There
October 28, 2003
I guess the new online thing might happen to be There. I read about it on a few webpages and it sounded kinda interesting. The screen shots look cool - flying around in a hover board looking at the nice scenery has always been a crazy fantasy of mine. Supposedly this metaverse is supposed to do what The Sims tried but failed miserably.
In The Sims Online, you build a house and maybe a store and then you walk around talking to people. That was about it. In There, there are supposed to be more interaction, more personified actions such as winking and crap, and more crap to buy. You have to convert real money to Therebucks which sounds like a shitty idea but for some reason, it may work. Depending on how expensive stuff is in the game, people might spend a few bucks to get cool gear for their avatar. People spend thousands on crap in Everquest and Diablo.
Apparently, they’re also trying to attract girls into the game because where there are girls, guys will soon follow. The reverse ain’t true though.
Anyway, I probably won’t try this game because it lacks bombs and guns and aliens and cool shit but if anyone of you do try, let us know how it is!
Ok, I gotta admit - the video clip looks pretty impressive and I’m tempted to try it out. I lack a lot of interaction while I’m sitting around my apartment at night. I will totally play this game if you guys (my real friends) all play. I’d rather not go online and meet other people. That’s boring.
Living Idea
October 27, 2003
On Saturday around 5:30pm as I was walking downstairs to put a load of clothes into the washing machine, I noticed it was a lot redder than it normally is in the foyer. At first I thought it was new lighting, in that maybe the landlord found some red lightbulbs on sale but that wasn’t it. The frosted glass doors were closed. They aren’t normally closed. Through these glass doors, I noticed it was very red outside. I thought something was wrong! I opened the door and went outside to see that the whole sky was red! It was very ominous and beautiful at the same time. Of course it was nothing mysterious about it. The setting sun light was being reflected all over the place by the many streaks of clouds that filled the sky. The result was truly one of the most startling and captivating sights I’ve ever seen.
I quickly ran upstairs and brought out my god awful digital camera and snapped 10 pictures. They came out pretty well aside from the mandatory blurring that my camera loves to do. I’d like to share two which I’ve put in The Dump. It’s exactly the way the camera captured it except I reduced it to 800×600 to make the file a little smaller. Check it out! Pic 1. Pic 2.
The most interesting thing for me though was that awhile back I wrote a very rough script to a story called, “The Red Town”. It was about a guy who believed the city was becoming red. Everything from the street lights, to sidewalks, to birds, to even people were all becoming more and more red. It all happened after his loved one died. I was going to illustrate it as well with pictures of this city and a character drawn right on top of the picture to show just how he didn’t fit into the red town. Basically, it would have left you thinking, was the town really becoming red or was he just becoming crazy after the loss of his true love. I stopped working on that story because I don’t have the artistic talent to finish it. The writing’s mostly there so perhaps one day it can be finished.
So anyway when I stepped out of the glass door to see this red sky the very first thing that popped into my mind was that I had become the character in the story. Maybe somehow, my loved one had died and that all this time this whole year in Osaka was nothing but an illusion. Another reason I ran up back to my apartment was just to make sure this little panic attack wasn’t real. Luckily, Eri was still sound asleep.
Quick Update
I only have 6 minutes before I leave to finish the second half of my split shift but this morning, Eri’s dad went into surgery at 9am. At around 1:30pm, Eri called and said that the surgery was successful. Funny thing though was that they removed the cancer and the ENTIRE stomach. That’s right. He is now less a stomach. They connected the esophagus directly to the small intestines. What this means is that he will have to eat more often in small amounts than before. I think something like 6 times a day at the least. Interesting stuff.
It’s great news that they were able to remove the cancer but now we have to wait and see if any cancer cells remained and if they will spread to other parts of the body. Thanks everyone for the happy thoughts - I am certain they made a difference in the greater scheme of things. Keep them coming!
Malloween!
October 22, 2003
Dennis didn’t like the teal on the left nor the boxy look so I says to him I says, “I’ll change the colors”. He says something about Halloween colors so blam! The ghost pic up top will take you to the ghost pic page. It’s in a week but Happy Halloween boys and girls. Halloween doesn’t exist here so that’s too bad.
A Better Change
October 21, 2003
Hit F5 a few times just in case but if you’re reading this then you’ll have noticed the difference.
I was planning a change in design for awhile now. The previous look made me dizzy. Now it’s a bit cleaner and easier to maintain and I can change sections quite easily. I always wanted to change pictures and colors to reflect new moods or maybe in celebration of holidays and what not. Now it’s much easier to do but whether I’ll do it remains to be seen. The picture at the top is nothing right now but if I find interesting pictures then it’ll link up to an enlargement. The webcam thumb also enlarges. By the way, those penguins are from the Osaka Aquarium I visited in March.
Now the three main parts of my webpage are not uniform anymore. That’s ok, my original intent was that those three parts were entirely different areas.
I’m dead tired. Nothing much - been helping out Eri’s family business. It’s too hard to explain what I do but there’s some physical labor involved. So basically after work I go and do some more work. It’ll all be worth it when I look back and think to myself, “I did the right thing by helping them out even though it drained me of energy during that time.” I think I’m getting some sort of monetary compensation too. Of course I refused because I was helping them for the sake of helping them but apparently they feel bad if I don’t take it. I don’t know though… don’t get me wrong I’d love to take it because, well, money CAN buy happiness (especially in this very consumeristic country).
Also, apparently I’m wrong about the tumor being benign. I think it’s cancer. The whole thing doesn’t look too good right now but I don’t know what to think. In less than a week he’ll go through the operation. Fingers crossed, prayers prayed, good thoughts sent, please.
Ack. Too tired to sound coherent anymore.
Here’s a fun link - Americakokki.com - I haven’t explored the whole site but the English lessons are awesome. It makes me feel proud to be teaching English. The comics were the kid dies for no reason is alright but got repetitive after the 11th one for me.
Update
October 17, 2003
So it’s been awhile.
First an update about Eri’s dad. Yesterday she told me they were going to operate at the end of this month. I’m no oncologist, I’m not even a lowly GP but I’m guessing since they are willing to operate, the tumor is probably benign or at least malignant but in early stages. Eri saw some pictures of the growth and it scared her into quitting smoking. She’s doing much better than I am. Well she smoked way less than I did. I’ll have to admit that I’ve had cigarettes these days. I’m very tired lately and haven’t relaxed nor slept very well - smoking helps. Luckily I’m smoking about 40% of what I used to. It’s a start.
Anyway, things might be looking up! Thanks for all the well wishes everybody.
In other news I’ve succeeded in singing my first Japanese song at the karaoke. What an accomplishment! I’m rather proud although I had cheated by reading Englishized lyric on the internet before so I knew what Japanese to expect.
Last night I had some well deserved and welcomed rest. I did nothing but stay at home, listen to Coast to Coast, eat some convenience store food, and watched some Dragonball Z and MST3k. I also deleted my Palm Desktop and ported everything over to Outlook. I hate Outlook, it’s so user unfriendly. There are so many more buttons and different navigation styles than other Office programs. The reason I switched over was because I was sick of having two different address books. Now, Outlook and my Palm synch and make contact information easier.
I haven’t gone to my Japanese lessons in two weeks. I haven’t had time to study so it would’ve been a moot point to show up and not be able to speak anyway. I’m off today too to help and something tells me I’ll be quite exhausted when I’m back. Still, I want to look back later and say to myself that even though I was exhausted, I helped someone out instead of turning my back (which I may have done in a past life).
And Dennis, I couldn’t find that video clip. Too many porn hits came up and I feared for my sanity if I dared entering one of those links.
Emotion
October 10, 2003
I don’t know if this is the best place to say because it probably isn’t. My girlfriend’s family was struck with terrible news yesterday. My girl’s father has a tumor in his esophagus. Whether it’s benign or malignant is yet to be determined in the upcoming weeks. Rightly so, the rest of the family is distraught and coping with the situation as best as they can.
His health has been deteriorating quite quickly over the past, oh, six months. Also, he’s more elderly than not which just complicates matters. I’m in no position to offer advice but I’m trying to give emotional support where I can. I’m also helping their family business fairly often lately. As a result, I’m a bit drained lately too. Still, my situation is nothing compared to theirs.
Updates may become scarce. Good thoughts, well wishes, and prayers are more than welcome.
The Gender Genie
October 08, 2003
Haha this thing is funny. I put in the latest blog entry for Dennis, Sunny, and myself and I got “MALE”. I put in the latest for Michelle and Justin and got “FEMALE”. Justin, you write like a girl. Actually that ain’t fair. Justin was bitching about fat people and we all know people of the female persuasion bitch more than others. The analysis must’ve been skewed. Hate male (mail) welcome!
I just copy n pasted the newest, long blog entry, without titles, from the first to last word, clicked the Blog Entry radio and submitted. Clean and easy testing.
Oh man what a night
October 05, 2003
Now nothing bad happened. An ELI survivor came to Osaka from Tokyo for the weekend and a bunch of us got together. We had one of those dinners that aren’t really dinners but more of an assortment of different foods served in small portions. The main course really is the endless supply of alcohol that just keeps coming. I may have been a strong drinker during my early university years but after going dry for so long, my tolerance was as low as my tolerance for ugly girls.
Eri came along at first but she had to leave early to meet with some of her elementary school friends or some other people she hadn’t seen in decades. I was left to fend for myself. As usual, I was the one with the weakest Japanese level (re: all the others spoke at a native or near native level… at least before the drinks).
It was my first drink since June or July, I forgot. As per my usual schedule, I started with a couple or a few beers (I forgot) followed by a couple of cocktails. I think I had a cassis orange and a screwdriver but Taka, one of the guys there, spiked everything with the bottles of vodka available. It was cool. I also had an oolong cha somewhere in between.
I must confess, I DID smoke today but it just doesn’t feel right to drink and not smoke… it’s like eating a steak without HP sauce… something just felt missing. So, I had three cigarettes today. I feel bad about it but I’m not gonna kick myself in the ass. I know I won’t smoke tomorrow or perhaps until the next time I drink.
I saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in eons and I just wanna mention everyone as a sort of hail.
First, there was Sakura and Hiro. Sak and I worked at the ELI together and left around the same time I think. Hiro was one of the Komazawa survivors from August. I haven’t seen them since my trip to Tokyo last May. Both Sak and Hiro were dead drunk. Hiro went straight to sleep and Sak began a very uncoordinated speech pattern that was definitely something new to me. Hiro brought his good friend from Kyoto - good to meet you Shimizu - you look kinda like Tetsu from Tetsu and Tomo! I hope I’ll get to meet you again. Then there was Mihoko, Miho, and Shiki - these three are the Osaka residents that I see every so often. I got to see Mihoko drunk today - very interesting as well (we’ll talk about your secret soon enough). I also saw Eiji whom I paddled along with during my dragonboat run in 2001. I also met Taka - I met him during my first summer at the ELI (2000) and then I saw him last December when another friend came. There was Yoshimi and Chizu, whom I haven’t seen in a good three years! I remember very well our Whistler trip together. It was one of my most memorable trips to Whistler. I sure damn hope that’s everyone. I wasn’t drunk at all, I think I held my own very well considering I don’t ever drink. Still, I have a slight pounding in my head as I’m typing this. I want to type this on the same night because I gave my URL out tonight so I don’t want to disappoint when people visit here. Konban wa tanoshikata desu!!
That’s it. My cough is still persistent and I’m sort of hungry in a slight drunken kinda way. Blech!
Great Blog!
October 03, 2003
Gangstories is a blog written by someone who knows what he’s talking about. It sounds real. It features a look into the life of something glamourized by today’s movies and musicians. I read through all two months worth of writing in one sitting. Sadly, the blogger has decided to not continue writing. Pity too.
On another note, soft boiled eggs and tomato sauce totally go well together.
5ive
Fifth day of cold turkey no smoking and still going strong. Yesterday was tough. I was in the same cafe for three hours studying Japanese and talking with my language exchange gal. During these three hours, scores of people sat beside me, in front of me, diagonally across, under, above, in, on, against, and even inversely of me. All these people were lighting up and blowing in my face the whole time.
I told you I had a cough and I think I made one girl feel bad. Everytime she was smoking a cigarette, I simultaneously had coughing fits. The two were unrelated, my coughs are caused by mucus in the trachea. It just so happened the mucus was annoying me right as she had her cigarettes. Everytime I coughed, she would tilt her body away and try to wave the smoke away from me. It’s a smoking fact that smoke will head the to person who hates it the most so all her efforts were in vain. Even though she may have been feeling bad, she still had I think four cigarettes with her one small cup of coffee. What a bitch huh?
There are three situations which will trigger my smoking urges:
- Work - most of the people I talk to are smokers
- Restaurants/Establishments - many people liberally smoke and I have sit and watch them
- Being with my girlfriend - she smokes but luckily not a lot
I’ve shown to myself that I can refrain from smoking in situations 1 and 2 (1 being the hardest as I spend most of my time there and I have 8 chances to smoke in one work day). Situation 3 will be the hardest I think. I see myself being the weakest while sitting at the dinner table with a cigarette vending machine right beside me and Eri lights one up.
Agh. Must be strong for… world peace. I do believe that if I quit smoking, starving children around the world will never be hungry and become well educated and literate. Gotta do it for the children…
Deliverance
October 01, 2003
So FedEx pulled through and delivered my new pda keyboard 26 hours ahead of its estimated delivery time. It’s great. The company also sent me a Handheld Computing magazine. Not only is it chock full of writeups about cool gadgets and toys, it’s also in English. Although English literature isn’t uncommon by far in this country, interesting literature is. So I’m thankful for that too.
I’m coughing a lot. The coughing is caused by postnasal drip which is probably caused by dust or mold or some other bacterial substance in my apartment. Even after very tough cleaning, my nose is still clogged and perpetually running. I didn’t want to aggravate my coughy lungs so I decided to stop smoking. I’m on day 3. At first, I thought I’ll just stop temporarily, at least until my cough goes over but I’ve decided to go for the full blown QUIT SMOKING. Day 3. I’ve had many tough moments. None of you non-smokers will ever understand that temptation, nor should you get all preachy either. Every smoker knows the consequences of smoking. People who preach about smoking should be rounded up with preachy vegetarians and put into big boiling cauldrons of oil or something.
Anyway, I’m hoping I won’t cave in and have one cigarette anytime soon because 1 leads to 2, and so on. I’m going strong though. If I can stop smoking at work, then I’m pretty much in the clear as I smoked about 90% at work anyway. Eri also said if I can quit for a month, then she’ll quit too. So, I’m also doing this for her too. I rule.
Wish me luck.
