sumo, made (even) better

http://dbzsumo.ytmnd.com/

I should sleep. And study. and post real entries when I post.

shit.

64.2%

this is very bad.

the next few days are going to be unpleasant, as is the long wait for the test results.

For those not keeping track, I was hoping for/expecting an 80% on my practice test. Above is what I got.

who can do hip hop better than a frog can?

http://frenchrappers.ytmnd.com/

still not not blogging

my two favorite albums of the nineties so far:

yeah, I lied a little.

sometimes a break from studying and thinking is nice. I spent my break at wikipedia.

The following people (among many others) share my birthday:


One of the kinki kids was also born on the same day of the same year I was (as well as two other musicians and a protester who got run over by a tank in israel a few years back).

Also, I found how to make my pictures much bigger.

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts

thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —

thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —

thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —

thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —

thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers —

thanks for laboratory AIDS —

thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs —

thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business —

thanks for a nation of finks — yes, thanks for all the memories... all right, let's see your arms... you always were a headache and you always were a bore —

thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

november morning

november morning
Originally uploaded by notnato.

I keep having the same discussion about how being "american" means something different from being japanese. You can "become american", but race is so tangled up in the idea of being japanese that "becoming japanese" isn't so simple.

I don't doubt that you can become un-japanese (like nomo?), but since it's not so strict a definintion, can you become not-american?

thisisaprettypicture.

ya ha! 73%

how's that for a post title?

I got 73% on the practice test! That is in the realm of passing, and I've still got a couple weeks left to lift it out of the girigiri level. I am stupidly happy right now.

As though there were someone that cared about the details, I got 86% on the grammar section, and improved my listening to a 76%. Kanji and vocabulary are still crap, but that's what the next two weeks are for.

g'night.

here go nothing, part three.

Just about to start my third practice test. Last time was a 64.75%... crazy as it sounds, I'm shooting for a 72% this time. I'd be happy to break the 70% line though.

also, it's snowing.... my ipod broke... I wore my new suit for the first time yesterday... and nhk caught up with me, and I'm 13400yen worse off for it.

asian eyes are the new black.

This is the front page of pitchfork right now, as they advertise tickets for their new years-ish party. It looks like a pretty happening show, and if I were chicagonian, I would be there, but what's with the design? Why is there an asian (maybe chinese?) woman's face cut into pieces? Mu won't be there, neither will deerhoof. As far as I can tell, the only asian women will be in the audience. Still, it's no different really than if it were a white woman, I guess, and I probably wouldn't make a blog entry about a white woman poster.
Lately america, at every social strata, thinks that asian (esp japanese) = cool. Whether it's anime, hentai anime, other japanese porn, green tea, modestly talented bands, sushi, j-girls/boys, fake japanese fashion (see gwen stefani), goofy internet clips, or lame tatoos, everyone wants in on the game.

How can I make money on this?

(also worth note, is that this design even without the face looks very au courrant japan)

retired pants, the fuzz

I'm really not into writing about japan right now... so I'm probably not going to write anything anyone will think is interesting for while. But in very uninteresting news... Tomorrow, I will retire my trusty dark blue, striped suit. My rough and ready wallet, and bike riding made a couple of holes in the butt, so I had to buy a new suit... or two.
From friday on, it's gray pinstriped winter wool, and/or brownish gray regular weight. If these two survive as much abuse as the last one, I'll be quite happy.

And the school I'm at this week is so bad. Cops were called in, though I couldn't really figure out why. No good high school age kids fucking with the junior high kids I think. Though there are so many fights there, and bullying to the point of injury (saw 1 kid get hurt, saw the aftermath of another). I read in this poll (via marxy) that only 17% of japanese women are concerned about education. I'm surprised, but it does fit in with my experience. I'm sort of disappointed in a lot of parents I've encountered, or parents whose kids I've had to deal with. I could elaborate, but it's really just a feeling. I've met a couple of parents I think are really great too (both at my work).

64.75%

That is a nice number. I got 64.75 on the practice test this time. Still need 70 to pass; still got a long way to go before I feel like I can pass, but it's a damned good start.

Listening didn't change a bit, but kanji went up five points after week (two days really) of kanji-focused study, and grammar went up 10 points for no good reason. The reading score was also better for no good reason. Those "no good reason"s are bothersome, because they mean that I am at the mercy of the test-makers' whims. I would rather know that my score was safe from 10 point swings based on the material (and lucky guessing).

But hey, if I can keep moving at 4.25 points a week, I should be close to 80% by the time the real thing hits. To bad it's hard to get hold of the kind of psychoactives it would take to make me believe that figure though.