I need to stop watching so much Conan and House... otherwise I'll start thinking everyone around me is going to get murdered or fall ill with some strange disease.
Japanese:
Group 3: 34/41
Group 4: 22/29
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Crack Berry
Some of you might have noticed this word on my various statuses and wondered what the heck I'm talking about. Apparently Blackberry aficionados refer to their beloved smartphone as a Crackberry, possibly due to their addictive nature. Anyone that knows my passion for electronic devices has prolly heard me rant about the most esoteric things in the tech world, often citing specs that most users couldn't care less to remember.
For the longest time I've been looking a versatile device to consolidate the bulk of my technological experience.
I've resorted to the paper planner as I couldn't find a software that would be able to cater specifically to my needs.
I've compromised with various mp3 players because I refuse to buy into the ipod hype and lack the funds/time to hack an ipod into what I want out of a portable sound system. I strayed from getting a high end md player due to the fact that while the minidisc was immensely popular in Japan... it failed everywhere else in the world, possibly due to Sony's knack for making everything they ever invent proprietary and thus locking out the rest of world since we'd rather buy into apple or some other national brand (not necessarily American for the internationals that are reading this). I'll admit, the recording quality that people raved about was very tempting but the timing in which mp3s were finally incorporated into the technology (it wasn't until flash based mp3 players had already established a firm ground in the portable music market) and the sheer amount of time it took to record songs into an md kept me from buying into it. The Otaku in me was sorely disappointed time and time again--I researched md tech every time I got the hankering for a new portable. On the recording side of things, I settled with the Zoom H2, which is basically a portable recording studio and is pretty good. I reasoned that I could also use the H2 as a portable music player as well, but unfortunately the file management was so clunky/crude that I broke down and bought a Sansa Clip... which is an ipod shuffle killer in every respect except for looks. Unfortunately I got sent back to the market less than a year later when my Clip gave up for dead while I was stranded in Japan and all the electronics I brought over from the US were dying left and right. I figure the gods were punishing me for not making the most of my stay (I actually half-believe that they were...). Eventually I broke down and bought the Cowon D2 which, for what its worth, is a great mp3 player. But I hate the UI, all the gimmicks it comes with are mediocre at best, and much much worse... it makes me hate touch screen devices.
But I digress (into a very convoluted story about my portable mp3 player/recorder ambitions). And so I digress into my online computing issues:
Beyond those things, I wanted a more portable internet capable device as I was tired of having that aching shoulder from lugging a 3kg laptop around. I made do by making sure I was always near a computer. When I lost my laptop in Japan, I made do by visiting my lab more often, which supplied me with a computer. I've commuted an hour by foot just so I could get my computing done several times. When my second laptop died, I had broken free from Sendai and was travelling. I still got online by visiting net cafes, using friend's internet, and even the dorm computer (it was this awesome hostel in Kyoto). After getting home, I didn't quite need the portability anymore. There was one issue I had though: I needed an electronic dictionary (電子辞書). As luck would have it, my trip to Japan supplied me with a dictionary: my cellphone. Unfortunately, the phone is locked into AU's service and I have no intention of unlocking it for use on American networks. I had a hard enough time using the thing in Japan for Japanese services... I don't know how it'll operate in america if at all.
Enter the Blackberry 8900. To be honest, this was a luxury I didn't expect. My dad just suddenly came to me one day saying that we're going to change cellphone carriers. I had a few minutes to decide on a phone, and since I had done cellphone research before (I wanted to get the HTC Slide way back in the day but was weary of all the issues it came with) I found one that screamed... pick me!... which wasn't hard because I have a gripe with most cellphones anyways. It took awhile to get used to the interface but it's more or less consolidated all the aforementioned devices into a small, sexy body... just the way I like it ^.~ ::sweatdrop::
Its not the perfect solution to my needs (I still need to use my Zoom, and my planner has been split into digital and analog parts)... and I recognize a lot of the dangers of owning a pda, such as becoming overly reliant on electronic devices to get through my day to day life. Its one of the reasons why I refuse to get a GPS. But my phone comes with GPS so if I ever get stuck in a hard spot, I have more options. All in all, I'm happy. It's only been a few days, but the potential in my hands is mouth-watering.
Japanese:
Group 1: 24/28
Group 3: 28/32
Physical:
Air Alert III: Week 1 Monday
For the longest time I've been looking a versatile device to consolidate the bulk of my technological experience.
I've resorted to the paper planner as I couldn't find a software that would be able to cater specifically to my needs.
I've compromised with various mp3 players because I refuse to buy into the ipod hype and lack the funds/time to hack an ipod into what I want out of a portable sound system. I strayed from getting a high end md player due to the fact that while the minidisc was immensely popular in Japan... it failed everywhere else in the world, possibly due to Sony's knack for making everything they ever invent proprietary and thus locking out the rest of world since we'd rather buy into apple or some other national brand (not necessarily American for the internationals that are reading this). I'll admit, the recording quality that people raved about was very tempting but the timing in which mp3s were finally incorporated into the technology (it wasn't until flash based mp3 players had already established a firm ground in the portable music market) and the sheer amount of time it took to record songs into an md kept me from buying into it. The Otaku in me was sorely disappointed time and time again--I researched md tech every time I got the hankering for a new portable. On the recording side of things, I settled with the Zoom H2, which is basically a portable recording studio and is pretty good. I reasoned that I could also use the H2 as a portable music player as well, but unfortunately the file management was so clunky/crude that I broke down and bought a Sansa Clip... which is an ipod shuffle killer in every respect except for looks. Unfortunately I got sent back to the market less than a year later when my Clip gave up for dead while I was stranded in Japan and all the electronics I brought over from the US were dying left and right. I figure the gods were punishing me for not making the most of my stay (I actually half-believe that they were...). Eventually I broke down and bought the Cowon D2 which, for what its worth, is a great mp3 player. But I hate the UI, all the gimmicks it comes with are mediocre at best, and much much worse... it makes me hate touch screen devices.
But I digress (into a very convoluted story about my portable mp3 player/recorder ambitions). And so I digress into my online computing issues:
Beyond those things, I wanted a more portable internet capable device as I was tired of having that aching shoulder from lugging a 3kg laptop around. I made do by making sure I was always near a computer. When I lost my laptop in Japan, I made do by visiting my lab more often, which supplied me with a computer. I've commuted an hour by foot just so I could get my computing done several times. When my second laptop died, I had broken free from Sendai and was travelling. I still got online by visiting net cafes, using friend's internet, and even the dorm computer (it was this awesome hostel in Kyoto). After getting home, I didn't quite need the portability anymore. There was one issue I had though: I needed an electronic dictionary (電子辞書). As luck would have it, my trip to Japan supplied me with a dictionary: my cellphone. Unfortunately, the phone is locked into AU's service and I have no intention of unlocking it for use on American networks. I had a hard enough time using the thing in Japan for Japanese services... I don't know how it'll operate in america if at all.
Enter the Blackberry 8900. To be honest, this was a luxury I didn't expect. My dad just suddenly came to me one day saying that we're going to change cellphone carriers. I had a few minutes to decide on a phone, and since I had done cellphone research before (I wanted to get the HTC Slide way back in the day but was weary of all the issues it came with) I found one that screamed... pick me!... which wasn't hard because I have a gripe with most cellphones anyways. It took awhile to get used to the interface but it's more or less consolidated all the aforementioned devices into a small, sexy body... just the way I like it ^.~ ::sweatdrop::
Its not the perfect solution to my needs (I still need to use my Zoom, and my planner has been split into digital and analog parts)... and I recognize a lot of the dangers of owning a pda, such as becoming overly reliant on electronic devices to get through my day to day life. Its one of the reasons why I refuse to get a GPS. But my phone comes with GPS so if I ever get stuck in a hard spot, I have more options. All in all, I'm happy. It's only been a few days, but the potential in my hands is mouth-watering.
Japanese:
Group 1: 24/28
Group 3: 28/32
Physical:
Air Alert III: Week 1 Monday
Catching up
It's been awhile since I last posted my flashcard results so here's the backlog:
Japanese
Should have completed up to Pimsleur 26... I'll have to double check later
Today's:
Group 1: 12/15 (these were cards I've missed... nothing new)
Group 3: 116/135
Group 4: 50/52
3/25
Group 3: 57/67
3/24
Group 2: 41/46
Japanese
Should have completed up to Pimsleur 26... I'll have to double check later
Today's:
Group 1: 12/15 (these were cards I've missed... nothing new)
Group 3: 116/135
Group 4: 50/52
3/25
Group 3: 57/67
3/24
Group 2: 41/46
Saturday, March 28, 2009
lets see how much of a pain this is
Hrmm. Blogging might be more difficult than I thought. I just lost a few sentences.
I
.
I'm trying to blog from my brand new blackberry here. Overall I'm pretty happy with this thing. Obviously it isn't nearly as efficient just doing it from my laptop but itseems pretty cool. No longer will I have to take my laptop with me when I travel for short periods of time.
Hjji
BuTaki
I
.
I'm trying to blog from my brand new blackberry here. Overall I'm pretty happy with this thing. Obviously it isn't nearly as efficient just doing it from my laptop but itseems pretty cool. No longer will I have to take my laptop with me when I travel for short periods of time.
Hjji
BuTaki
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Norcal
Safely up in Norcal and boy is it cold up here. Prolly shoulda brought thermals =/
Now... what to do with my time up here... =/ I hope the cat won't eat me in my sleep.
Japanese:
Completed Pimsleur 25?
Group 2: 32/33
Group 3: 27/29
Now... what to do with my time up here... =/ I hope the cat won't eat me in my sleep.
Japanese:
Completed Pimsleur 25?
Group 2: 32/33
Group 3: 27/29
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thinking while you sleep
Uncovered a few things while I slept this morning (I woke up around 6:30 and don't remember what happened between 1 and 6). 1. 73 is a large prime number. I did this while trying to divide the number of days in a year. Hopefully I remembered the correct number of days: 365. 2. 91 is not a prime number. I got this one wrong because I couldn't figure out how to divide 91 by 11 in my sleep. 3. I might be able to regain cardio-vascular fitness following a program me and my roommate went through our first year in college: Air Alert 3. It's a program that's supposed to increase your vertical jump. We used it more for the workout than the jump back then.
The basic idea is this... I am horribly out of shape and I don't really have a program for working out and I'm having a hard time getting off my ass to do it on the fly or even sitting down and plotting a course. So we'll start on this after I get back from norcal.
Cool thing is... the program is available for free online now. It wasn't 5 years ago.
Group 2: 113/130 (86%)
The basic idea is this... I am horribly out of shape and I don't really have a program for working out and I'm having a hard time getting off my ass to do it on the fly or even sitting down and plotting a course. So we'll start on this after I get back from norcal.
Cool thing is... the program is available for free online now. It wasn't 5 years ago.
Group 2: 113/130 (86%)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Detective Conan
Enjoying the Japanese Childhood I never had.
名探偵コーナン
子供の時がないことを楽しみ〜
Group 2: 32/56 (57%)
Group 3: 20/22 (90%)
名探偵コーナン
子供の時がないことを楽しみ〜
Group 2: 32/56 (57%)
Group 3: 20/22 (90%)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Random shit
Finished the manga for Watashitachi no Tamura-kun (Our dear Tamura). I'm nabbing the last extra chapter, but the main plot is done. Just gotta say, its short and sweet. Definitely worth the read if you're at all into reading romance. It's a manga made for guys though, so it'll have all the caveats that come with romance mangas made for the male audience. I can promise that it keeps everything toned down to something quite reasonable. Think... Haruhi... whoa.. that sounded familiar. Anyways, think haruhi but without the gimmicks.
Now I get it... Chrno Crusade... only a part of it is like Haruhi... the romance part obviously, which is what made the show such a winner. The series was in a completely different genre though: fantasy. Albeit Haruhi might still qualify as fantasy, I choose to call it psychological because the show is, in the end, has some connection with reality but chooses to discard it. Tamura is similarly grounded.
This is something that people should be angry about... except the people that should be angry are prolly freaking out. You reap what you sow morons.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fears-grow-more-consumers-just/story.aspx?guid={504D22FD-CC66-4FC1-BF8D-2F199C2AD042}&dist=TNMostRead
Because that is just retarded. About as much as averaging 8500$ in credit card debt per person.
Here's something cool someone is doing with a condition that I've forgotten about...
http://stacyalexander.blogspot.com/2008/03/skin-deep.html
Group 1: 27/28 (96%)
Group 2: 41/46 (89%)
Now I get it... Chrno Crusade... only a part of it is like Haruhi... the romance part obviously, which is what made the show such a winner. The series was in a completely different genre though: fantasy. Albeit Haruhi might still qualify as fantasy, I choose to call it psychological because the show is, in the end, has some connection with reality but chooses to discard it. Tamura is similarly grounded.
This is something that people should be angry about... except the people that should be angry are prolly freaking out. You reap what you sow morons.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fears-grow-more-consumers-just/story.aspx?guid={504D22FD-CC66-4FC1-BF8D-2F199C2AD042}&dist=TNMostRead
Because that is just retarded. About as much as averaging 8500$ in credit card debt per person.
Here's something cool someone is doing with a condition that I've forgotten about...
http://stacyalexander.blogspot.com/2008/03/skin-deep.html
Group 1: 27/28 (96%)
Group 2: 41/46 (89%)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
FB
Another gripe about facebook... atleast one of the ads in facebook are a scam enabling identity theft (I got bored one day and decided to check out the quiz ad... the one about the triangles and stuff). I don't know who exactly clicks on those ads... but facebook is not helping itself by getting funded but this sort of crap. What's worse is that the like/dislike function doesn't even have 'scam' as a default option for removal.
For people that aren't aware... the moment a website starts asking for personal information, you should start being weary. Only when you are ready to engage in a business transaction where money is likely to be involved should you ever divulge information such as your address, phone number, your primary email, and even your name. Obviously, even more sensitive information like social security number, passwords, pins, and security sensitive info like mother's maiden name, high school, city you were born in... should pretty much never be shared online.
For people that aren't aware... the moment a website starts asking for personal information, you should start being weary. Only when you are ready to engage in a business transaction where money is likely to be involved should you ever divulge information such as your address, phone number, your primary email, and even your name. Obviously, even more sensitive information like social security number, passwords, pins, and security sensitive info like mother's maiden name, high school, city you were born in... should pretty much never be shared online.
Comments
I just read all the comments my blog has ever gotten. I haven't gotten very many, but that's okay. I don't really expect a whole lot of people to read my random musings. I'm sorry I've never gotten back to the people that left me comments... I don't spend a whole lot of time readings other people's blogs (its just not in my habit) let alone my own, so I don't see the comments people leave behind. Now that I use the edit function to change my kanji statistics each day I'm in a better position to notice when people have left their mark, although I definitely missed that comment Scott left at the end of Feb. I hope you('re) enjoy(ed/ing) 21CB as much as I did.
Ayano, yes I understood what you were saying without having to pull out a dictionary... almost. I had to for '帰国' which I understood but couldn't read. Everything else I could derive from context and the kanji I recognise.
Jenna... meh... now that we work, we can go to Japan without having to be packed into a suitcase. The problem is getting enough vacation time to go without getting fired =P.
Random celulite person, I can't get to your blog since its gone now =/. I'm glad you enjoy the blog though. I assume I don't get a whole lot of random visitors, which I prefer (because I'm really a hermit) but the ones that stick around I always appreciate.
Also, reading back, I'm happy to see most of my writing is somewhat presented in an un-convoluted manner. I just need to stop abusing the word 'granted'. I also need to get around to writing all those important posts I say I'll get to but never do.
Note the retardedly large set of Group 1 kanji. I'm in a kanji learning mood right now. I'll deal with the memory fall out later. Granted, I already learned these kanji... so I'm basically recovering the stories I made up over the summer.
Japanese:
名探偵コナン：ファイル一 (80%)
Group 1: 163/175 (90%) Up to 600
Group 4: 137/145 (94%)
Ayano, yes I understood what you were saying without having to pull out a dictionary... almost. I had to for '帰国' which I understood but couldn't read. Everything else I could derive from context and the kanji I recognise.
Jenna... meh... now that we work, we can go to Japan without having to be packed into a suitcase. The problem is getting enough vacation time to go without getting fired =P.
Random celulite person, I can't get to your blog since its gone now =/. I'm glad you enjoy the blog though. I assume I don't get a whole lot of random visitors, which I prefer (because I'm really a hermit) but the ones that stick around I always appreciate.
Also, reading back, I'm happy to see most of my writing is somewhat presented in an un-convoluted manner. I just need to stop abusing the word 'granted'. I also need to get around to writing all those important posts I say I'll get to but never do.
Note the retardedly large set of Group 1 kanji. I'm in a kanji learning mood right now. I'll deal with the memory fall out later. Granted, I already learned these kanji... so I'm basically recovering the stories I made up over the summer.
Japanese:
名探偵コナン：ファイル一 (80%)
Group 1: 163/175 (90%) Up to 600
Group 4: 137/145 (94%)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
New Years Resolutions Progress Report
Here they are again (crudely copied and pasted from Lunar and Solar Calendar New Years respectively then numbered and responded to...):
1. Cut my sleeping hours (9+ each day is ridiculous) and push my wake-up time back to emulate working conditions, which likely means waking up at 6am.
Still working on it. Daylight Savings coupled with a trip to SD kinda threw my clock off. Currently doing 10~12 right now... =/
2. Study goals: Week-long foreign language, weekday GRE and self-improvement
Got a pretty strong course of Japanese going. The pace is a bit unstable, but it hasn't given out yet. Cantonese is stalled. GRE is also stalled
3. Physical: Follow a 6x/wk workout regimen, Weeklong taiko/fue regimen
Stalled
4. Raise my weight by 10lbs and keep it there
Weight is up from the 18 ish days that I was sick but without #3, I'm afraid most of it is coming back in the form of fat... I'm getting fat... never thought I'd say it huh...? While I have yet to accomplish this goal... its a step in right but wrong direction if you get what I mean.
5. Re-instate 3 meal days.
I'm back to eating when I'm hungry instead of working through the hunger. The 3 meal division becomes blurry the later I wake up in the day.
6. Start using my daily planner more.
Read David Allen and have a pretty good setup going. It could still use improving but it's functional atm.
7. Exercise more
Refer 3
8. Meditate more
Stalled... waiting for a new Zafu... possibly when I relocate or when I manage to push my wake up time prior to the parents waking up (6am)
9. Eat better
Refer whatever number that was
10. Play more Taiko
Refer whatever number that was too
11. Get a job
Done
12. Get a girlfriend
Avoiding this issue atm. My excuse is 'lack of funds'... but that's prolly not completely true.
13. Study more
Refer... you get the drill
14. Write more
What do you think I'm doing now? Granted, the act of writing has been split into two categories... the actual act of recording thoughts in what are hopefully coherent sentences or phrases... and writing stuff out by hand in an attempt to retrain my writing muscles and improve my handwriting. The latter is stalled at the moment and I have no real intention of starting a journal. It'll have to wait until I start writing into a notebook... for whatever reason.
For 2 months... its not bad I guess. Could be better but meh... I'm just happy about #11. #2 makes me excited.
Something cool Mark showed me:
http://www.nothingamsterdam.com/
Group 1: 16/20 (80%)
Group 2: 67/104 (64%)
Set up some new kanji for reading to start in on SRS... mostly covering stuff i already know.
1. Cut my sleeping hours (9+ each day is ridiculous) and push my wake-up time back to emulate working conditions, which likely means waking up at 6am.
Still working on it. Daylight Savings coupled with a trip to SD kinda threw my clock off. Currently doing 10~12 right now... =/
2. Study goals: Week-long foreign language, weekday GRE and self-improvement
Got a pretty strong course of Japanese going. The pace is a bit unstable, but it hasn't given out yet. Cantonese is stalled. GRE is also stalled
3. Physical: Follow a 6x/wk workout regimen, Weeklong taiko/fue regimen
Stalled
4. Raise my weight by 10lbs and keep it there
Weight is up from the 18 ish days that I was sick but without #3, I'm afraid most of it is coming back in the form of fat... I'm getting fat... never thought I'd say it huh...? While I have yet to accomplish this goal... its a step in right but wrong direction if you get what I mean.
5. Re-instate 3 meal days.
I'm back to eating when I'm hungry instead of working through the hunger. The 3 meal division becomes blurry the later I wake up in the day.
6. Start using my daily planner more.
Read David Allen and have a pretty good setup going. It could still use improving but it's functional atm.
7. Exercise more
Refer 3
8. Meditate more
Stalled... waiting for a new Zafu... possibly when I relocate or when I manage to push my wake up time prior to the parents waking up (6am)
9. Eat better
Refer whatever number that was
10. Play more Taiko
Refer whatever number that was too
11. Get a job
Done
12. Get a girlfriend
Avoiding this issue atm. My excuse is 'lack of funds'... but that's prolly not completely true.
13. Study more
Refer... you get the drill
14. Write more
What do you think I'm doing now? Granted, the act of writing has been split into two categories... the actual act of recording thoughts in what are hopefully coherent sentences or phrases... and writing stuff out by hand in an attempt to retrain my writing muscles and improve my handwriting. The latter is stalled at the moment and I have no real intention of starting a journal. It'll have to wait until I start writing into a notebook... for whatever reason.
For 2 months... its not bad I guess. Could be better but meh... I'm just happy about #11. #2 makes me excited.
Something cool Mark showed me:
http://www.nothingamsterdam.com/
Group 1: 16/20 (80%)
Group 2: 67/104 (64%)
Set up some new kanji for reading to start in on SRS... mostly covering stuff i already know.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I actually had to use the search function to find the facebook event I created a few weeks ago. Gone was the ability to check out the events page to find the one I made and was managing if atleast superficially. I now see how much of a pain it is for anyone that uses facebook beyond the occasional wall post everytime facebook does a 'facelift'.
Sure the new frontend has smoother edges but its usability has been heavily geared towards the newsfeed has multiplied like rabbits to encompass just about every facet of the social networking site. What's worse, they lowered the character count per post or something so people are unable to form complete thoughts, rather simplistic soundbites. It's 1984 in its own digital bubble, where the complexities of language are boiled down into plus-good... or in this case... 'like' along with its big brother tendencies powered by the newsfeed. Half the time 'like' isn't even a proper response to whatever someone is saying.
I'm not saying that I really liked any of the previous makeovers, but this time around, the floor of usability gave out when I had to actually use the search function to find something I should have known the location of. Not exactly a comfortable feeling. Facebook itself has strayed too far from its college networking roots, pandering to the masses and attempting to compete with other social networking sites out there. As such, I'll go back to using fb for what I originally used it for... an overpowered digital 'black book'
Group 1: 28/30
Sure the new frontend has smoother edges but its usability has been heavily geared towards the newsfeed has multiplied like rabbits to encompass just about every facet of the social networking site. What's worse, they lowered the character count per post or something so people are unable to form complete thoughts, rather simplistic soundbites. It's 1984 in its own digital bubble, where the complexities of language are boiled down into plus-good... or in this case... 'like' along with its big brother tendencies powered by the newsfeed. Half the time 'like' isn't even a proper response to whatever someone is saying.
I'm not saying that I really liked any of the previous makeovers, but this time around, the floor of usability gave out when I had to actually use the search function to find something I should have known the location of. Not exactly a comfortable feeling. Facebook itself has strayed too far from its college networking roots, pandering to the masses and attempting to compete with other social networking sites out there. As such, I'll go back to using fb for what I originally used it for... an overpowered digital 'black book'
Group 1: 28/30
Monday, March 16, 2009
did a lot of kanji today.
Group 1: First set: 24/32... then up to 425... I didn't really keep track of what I missed. Let's just say the stack is huge. About as a big as a large sized Group 3 stack.
Group 2: 30/44
PS: About last night's dream... the toadfish didn't have slug characteristics... it started off as a snail but i sighted it just as it was losing its shell and evolved into a slug.
Group 1: First set: 24/32... then up to 425... I didn't really keep track of what I missed. Let's just say the stack is huge. About as a big as a large sized Group 3 stack.
Group 2: 30/44
PS: About last night's dream... the toadfish didn't have slug characteristics... it started off as a snail but i sighted it just as it was losing its shell and evolved into a slug.
Scuba
Had consecutive dreams about the toadfish and scuba diving this morning. That's weird cuz I've never seen the toadfish... I'm only using another fish to replace it. Also, I've never scuba dived. I actually conversed with a fish in the dream too. It started off by bathing in the sand... because it had slug characteristics and was trying to bury itself. Then it morphed into some other fish and developed the ability to speak and was telling me about how it was using the sand to scrape off the black and turn gold. It was doing so to attract the lady fish and told me about one of his friends that got dumped because he wasn't able to completely turn gold. I noticed he was still far from being done so I advised him on where he needed to work since he clearly didn't have a mirror. Finally, I think I went through another cycle because there's a pretty big disconnect. This is where I end up with the scuba gear eventually cuz we're sitting on a boat watching a fish slide off the boat into the water. There was some reality split because there was an analogous something doing something similar in a separate space. The fish had some of the gold from the previous fish but it became a full blown toad fish at the surface of the water where it looked exactly like a toad. I eventually parted ways and start scuba-ing.
Also dreamt about sitting in the audience about something and hunting for food in yet another really large complex... but colorful and no stairs this time...
the coolest thing was... dreaming about making a cool little calendar that would tell you when all the fruits and vegetables were in season so you wouldn't have to remember when you'd find something delicious (I can never remember) and also when certain species were pollinating. Unfortunately nature works according to a loose schedule so that'd never work.
Guess its not so cool after all.
So what do I get from all this? I was prolly high while I slept last night. And at some point I prolly got the munchies. Oh... and I slept for 13 hours...
Here are Saturday's Japanese stats:
Pimsleur 21 completed
Group 2: 23/?
Also dreamt about sitting in the audience about something and hunting for food in yet another really large complex... but colorful and no stairs this time...
the coolest thing was... dreaming about making a cool little calendar that would tell you when all the fruits and vegetables were in season so you wouldn't have to remember when you'd find something delicious (I can never remember) and also when certain species were pollinating. Unfortunately nature works according to a loose schedule so that'd never work.
Guess its not so cool after all.
So what do I get from all this? I was prolly high while I slept last night. And at some point I prolly got the munchies. Oh... and I slept for 13 hours...
Here are Saturday's Japanese stats:
Pimsleur 21 completed
Group 2: 23/?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Venice
Aight... you guys might not want to read this since I'm just going to complain. Took me close to and hour getting home from the Santa Monica area because of the night construction they've been performing on the freeways. First getting off the 405 and onto the 10 was a big enough pain. I swear I crossed the freeway 5-6 times and had change direction atleast 3 times... ugh. 20 minutes spent in Santa Monica/Venice area just to find the right entry point where I could get onto the 10 merger only to find out that the 10 offramp was closed... That's where my 3rd 'u-turn' was.
Thank goodness I got gas before making my way home, otherwise it would have been a repeat of a few years ago when I had to gas up in one of the shadier parts of town.
It didn't end there, however... to finish it off, they closed my offramp. They left all the other off ramps open despite having blocked off the two right lanes... they just decided to close my exit. The next offramp is about a mile away because of the way the city is set up... and the street coming back is a 25mph street. Except no one goes 25 on that street because it's wide enough to go 50mph. So all said and done, a 25 minute drive turned into an hour long drive. -.-
On to more important matters... heading down to San Diego tomorrow to look for housing. I'm swinging between a ritzy zoo, the cheap but possibly more homely, and the affordable but professional and really close to work. The ritzy zoo has the best bang for the buck... except you get a lot of bang so you need a lot of cash. The cheap is actually not the cheapest... but it might be where I'll get the best company as the people are more or less my age and seem pretty outgoing. The zoo also has a few people my age too. The last place is cheap and close to work... but I'll be trailing in the age department by anywhere between 7 and 20 years. There's one other place... but I'm not really considering it... we'll see.
Group 2: 29/36 (80%)
Group 3: 52/58 (89%)
Thank goodness I got gas before making my way home, otherwise it would have been a repeat of a few years ago when I had to gas up in one of the shadier parts of town.
It didn't end there, however... to finish it off, they closed my offramp. They left all the other off ramps open despite having blocked off the two right lanes... they just decided to close my exit. The next offramp is about a mile away because of the way the city is set up... and the street coming back is a 25mph street. Except no one goes 25 on that street because it's wide enough to go 50mph. So all said and done, a 25 minute drive turned into an hour long drive. -.-
On to more important matters... heading down to San Diego tomorrow to look for housing. I'm swinging between a ritzy zoo, the cheap but possibly more homely, and the affordable but professional and really close to work. The ritzy zoo has the best bang for the buck... except you get a lot of bang so you need a lot of cash. The cheap is actually not the cheapest... but it might be where I'll get the best company as the people are more or less my age and seem pretty outgoing. The zoo also has a few people my age too. The last place is cheap and close to work... but I'll be trailing in the age department by anywhere between 7 and 20 years. There's one other place... but I'm not really considering it... we'll see.
Group 2: 29/36 (80%)
Group 3: 52/58 (89%)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Good bye Asayake
I finally removed myself from the blog authors, so I don't accidentally post one of my Japanese status reports to Asayake's site... that would be embarrassing.
On a trivial sidenote, tonight's full moon is called the Worm Moon apparently as its the moon that ushers in Spring and thus stirs earthworms out of their winter slumber in dormant gardens. In Southern Cali, I found plenty of active earthworms in the 'dead' of winter. It was prolly just because the time I discovered them was right in the middle of our January Santa Anas.
Speaking of Santa Anas, looks like we might have another one this week.
Japanese:
Group 1: 36/41 (87%)
On a trivial sidenote, tonight's full moon is called the Worm Moon apparently as its the moon that ushers in Spring and thus stirs earthworms out of their winter slumber in dormant gardens. In Southern Cali, I found plenty of active earthworms in the 'dead' of winter. It was prolly just because the time I discovered them was right in the middle of our January Santa Anas.
Speaking of Santa Anas, looks like we might have another one this week.
Japanese:
Group 1: 36/41 (87%)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Real Drive
I can't tell what the name of this anime really is... RD Sennou Chosashitsu. In any event, I finished it today and I gotta say its pretty good... I'm a little discomforted by the direction they took the relationships though. Taken at face value its alright, but dig a little deeper and things start to get a little disturbing. The execution was superb though and leaves plenty of room to 'interpret' out the more unsavory parts.
Some tips to combat identity theft:
http://thepaintedtelephone.blogspot.com/2009/03/thieves-initiate-new-identity-theft.html
Japanese
Group 1: 22/36 (61%)
Group 2: 31/33 (93%)
Taiko:
Recovered Ogi Okesa Basic
Sado Okesa currently unrecovered
Retrieved a copy of Sado Okesa music
Some tips to combat identity theft:
http://thepaintedtelephone.blogspot.com/2009/03/thieves-initiate-new-identity-theft.html
Japanese
Group 1: 22/36 (61%)
Group 2: 31/33 (93%)
Taiko:
Recovered Ogi Okesa Basic
Sado Okesa currently unrecovered
Retrieved a copy of Sado Okesa music
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lost
I'd forgotten how lost and lonely I tend to feel when in large groups. In Japan things were a little different. We were all equally lost and lonely... equally stranded on this island nation hundreds and thousands of miles away from home... equally stranded in a foreign culture and a foreign language most of us were unable to speak proficiently. I suppose college was very much the same... atleast the first year was anyways. It's funny how when everyone is lost and lonely the experience turns into something fun and adventurous. When you're singled out... only then does it become discomforting.
Initiating Defense 009
My apologies for my behavior last night. I'm not quite sure what was going on. A lot of it probably had to do with coming back to a community that I felt I was an integral part of only to be an outsider. I kind of have issues that way, kind of like how it irked me to no end in Japan where people are known for their xenophobic tendencies. I eventually got used to it.
As such, I might have said a few insensitive things (although they were minor I definitely could have painted on a better facade) and just been an overall log. Eventually this robotic mask will melt away revealing more human characteristics... granted I don't know when that will happen. Holing up in my room these past 6 months hasn't really helped to make (re)connecting to people any easier. As always, we'll see how things go.
Last night's progress:
Japanese
Completed Pimsleur 18 (or was it 16?)
I did 5 lessons in the car commuting to San Diego yesterday.
PS. I'll have to get around to writing up my dreams and aspirations for my community... unfortunately its tainted by my experience in Japan...
As such, I might have said a few insensitive things (although they were minor I definitely could have painted on a better facade) and just been an overall log. Eventually this robotic mask will melt away revealing more human characteristics... granted I don't know when that will happen. Holing up in my room these past 6 months hasn't really helped to make (re)connecting to people any easier. As always, we'll see how things go.
Last night's progress:
Japanese
Completed Pimsleur 18 (or was it 16?)
I did 5 lessons in the car commuting to San Diego yesterday.
PS. I'll have to get around to writing up my dreams and aspirations for my community... unfortunately its tainted by my experience in Japan...
Friday, March 6, 2009
Expense
Ugh... paid out the nose for dinner last night. It was for family... but it still stings pretty bad.
I forget what I did yesterday but it must have been productive. I managed to stay on course for productivity today although Japanese is still sitting low on the priority list unfortunately. I turned an 11 page questionnaire into a 62 page questionnaire simply because it was formatted differently. The painful part was spending 3 hours reformatting it. Got some other things done and managed to get some other insightful clues about my own character.
Back to Japanese... Looks like I'm going to have to spend a day resetting my tracks... ie. test what's overdue for testing and if the fail rate is high enough, skip the new batch because I'll have enough cards to cover how much I need to relearn.
I forget what I did yesterday but it must have been productive. I managed to stay on course for productivity today although Japanese is still sitting low on the priority list unfortunately. I turned an 11 page questionnaire into a 62 page questionnaire simply because it was formatted differently. The painful part was spending 3 hours reformatting it. Got some other things done and managed to get some other insightful clues about my own character.
Back to Japanese... Looks like I'm going to have to spend a day resetting my tracks... ie. test what's overdue for testing and if the fail rate is high enough, skip the new batch because I'll have enough cards to cover how much I need to relearn.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Productivity
It's been awhile since I've been awake for close to 18 hours (more like a little past 17). It's been a busy day pushing more paperwork, making more phone calls. spent half the day shopping which is about as nice as nice can be when you're stressing over how you're going to make it through next month when you have bills you know you can't pay on your own and you're not all that happy about having to ask the parentals for more moo moo... but I digress. Or I don't...
Not much to say... I think I'll manage to get my Japanese back on track tomorrow while waiting for Honda's shuttle service to take me home (my car may have a manufacturer defect involving an ABS wheel sensor o-ring).
Some more news regarding my return to SD... I may finally get the go ahead to start looking for a place to live on Friday... if not Monday (or possibly later... who knows till the moon decides its time).
On a side note that might reveal a little something about my personality that most people don't know about: After a few weeks of hunting for materials... I've found my break into letter writing. I've been holding off on the account that I don't have the stationary to do so (I refuse to use copy machine paper or that stuff we used back in grade school). Unfortunately it was too expensive to justify the purchase (especially after spending a butt load of cash on work worthy clothes). fortunately my Mom has a stash of interesting (if not archaic and somewhat ugly... but still interesting) paper that I can use along with some envelopes that don't quite fit. To further the stationary fetish... I've spent the last hour and a half researching laser copy printers (with the altruistic excuse of providing my mom with a good laser copier/printer for her day care business but in reality hoping to find a more robust printer to print off books worth of materials for my own consumption so I don't destroy my color laser which is quite the workhorse itself but is every bit the low middle end small business printer it was made to be) and (to get off my run-on digression and back to the point of this sentence) some disc binding system that I've been checking out at diyplanner.com forums. The DIY planner is basically to make a planner system that typically costs hundreds of dollars cost a heck of a lot less assuming you have the requisite tools. This could range anywhere from printing a letter sized forms (calendar, to do templates, project planners, etc), photocopy and clip together, or you can shove it into a DayRunner or some other pre-existing planner system that would cost you a buttload of cash upfront and each time you run out of forms. One system that seems pretty useful is the rollabind/levenger circa binding disc. I've seen Staples knock-offs before but didn't pay much attention to them because I thought they were ugly... now I'm thinking of giving it a second thought. Unfortunately the products are a bit hard to find since they cater to what looks to be a pretty niche market. Being the ugly little beast it is (think naked 3-ring binder, but less shiny... like plastic) I think the kid who bought this (rather expensive) take on notebook binding would get habitually beaten up by the kids who bought into the latest and greatest mead/five star notebook craze. I think the former will win in the long run though since it is a heck of a lot more versatile than your standard notebook. I kind of wish I had one in college now...
But in the end, cost is everything. I still can't afford it. My new day planner/agenda/calendar experiment will continue in its present clipped and ringed form.
Sorry about the long rant-y post... I tend to write better when I'm half asleep as opposed to when I'm awake but tired. If you're still wondering what the heck I'm talking about... check out diyplanners.com. Think of your calendar or agenda or whatever you use to organize your life... and then see how the pro's do it... and then decide how much they pay for a system like to be retarded and think of a home-made solution that will hopefully cost less in the long run. I've found that the best way to get full ownership in something is to just build it from scratch... which is a helluva lot harder than that line makes it sound.
Good night.
Not much to say... I think I'll manage to get my Japanese back on track tomorrow while waiting for Honda's shuttle service to take me home (my car may have a manufacturer defect involving an ABS wheel sensor o-ring).
Some more news regarding my return to SD... I may finally get the go ahead to start looking for a place to live on Friday... if not Monday (or possibly later... who knows till the moon decides its time).
On a side note that might reveal a little something about my personality that most people don't know about: After a few weeks of hunting for materials... I've found my break into letter writing. I've been holding off on the account that I don't have the stationary to do so (I refuse to use copy machine paper or that stuff we used back in grade school). Unfortunately it was too expensive to justify the purchase (especially after spending a butt load of cash on work worthy clothes). fortunately my Mom has a stash of interesting (if not archaic and somewhat ugly... but still interesting) paper that I can use along with some envelopes that don't quite fit. To further the stationary fetish... I've spent the last hour and a half researching laser copy printers (with the altruistic excuse of providing my mom with a good laser copier/printer for her day care business but in reality hoping to find a more robust printer to print off books worth of materials for my own consumption so I don't destroy my color laser which is quite the workhorse itself but is every bit the low middle end small business printer it was made to be) and (to get off my run-on digression and back to the point of this sentence) some disc binding system that I've been checking out at diyplanner.com forums. The DIY planner is basically to make a planner system that typically costs hundreds of dollars cost a heck of a lot less assuming you have the requisite tools. This could range anywhere from printing a letter sized forms (calendar, to do templates, project planners, etc), photocopy and clip together, or you can shove it into a DayRunner or some other pre-existing planner system that would cost you a buttload of cash upfront and each time you run out of forms. One system that seems pretty useful is the rollabind/levenger circa binding disc. I've seen Staples knock-offs before but didn't pay much attention to them because I thought they were ugly... now I'm thinking of giving it a second thought. Unfortunately the products are a bit hard to find since they cater to what looks to be a pretty niche market. Being the ugly little beast it is (think naked 3-ring binder, but less shiny... like plastic) I think the kid who bought this (rather expensive) take on notebook binding would get habitually beaten up by the kids who bought into the latest and greatest mead/five star notebook craze. I think the former will win in the long run though since it is a heck of a lot more versatile than your standard notebook. I kind of wish I had one in college now...
But in the end, cost is everything. I still can't afford it. My new day planner/agenda/calendar experiment will continue in its present clipped and ringed form.
Sorry about the long rant-y post... I tend to write better when I'm half asleep as opposed to when I'm awake but tired. If you're still wondering what the heck I'm talking about... check out diyplanners.com. Think of your calendar or agenda or whatever you use to organize your life... and then see how the pro's do it... and then decide how much they pay for a system like to be retarded and think of a home-made solution that will hopefully cost less in the long run. I've found that the best way to get full ownership in something is to just build it from scratch... which is a helluva lot harder than that line makes it sound.
Good night.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Tyvek
Broke down and made a new wallet today. I made a paper one earlier but wasn't happy with how stiff the paper was (I used a heavy weight paper). After researching some cool features that can be included in a wallet, I made a new one... out of Tyvek.
Its not the first time I've used the material. I used to repair books with the stuff since its basically bullet proof paper (not really buts it pretty indestructible). It features 5 card pockets (1 for an ID, 2 for standard cards, and 2 for keyring cards), and an RF shield to attenuate the potential for spies to nab the personal information stored on RFID enabled cards. It's also got a hidden pocket where I can hide large bills or more cards or whatever.
I'm pretty happy with the result.
Another good thing that happened today: I got my official start date for work: April 13.
The not so good:
Didn't work on any Japanese today =/
Its not the first time I've used the material. I used to repair books with the stuff since its basically bullet proof paper (not really buts it pretty indestructible). It features 5 card pockets (1 for an ID, 2 for standard cards, and 2 for keyring cards), and an RF shield to attenuate the potential for spies to nab the personal information stored on RFID enabled cards. It's also got a hidden pocket where I can hide large bills or more cards or whatever.
I'm pretty happy with the result.
Another good thing that happened today: I got my official start date for work: April 13.
The not so good:
Didn't work on any Japanese today =/
Today
Not much happened. Didn't study. Didn't make that much progress on any of my goals really. Did finish my taxes... So I guess don't have to do them later. Fortunately I'm going to get one heck of a refund. Hopefully it'll get here in time for when I get an apartment... otherwise I may have go back to the bank of parenthood, which is alright, but not something I'd be so happy to do.
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