.
Today, instead of taking my usual leisurely lunch break, I got a little crazy. I raced home on my bike, started my bath filling up and flew down to the conbini as fast as I could. I bought a grape bubbleman soda, a bag of chips and an egg sandwich and hightailed it back home.
Then I sat in the bath and consumed the things I bought! wOO.
It's the honest to god truth. American innovation keeps us ahead of the curve.
Then I sat in the bath and consumed the things I bought! wOO.
It's the honest to god truth. American innovation keeps us ahead of the curve.
my blog is bigger than your blog.
Somethings fishy. I'm still getting hits... Though I'm proud to be the 12th (edit: turns out I'm 12, not 2) listing on the whole of google for the term "$30 a week on groceries" (soon to be #1, ladies!), I'm a bit curious what's going on.
Eh, what're ya gonna do?
So, as promised from a while back, my short 感想発表 on "Wrestlemania XXI, WWE Goes to Hollywood". Frickin' awesome. It's got everything. From men's faces buried in one another's crotches (you know how kids will sometimes sit on their parent's shoulders? imagine if the kid turned around, and was a 200lb muscleman in spandex tights and glossy boots), to chugging beer tossed into the ring from an off camera source (or rather pouring it on ones own face), it's all there.
The real highlight was completely outside of the proper "match" context. Eugene, who I dare say is a parody of retarded people, was jumping up and down and biting his finger in glee at being there at wrestlemania when... suddenly... Arabic sounding chanting comes pouring out of the speakers and Muhammad Hassan comes out, dressed in a vaguely islamic looking robe accompanied by Daivari, his manager dressed in a white suit. And that's where things get hairy.
You see Muhammad Hassan is unhappy that he wasn't given a chance to fight in Wrestlemania, and he's gonna make his wrestlemania moment one way or another. When he and his manager start to mercilessly pretend to kick Eugene (who is injured, I neglected to mention), we wonder is all hope lost?
Enter the Hulkster! That's right, blaring over the same loudspeakers comes "I am a real American, fight for the rights of every man. I am a real American, fight for my rights, Fight for what's right!". Hulk Hogan comes into the ring, shrugs off the fake kicks of Hassan and Daivari to preform the classic coconut conk... that is to say, grabbing the two men by the back of their heads and pretending to slam them into one another. After a little more whomping, the arabic characters retreat and Hulk poses for well over 5 minutes.
The man's skin is like copper.
Eh, what're ya gonna do?
So, as promised from a while back, my short 感想発表 on "Wrestlemania XXI, WWE Goes to Hollywood". Frickin' awesome. It's got everything. From men's faces buried in one another's crotches (you know how kids will sometimes sit on their parent's shoulders? imagine if the kid turned around, and was a 200lb muscleman in spandex tights and glossy boots), to chugging beer tossed into the ring from an off camera source (or rather pouring it on ones own face), it's all there.
The real highlight was completely outside of the proper "match" context. Eugene, who I dare say is a parody of retarded people, was jumping up and down and biting his finger in glee at being there at wrestlemania when... suddenly... Arabic sounding chanting comes pouring out of the speakers and Muhammad Hassan comes out, dressed in a vaguely islamic looking robe accompanied by Daivari, his manager dressed in a white suit. And that's where things get hairy.
You see Muhammad Hassan is unhappy that he wasn't given a chance to fight in Wrestlemania, and he's gonna make his wrestlemania moment one way or another. When he and his manager start to mercilessly pretend to kick Eugene (who is injured, I neglected to mention), we wonder is all hope lost?
Enter the Hulkster! That's right, blaring over the same loudspeakers comes "I am a real American, fight for the rights of every man. I am a real American, fight for my rights, Fight for what's right!". Hulk Hogan comes into the ring, shrugs off the fake kicks of Hassan and Daivari to preform the classic coconut conk... that is to say, grabbing the two men by the back of their heads and pretending to slam them into one another. After a little more whomping, the arabic characters retreat and Hulk poses for well over 5 minutes.
The man's skin is like copper.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
my brushes with fame.
I'm not into famous people.
But today, I'm gonna share my brushes with fame. Unless we count contact with the famous before conception (my dad was attending CalPoly at the same time as weird al), my brushes with fame have all come since landing in Japan, and have all been with celebrities much more minor than weird al.
First is having my face (and a link to this blog for a very short time) appear on avoidinglife, a popular, award winning, mentioned-in-time-magazine blog, cuz I am friend with 'ol jaime.
After that, it's only the previously eluded to conversations with momus, who is even more famous than jaime. He's a regular poster over at marxy's place. Marxy's also a musician, but probably less famous than jaime.
Oh, and I ate at nobu in new york a few years back, and cyndi lauper was two tables over, and iron chef japanese masaharu morimoto made us some food, and signed some autographs on the menu. I guess they're also more famous than Jaime too.
But today, I'm gonna share my brushes with fame. Unless we count contact with the famous before conception (my dad was attending CalPoly at the same time as weird al), my brushes with fame have all come since landing in Japan, and have all been with celebrities much more minor than weird al.
First is having my face (and a link to this blog for a very short time) appear on avoidinglife, a popular, award winning, mentioned-in-time-magazine blog, cuz I am friend with 'ol jaime.
After that, it's only the previously eluded to conversations with momus, who is even more famous than jaime. He's a regular poster over at marxy's place. Marxy's also a musician, but probably less famous than jaime.
Oh, and I ate at nobu in new york a few years back, and cyndi lauper was two tables over, and iron chef japanese masaharu morimoto made us some food, and signed some autographs on the menu. I guess they're also more famous than Jaime too.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
happy birthday to me....
I got told to "come off it!" by momus! what better birthday present could I hope for?
Thomas Friedman is also a prick. Watching the discovery channel "does europe hate us?", I'm impressed by how much everything suits his theories from his columns.
One example? Adressing the question as to whether the EU was agressively against the American economy, he cites the ban of cosmetics containing cancer-causing or fertility-reducing chemicals... because most American products contain these chemicals. HOW DARE THOSE FROGS!!!
(edit omfg: as a counterpoint, and the bearer of the accusation, friedman interviews some chem industry dude who says there's no link between "environmental problems and chemical exposure". Ass! humanity hating ass! )
Thomas Friedman is also a prick. Watching the discovery channel "does europe hate us?", I'm impressed by how much everything suits his theories from his columns.
One example? Adressing the question as to whether the EU was agressively against the American economy, he cites the ban of cosmetics containing cancer-causing or fertility-reducing chemicals... because most American products contain these chemicals. HOW DARE THOSE FROGS!!!
(edit omfg: as a counterpoint, and the bearer of the accusation, friedman interviews some chem industry dude who says there's no link between "environmental problems and chemical exposure". Ass! humanity hating ass! )
26
I turned twentysix about 30 minutes ago.
What did I do with my last few hours of 25? Ate pizza, drank a beer (the first whole can of beer I've ever managed), and watched Apocalypse Now for the first time.
First bit of being 26? Computer stuff, blog entry.
What did I do with my last few hours of 25? Ate pizza, drank a beer (the first whole can of beer I've ever managed), and watched Apocalypse Now for the first time.
First bit of being 26? Computer stuff, blog entry.
D-
>Yesterday, I meant to buy a mac mini, but I couldn't get it in store like I had hoped. Bought a new camera and a hard drive enclosure... neither of which are really lighting my fire right now.
I can't say I need the camera, and the hard drive enclosure is only functioning at usb1.1 speeds... that is to say roughly one fortieth the speed it ought to be. So even moving files is a bitch. Until I fix that shit up, I can't really rely on the drive. But I can use it to ditch files so that I can enjoy my main drive again...
Also beat San Andreas, finally.
More on wrestlemania after I watch it with my coworkers.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
wwhd
omg best wrestlemania evar!
there's really something to this stuff. it's like shooting the heart and soul of unsophistication straight into your neck veins! and not in the bad way!
a further update on wrestlemania tomorrow, when I've watched it all.
there's really something to this stuff. it's like shooting the heart and soul of unsophistication straight into your neck veins! and not in the bad way!
a further update on wrestlemania tomorrow, when I've watched it all.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
big show vs akebono
Like the trucker cap, japan has already long since trickled down. Its not just the NYT, evidentally, we're a lot further along than that. A couple days ago at WrestlemaniaXXI Akebono, the real Akebono, fought against "the big show" in a sumo style match.
There's something so fascinating about this match that I now have to clear off enough space on my hard drive to watch it, or I will die!
Also, the comments in the wrestling forums were great! Lots of racism against the japanese despite the fact Akebono's hawaiian, and perhaps best of all the word "Akeboner" sandwiched between and "omg" and an "lol".
I won't spoil the result for you.
There's something so fascinating about this match that I now have to clear off enough space on my hard drive to watch it, or I will die!
Also, the comments in the wrestling forums were great! Lots of racism against the japanese despite the fact Akebono's hawaiian, and perhaps best of all the word "Akeboner" sandwiched between and "omg" and an "lol".
I won't spoil the result for you.
my name is breenay and I'm a baby mama.
I'm ditching some music right now, and this "promo only urban radio mix" thing I downloaded is so full of crap. utter crap. If this represents what hip hop radio sounds like these days, I feel less a lot less unhip. Do hip hop listeners really dig this crap? It's so limited in premise, instrumentation, and mostly moronic... it reminds me of hot country from the mid-nineties. Eerily so. This mix cd just begs a bit of reverse engineering, and looking at who the target audience is supposed to be.
They're every bit as non-reflective and immersed in a constricted culture as the country AND western crowd. It's a comforting atmosphere, I suppose. In the mediocre artists, one can see one's own shortcomings held up as not just human, but great. Like the manufactured stars over here.
Yeah yeah, I guess it's really an inevitability of capitalism. The alternative radio mix cd isn't any better... but at least varied, and expressing a myriad of viewpoints... and none of them feeling so patronizing as "baby mama".
They're every bit as non-reflective and immersed in a constricted culture as the country AND western crowd. It's a comforting atmosphere, I suppose. In the mediocre artists, one can see one's own shortcomings held up as not just human, but great. Like the manufactured stars over here.
Yeah yeah, I guess it's really an inevitability of capitalism. The alternative radio mix cd isn't any better... but at least varied, and expressing a myriad of viewpoints... and none of them feeling so patronizing as "baby mama".
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
lunch blogging!
I went home for lunch and cooked up some okonomiyaki (didn't manage to get out of bed to make them in the morning) and udon. I put some onions in the oko batter for a change and it was really good; helped to add back some of the flavor that went lost in the no-meat conversion. Miles ahead of where my okonomiyaki was a year ago.
Also finally got my taxes from 2k3 finished, and am off to the yuubinkyoku now to get them off. A vurry productive day thus far. Moral of story, remember your vitamins; especially if yer only eating starch.
Also finally got my taxes from 2k3 finished, and am off to the yuubinkyoku now to get them off. A vurry productive day thus far. Moral of story, remember your vitamins; especially if yer only eating starch.
Ms. the mark.
I have my days. Sometimes, things go well. I feel like I learn any kanji, any vocabulary, any grammar I put in front of myself. There are days when I can study for 10 hours straight, and feel like I'm making headway every minute.
Today was not one of those days. Today, I managed to study most of the day without feeling like I picked up a damned thing. I'm studying in order to pass the top level of the JLPT this year. Days like today it seems unlikely that I can do it. Other days, no sweat.
I'll be getting in some practice in just a few minutes thought. Yesterday, I figured out how to use yahoo messenger in japanese... keeps the phone bills with m' girlfriend down too.
So throwing this day on the scrapheap, I'm gonna take a bath before bed and make okonomiyaki for breakfast. And like all things: it will go better with coke.
Today was not one of those days. Today, I managed to study most of the day without feeling like I picked up a damned thing. I'm studying in order to pass the top level of the JLPT this year. Days like today it seems unlikely that I can do it. Other days, no sweat.
I'll be getting in some practice in just a few minutes thought. Yesterday, I figured out how to use yahoo messenger in japanese... keeps the phone bills with m' girlfriend down too.
So throwing this day on the scrapheap, I'm gonna take a bath before bed and make okonomiyaki for breakfast. And like all things: it will go better with coke.
Monday, April 04, 2005
15 minutes up.
I didn't expect to wind up on jaime's blogroll. My traffic skyrocketed from 4 to 32 visits overnight! wow.
After much tooth-gnashing and mayotteiru, I decided that I'd rather not have so many people read this... or at least, I'd rather not have my blog be a part of the community that people who know me in person would read regularly.
Maybe because I'm a shitty writer. Or maybe because I wanna talk shit about everyone.
Either way. If my hits stay high, I think I'ma have to close up shop here, and start a fourth blog.
n
After much tooth-gnashing and mayotteiru, I decided that I'd rather not have so many people read this... or at least, I'd rather not have my blog be a part of the community that people who know me in person would read regularly.
Maybe because I'm a shitty writer. Or maybe because I wanna talk shit about everyone.
Either way. If my hits stay high, I think I'ma have to close up shop here, and start a fourth blog.
n
capitalist hair
I was just listening to an audioblog from momus and a few things he said struck me... though maybe it's the ease of the audioblog that I liked the most. Other than that, he really really likes japan, and I figured that that opinion was part of a broad spectrum of positive feelings, but I seem mistaken.
He has a kind of simplistic view of "fascists" and a really deep seated hatred of America. Maybe I do too, but he sounds a lot more sagely when he's talking up japan than when he's talking down poland.
He makes a later quip about "capitalist hair", meaning short, semi-stylish, full of product... and I found that that hit the mark for my hair pretty well. I felt a bit defensive at first... but then ,being me I got sort of reflective about why I feel defensive. I guess I still have a deep resentment of the values that I slowly am taking to heart. I don't really think I'm a dead on the mark capitalist, but I am more about self-preservation than I expected to be at this age.
I think it has a lot to do with being isolated since college. Maybe I'll get back to normal once I have a broader circle of friends.
Oh, and the japanese word for the pope is "roman king of laws" Ro-ma houou. I think it fits in real well with the apparent japanese idea that all religions are true. Basically, having acheived respect and acclaim within some group, even if that group is irrelevant inside japan, means you get a certain defacto respect in japan.
He has a kind of simplistic view of "fascists" and a really deep seated hatred of America. Maybe I do too, but he sounds a lot more sagely when he's talking up japan than when he's talking down poland.
He makes a later quip about "capitalist hair", meaning short, semi-stylish, full of product... and I found that that hit the mark for my hair pretty well. I felt a bit defensive at first... but then ,being me I got sort of reflective about why I feel defensive. I guess I still have a deep resentment of the values that I slowly am taking to heart. I don't really think I'm a dead on the mark capitalist, but I am more about self-preservation than I expected to be at this age.
I think it has a lot to do with being isolated since college. Maybe I'll get back to normal once I have a broader circle of friends.
Oh, and the japanese word for the pope is "roman king of laws" Ro-ma houou. I think it fits in real well with the apparent japanese idea that all religions are true. Basically, having acheived respect and acclaim within some group, even if that group is irrelevant inside japan, means you get a certain defacto respect in japan.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
the same way flies drop.
Terri died, Mitch Hedberg died, the Pope's gonna die, and Neil Young's evidentally knocking on the door.
Didn't some guy write:
April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
earth in forgetful snow, feeding
a little life with dried tubers.....
or something?
My april is not shaping up to be cruel except for the death of my favorite comedian, and potential death of one of just a few rock legends who matter. In Aomori, the weather warming up is a big damned deal. We can get around again, and it seems worthwhile to smile again. I cut my hair, and bought a chocolate bar today to commemorate a thaw that seeps into the ground and everything else. I also made my life better. I'm not sure how, but I did.
Didn't some guy write:
April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
earth in forgetful snow, feeding
a little life with dried tubers.....
or something?
My april is not shaping up to be cruel except for the death of my favorite comedian, and potential death of one of just a few rock legends who matter. In Aomori, the weather warming up is a big damned deal. We can get around again, and it seems worthwhile to smile again. I cut my hair, and bought a chocolate bar today to commemorate a thaw that seeps into the ground and everything else. I also made my life better. I'm not sure how, but I did.
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