Flock of Chickens

ecrane @ 2007-01-14T11:20:00

2007-01-14T16:21:06Z

Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		65%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		60%
Alliance		55%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		50%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		50%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		50%
Inara Serra (Companion)		45%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		40%
River (Stowaway)		35%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		30%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		5%

Honest and a defender of the innocent.
You sometimes make mistakes in judgment
but you are generally good and
would protect your crew from harm.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Supervillain

2007-01-13T05:50:52Z

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom		81%
Mr. Freeze		64%
Lex Luthor		60%
Venom		58%
Apocalypse		56%
Kingpin		53%
The Joker		53%
Dark Phoenix		53%
Two-Face		53%
Green Goblin		49%
Magneto		46%
Juggernaut		45%
Riddler		37%
Poison Ivy		35%
Catwoman		25%
Mystique		21%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...

Sleep

2006-12-20T10:10:25Z

I've always had a love/hate relationship with sleep. I love to do it in excess, and I hate what that means for my schedule. What's more, though sleeping in comes more naturally than breathing air (I can easily go 12-15 hours at a go if I wanted to), getting to sleep is less easy. So I only have control over when I get up, rather than when I succumb. And that control over getting up is.. sporadic at best. I am pretty good at getting up if I absolutely need to (for a job or what have you), but I display less alacrity when getting up for something I deem optional (hanging out with friends, going shopping, class..). This always frustrates me, as I enevitably wish I had been able to rouse myself to partake in whatever activity I missed out on.

This problem was so severe, one semester, that I almost got into some real academic trouble. My sleep schedule was entirely fubar'd. Try as I might, I couldn't go to bed early, and as a result I slept through all of my classes with some regularity. Or, given the nature of college classes, I would wake up for my first class, come back to nap in the several hour block of time until my next one, and proceed to sleep through it. My grades suffered, though not as much as they should have (I had the highest grade in my entire Programming Languages class, despite having only attended.. 6 or 7 times the whole semester? I aced the midterm, and obviously did well on the final). I missed research meetings, project meeting, what have you- even those scheduled in the evening. I was thankfully able to recover during the break between semesters, as evidently a few solid weeks of sleeping in as long as I wanted cured my sleep deficit, and I was able to get it largely back on track schedule wise.

But I still suffer from bouts of sleep issues. Currently, it's of the "not being able to get to bed" variety. And it baffles me. I fell asleep watching TV at midnight, roused myself to brush my teeth and put myself properly to bed, and promptly lay awake for two and a half hours. Gah.

I've heard that sleep comes in cycles or the like, and my experiences suggest that this may be so. Wikipedia reveals some truth in this: take a look at this. I don't know the specifics of how it affects me, but I was able to nail down a circadian rhythm sleep disorder that sounds a lot like mine: Non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome. I have often felt I don't sleep on a 24 hour clock, and I thought that maybe no one does. Turns out, it's mostly just me. There seem to be some remedies available, which I shall have to investigate.

Also related to circadian rhythm (possibly..) is the fact that how tired I am after waking seems almost entirely independent of how much sleep I've gotten. Unless I wake up "normally," the tiredness seems randomized. I've had days where I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed after an hour and a half of sleep, and others where I've gotten 10 hours and been run down. the latter is sadly more common, as I tend to almost be a zombie when not properly rested. It's a real issue, as a matter of fact- I can barely function. Some people just get cranky or irritable (though I do that too), but I've encountered very few who seem to have the cognitive shut-down that I seem to when sleep deprived. Conversely, I can stay UP for ridiculous hours and still think straight. It's the getting up early that kills me.

I'm currently unemployed. Once this changes, I'm thinking it would be seriously worth my time to go to a sleep clinic and get some professional attention. I miss seeing the sun for more than an hour a day.

In an entirely unrelated note, I'm glad to notice that Eric Burns seems to be updating Websnark with some regularity again. I had missed his frequent writings, and I hope that his state of tharn has truly come to an end.

Graduate School!

2006-12-14T11:33:16Z

I have just finished applying to the Ph.D. programs at five of the top graduate schools in the nation for computer science. After a period of unconsciousness, I shall apply to another two. It's been a surprisingly harrowing experience. I tried conveying to a friend of mine the levels of stress I was feeling. His response was to ask, quite genuinely, "Isn't it just filling out forms?" At first blush, yes. It's exactly that. Most of the applications require very basic data which I pretty much have memorized. They all require some form of a statement of purpose (which is slightly more involved and stressful than the mere filling out of forms), but that becomes copy and paste after it's been written. Why, then, am I stressing out?

The answer is multifaceted. These forms, straightforward though they be, have the potential to drastically affect the entire course of my life. A missed word, even letter, might mean the difference between a successfully completed application and one that gets thrown into the trash heap. Some applications have safeguards in place to ensure this doesn't happen. Some don't. All have optional fields which I absolutely need to fill out to have the best application possible. But, if I've forgotten something, the forms won't tell me. Almost all of the applications require me to upload something. What if the file is corrupted during the transfer, and I don't realize it? What if I forget to change the name of the school I'm applying to in my statement of purpose? What if I make a typo, and they consider it an attempt at fraud? These may just be forms, but given the stakes involved, there's a lot of nervewracking issues.

The deadlines. My eternal foe. The magical dates which, if the applications aren't recieved by, render the entire work meaningless. Oh, I'm not concerned about actually submitting the applications. That's totally within my control. I'm worried over the things that *aren't* mine to control. For instance, will my transcripts reach the schools in time? Ideally, I would have sent them out months ago. But when is life ever ideal? I didn't even have my complete list of grad schools nailed down until about two weeks ago. I sent the transcripts out using the fastest (and, I should mention, the most expensive) delivery service available, but they still can't guarantee delivery by a certain date. So, essentially, I could be getting completely screwed out of the grad schools I want to go to by virtue of a hiccup in the mail system. Ditto on my GRE scores; I'm sure they've gotten to three of my choices (since I had the scores sent when I took the test), but the others? God I hope so. But it's not something I can do anything about. Letters of reccomendation are similar, but I can at least take action and bug my profs about them. Still, what happens if a crisis occurs, and they're unable to submit the letters by the deadline? Not an encouraging thought.

Really, though, the most stressful aspect of applying to grad schools has nothing to do with the actual process of applying. For me, at the very least, the thing causing the most fear in my heart is doubt. Doubt that I'm going to be accepted. Doubt that my credentials, great as they are, will be enough. Sure, I've got three years of research experience. Numerous peer-reviewed publications, including first author of a book chapter. Awards and honors. A respectable GPA. Great GRE scores. But you know what? I can't be sure that it will be enough. These schools are recieving applications from the best and brightest computer scientists in the world. Am I going to be among the top 40-70 applicants out of 2500 applications? That's what it boils down to. A professor (and research partner) of mine told me that he applied to Stanford for graduate school, and was rejected. He found out later that he was something like 85th on the list. A very respectable position to be sure, out of several thousand applicants. But there were only forty positions open. As great as he was, he still wouldn't have made it in even if there had been twice as many positions available. That's sobering. As that same professor has often put it, "Sometimes it comes down to who can play the oboe." So, I'll apply. I'll hope. But I still have to face the fact that this may all amount to a toss of the dice. If the applicant pool is weak this year, I might have no problem getting in to all of the places I want to go. If a couple hundred wunderkinds with research experience on par with my own, 4.0 GPAs and perfect GRE scores apply.. it's less likely.

What will I do if I don't get in? If my lofty goals prove too high? I'm honestly not sure. I have a few safety schools that I'm applying to, but is that really what I want to do? Spend the next six years of my life at an institution I didn't really even want to go to? Well, I might have to. But, I might decide to push graduate school back another year. Continue trying to find a job in the industry (though that's a post for another time). Publish some more papers. Make sure I apply to a load of fellowships (something I REALLY wish had been imparted to me before the deadlines had passed), since if I can get external funding, I'm almost assured entrance to even the most elite of institutions (why not, if they don't have to pay for me?).

It's time to toss the dice.

My Johari Window

2006-02-13T11:20:54Z

Here it is:

My Johari Window

Everyone go pick some adjectives that describe me.

It's been a while. Momentous.

2006-02-09T09:51:18Z

It's been nigh on... four months since I've updated my livejournal. This can be partly attributed to the existence of my other blog, www.grandiloquent.net, but only partly. The other blog went through a long dry spell as well. Let me just say that Eric's problems with writing while preoccupied are not unique. It's quite surprising, in fact, how the urge to update consistently gets sucked right out of you when you have other things on your mind. Things that I'm not about to repeat here, as I'm neither fourteen years old nor a girl.

Suffice it to say, though it's been a while, things have been going on in my life. A few of those things have prompted me to write this entry. Let me elucidate.

I trust you remember the musing on webcomics I expounded uponlast summer? Here's a brief summary, for those who can't be bothered to read through the two whole entries I linked to: I want to make a webcomic, my skills of an artist suck, hence, no webcomic. I also made mention of the fact that I saw Eric Burns, of Websnark fame, as sort of "living my dream," as it were. He, too, yearned to create a webcomic, so he found an artist, and the webcomic they created continues to this very day (though there's been a change in artist, as of late). I was quite envious of their successful realization of my desire.

So. That was then. Now, I sit here, sipping my gormet chocolate tea, and am a man possessed. Well, more acurately, I'm a man who now possesses an artist. You see, one of the many friends I accumulated last semester in Japan (for those not in the know, I've returned for a second one) is an art major who impressed me immediately with her talent. I recall quipping "You should make a webcomic!" to which she apathetically replied, "Ugh, no way. I don't want to bother writing one. You write it, and I'll draw it." Though, naturally, this idea began percolating in my mind, I was not immediately willing to commit to the endeavor. This changed, in part do to the personal pain which I realized could doubtless be converted into webcomic gold! So, I began fleshing out the epic story I've had in the back of my head for the last few years, and explained it (in bits in pieces) to Karen (the artist I've described to you). She found the concept to be to her liking, and so our work began.

Well, more accurately, we agreed to begin the project, then Karen went to Thailand to study Muay Thai kickboxing over the winter holiday, while I returned to the frigid wasteland I call home. After moping for about a week, I began to actually start developing details about the world, characters, and plot we were proportedly going to be making a webcomic about. Karen's internet access was limited, so we didn't really communicate much. I think maybe.. two or three emails were exchanged. But, I had found a muse, and got about 20 pages worth of info penned before reuniting with Karen in Nihon.

We spent several days discussing said information, and then sat down to hammer out some character designs. Though very sketchy, I think you'll agree with me: they rock.

Though the character design stage is ongoing (as there are many more characters to design, and the ones I've presented are still undergoing changes), over the last few days we attempted a new task: creating a test comic. As the writer, I wanted to get a sense of how to best present my ideas to Karen, who of course is in charge of making them pretty. So, I threw together a page long script (nothing glamorous, and growing less so as I have time to re-read it), and Karen made it an actual page. It's completely non-canon, so assume nothing from it's content. Check it out:

Test Comic!!

More drinking

2005-10-01T07:45:17Z

It seems like I've been out drinking a lot, recently. Well, not any more.

I got drunk for the first time last night; well, as close as I'll probably ever get, most likely. It wasn't a fun experience. I mostly did so because many of my friends here were very keen to see what I'd be like, drunk. One thing I most definitely was not was happy. Many people have told me they enjoy drinking to drunkenness because of the "happy feeling" that goes along with such a state. It was decidedly lacking, in my case. It was, in fact, quite the opposite. I came to the bar relatively upbeat. Once I got drunk, I became horribly depressed. There are a few things I feel worth noting, however:

I was actually pretty scared of what I might do if I got drunk. Not violence or anything like that (I would have been very surprised if I was a violent drunk)- I was more afraid of what I might say or do with my inhibitions removed. Such as what a friend of mine who went with us drinking and also got drunk did. He's usually a very quiet person. When he drinks (and he never had before coming here- he used to be a mormon. He still hasn't ever had coffee), he starts talking. A lot. And yesterday, when he was really, really drunk (for only the second time ever), he started delving into subjects that I really wish he hadn't. I won't repost them here, but suffice it to say, it was far too personal. Nothing about other people, just stuff about his own life that I would have remained happier not knowing.

So, needless to say, I was quite happy (well, after the fact) when, upon getting thoroughly tipsy, I became quiet and reclusive. No talking about things I shouldn't (and there are a few of those), no inappropriate touching (there were about ten very attractive girls who were at the bar drinking with us, several of whom definitely did become touchy-feely upon imbibing alcohol), and no violence. I'm actually quite the boring (and depressing) drunk. That actually made me feel worse, since my friend Tiffany (who started downing shots of my sake to prevent me from drinking more, as the evening progressed) kept trying to get me to tell her what was making me so sad. Sadness is infectious, unfortunately. And, really, I had nothing to tell her- it was just the same crap I whined about in my previous entry. The alcohol just made me unable to put it out of mind.

After we finally squared away the bill (I ended up paying about $50-60 for what should have only been $35 for me. Other people didn't pay what they owed, apparently, and I didn't have any change save a 10,000 yen note ($100). So, I guess I was paying for a number of people's drinks. I'm such a great guy), this line of questioning continued as we waltzed home from the bar. There was a brief detour to locate the friend I mentioned before (he had wandered off with some of the others to do more drinking in a nearby park), and then Futurama in my dorm room. This was again made less enjoyable due to my continuing alcohol induced malaise, but was still fun. And hey, the story ends with me sleeping with a pretty girl, so that's awesome. (We both nodded off during Futurama. Wait, what did you think I was talking about? You've got a sick mind!)

My political affiliation

2005-09-28T08:54:40Z

According to John Q. Internet, this is what I am:

You are a
Social Liberal
(70% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(36% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Not many updates; my bad

2005-09-28T03:48:19Z

I've been extremely poor at updating my journals of late. Gomen. Most days I'm out doing things until I collapse from exaustion, so I typically don't have a few spare hours to write.

Wow, it's been almost a month. Yikes. Still, this post is timely, given the content of my last post. That girl? She went drinking with us again yesterday. Over the course of the evening, we found out that, while she's straight, she has in fact had oral sex with a woman before (but nothing further, she assures us). Never, ever would have guessed.

My life in Japan has been.. interesting of late.

I spent most of the evening yesterday (post-drinking) walking around Hirakata (the town I'm in) with a friend of mine. Despite only knowing her for about a month, she's now one of my closest friends. I'm not entirely certain how trust grew between us so quickly, but we discussed things I've never talked about before. With anyone. And that, I find, is quite amazing.

On the other hand, another friend here (who isn't as close, but I still am very fond of) has me completely baffled. We spent the day hanging out on Friday. Didn't see each other again until Sunday, when we were both part of a group that went to a flea market in Kyoto. Despite this, we didn't talk much. It indeed felt as though my friend was angry at me. Yesterday at lunch, I inquired if I had in some way offended her. This spawned a short conversation which ended with her telling me, and I quote, "You're smothering me." Though said in a half joking fashion, my stunned requests for confirmation about whether or not she was kidding were met only with silence. I finally told her that I would leave her alone, in that case, and parted ways with her.

I was as good as my word. The rest of the evening I steadfastly avoided any interaction with her, and no attempt was made on her part to change this. Depressing as I find it that I've seem to have lost a friend for reasons which elude me, it is made even more frustrating that a) she lives in my seminar house and b) she hangs out with some of the same people I do. The awkwardness is going to be acute (and has, indeed, already been such) in the future.

An attempt I made this morning to once again discover what, if anything, I had done to piss her off was rebuked with "You keep asking and it keeps making me angrier." I once again said, "Ok, I'll leave you alone." and departed. So, I'm confused. And depressed. And now, I'm heading to lunch.

The things you learn while drinking

2005-09-09T04:13:33Z

I've never been a drinker. And, considering I've only been of legal age for a couple of years, that isn't really saying a lot, I know. But I hate the taste of alcohol, which, somewhat intuitively, means I don't drink much. I find beer disgusting (the last two times I've had so much as half a can, I've felt violently ill almost immediately) and wine isn't much better. But, in the spirit of trying new things, I've now gone out drinking with people twice in the last week.

I don't drink to get drunk. The only stuff I'll drink is that which tastes like it isn't alcoholic. I'm reminded of a Kids in the Hall skit where Dave Foley's character becomes a "girl drink alcoholic"- that's the kind of stuff I have. "It tastes like candy!"

But, that's not what I go drinking for. It's actually a surprisingly entertaining way to socialize. Even though I don't get drunk myself, watching others do so is quite amusing. Plus, the alcohol has a way of loosening the ol' tongue. Some of what comes out is entertaining, some is funny, and some is.. well, downright disturbing. Case in point:

One of the girls who went drinking with us last night seems, to look at her, very much like a very quiet, shy person. This illusion was dispelled, however, after she had a few drinks. She then informed everyone at the table (and I forget exactly how this came up) that she was heavily in to S&M and had, in fact, since arriving in Kansai Gaidai less than three weeks ago, entered into a purely sexual relationship with a guy who is also into such things.

Yeah.

Another girl with us (the Brit who doesn't like Tea, for those who keep abreast of my other blog) was immediately stunned by this revelation, and began asserting that she, at least, was not into such things. I presume she figured that, keeping company with the other girl, we would all assume they shared similar "interests." While I chuckled at her repeated assertions that she wasn't into S&M, the first girl, a grin on her face, interjected "Oh, you should try it! It's so fun!"

Yeah.

I should also mention that I now know how the Dutch say the word "rimjob" in their language. What can I say; drinking seems to bring the most foul things imaginable to forefront of peoples' minds. It's a lot of fun.

Anime, anime everywhere, let's all have a drink

2005-09-08T06:31:23Z

It's like I'm a thirsty man stuck aboard a raft in the middle of the ocean. I can, at almost any time of the day, turn on the TV and find some anime. But, the fact that, despite my modest amount of Japanese learnin', I cannot understand any of it makes it extremely vexing. Other than an episode of Ranma 1/2 that was pretty much as straightforward as it can get and an episode of Fullmetal Alchemist which I'd seen before, I've watched no anime since coming to Japan. A pox on you, foreign devils, for your constant temptation!

My summer was not spent in vain

2005-09-06T02:04:47Z

The first day I was here (well, the second, technically. But the first day I actually *woke up* here) I had to take a Japanese placement exam to determine which class I would be put in. It was a bitch of a test, too. I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say: I'm glad that the real exams are easier. A lot easier. So, I took this placement exam, and got put into Japanese level 3. Level 3 covers chapters 18-twenty something of the second Genki textbook. Well, during the summer, I learned all 12 chapters of the first Genki textbook. Some basic math will tell you that there is a small gap in between chapter 12 and chapter 18.

Well, flattered as I was that they thought so highly of my Japanese speaking ability, I was quite certain that level 3 was not the class for me. A week full of "review" of completely new material firmly established this fact in my mind. Still, I aced all of the homework they gave me, and several classmates seemed surprised I was considering dropping to level 2. Well, drop I did.

My first level 2 class was yesterday. It wasn't so much a class as it was a test. A test which, though I knew I would be taking it, I did not study for. At all. Because I didn't need to. Arrogant? Yes. Accurate? You tell me. I just got my test back today. I got 49.5 out of 50, having lost half a point for a spelling error (a typo, really; I forgot a small "tsu" by accident). So yes; I think my choice to spend Sunday night enjoying myself rather than studying was a good one. And, it reinforces that my summer education was definitely not a waste of time.

And hey, I've got to say: it rocks to be able to tell people you've only been studying Japanese for 10 weeks. The Japanese flip out. Of course, they do that if you can say anything more than "thank you" and "good morning." What is more satisfying is the reaction of the other international students, some of whom have been studying Japanese for multiple years and placed into lower levels.

Unfortunately, as time wears on, I will of course no longer be able to say I've been studying for 10 weeks. I suppose technically I shouldn't be able to say that now; if you count the last week of "review," I'm already up to 11 weeks. Bugger.

So, it took me about two weeks before the ol' nerdly instincts kicked in

2005-09-05T11:48:39Z

..and now, apparently, I'm DMing for a DnD group. How the hell did that happen? This is made slightly complicated by my lack of books here.. but, with the SRD on hand, it will be a surmountable problem. I'd try a different system (given that there are many out there far superior to d20), but I'm afraid my lack of books means that d20 is the only one I can handily do.

It was, in fact, extremely amusing how this occurred. Several dorm mates (about five of us, total) were eating dinner in the common area, discussing completely non-nerdy things. Someone then made a crack about how we should start referring to yen as "gold pieces" and I interjected that it would be more appropriate to call them "copper pieces." This spawned a conversation about the origin of these terms (the DnD coinage system, for those who might be uninformed) and several jokes about everyone here being a nerd were made. And, sure enough, when DnD was brought up, everyone at the table immediately went "Oh, I love D&D!" And then someone said, "Who wants to play it right now?" and everyone raised their hand. And, being the foolish man I am, I declared I would GM. Yeah, we're a bunch of nerds here.

But hey, gaming! I've gone the summer without. Though, I was really hoping to, you know, be a player, not a GM. What the hell was I thinking? Oh well, it will still be fun. I'm glad I remembered to bring a set of dice, "just in case." Perhaps we can make it slightly less obscene if we game while like, touring Kyoto. As long as someone has something portable for dice rolling, there's no reason we can't do it on the move, just like any conversation.

NERD!!

A new blog christened

2005-09-03T16:22:10Z

I've created a new blog. This was done largely so that I could convey my experiences in Japan to those who I'd rather not give a link to my livejournal. I've moved several of my recent posts over, for completeness. In the future, however, I'll be putting those posts which are suitable for public consumption over on the other blog and not here. Thus, you'll have to check both to see everything.

And by the way? Took way longer to set up than I thought it would. I'll still be ironing out the kinks in the near future.

They're a very.. "friendly" people

2005-09-03T06:24:35Z

I was bumming around Osaka yesterday with Tim when, much to surprise, an elderly (and very drunk) Japanese businessman walked over to our section of the train, rubbed me on the belly, and grinning broadly, shook my hand. A very confused me returned the handshake, and proceeded to discuss the exchange with Tim. I guess this is just what happens when drunk Japanese people attack.

Bicycles in Japan

2005-09-03T06:21:07Z

The Japanese use bicycles. A lot. It makes sense, really; gas over here is incredibly expensive, cars are taxed to high heaven to discourage their use (not that it works) and the trains only go to certain stops. Still, I find it extremely strange that, given their propensity for bicycle use, Japan seems to go out of its way to make biking as hazardous as possible.

I should explain. I recently purchased a bicycle with the aid of my speaking partner, Yasuko. At my repeated requests for a "yasui jitensha" (cheap bicycle) he knocked about 1800 yen (about 18 dollars) off the price. It was still more than a hundred dollars. Yet, it has already been worth it. The 25 minute trek to campus has been more than cut in half, which gives me considerably more flexibility when it comes to times I need to be there for class. The bike itself, however, is strange: it seems made for like, an old lady or something. There is only a single gear, which is strange. The handle bars are extremely close together, which is also strange. It handles.. ok, I guess, but it is not as snazzy as the products I can recall being a marvel of American engineering. But I digress. It is servicable.

Riding my bike around is handy, but it scares the everloving shit out of me. I mentioned that Japan seems to make biking as dangerous as possible. Let me explain why. There are, by and large, no sidewalks. Luckily, on my usual route to school, large stretches of the road do have a sidewalk, but this is by far the exception rather than the rule. Most places, you'll be biking on the side of a driving lane. I cannot quite convey how strange it is to be bicycling and have cars (or buses) pass less than two feet away from you. But, this is how it is in Japan. The Japanese people seem to just ignore it. And, surprisingly, there are very few accidents.

But biking really close to cars isn't all. The sidewalks, when they exist, are littered with obstacles you must navigate. Every fifty feet or so they typically put a set of posts. There is enough space in between them that you can pass through while on a bicycle, but there isn't a lot of room for error. This becomes complicated when you encounter the inevitable (and frequent) pedestrian or fellow biker. The Japanese seem to have developed a sixth sense for dealing with such things (I've seen whole flocks of bicyclists pass through a crowd of people on food, on the sidewalk, without slowing down or hitting anyone) but needless to say, I have not.

I have not yet had an accident. However, the sheer number of obstacles combined with the regularity in which I bike past them seems to suggest that it would be a statistical impossibility for me to make it through the semester without at least one. I just hope it is of the inanimate, non-moving variety.

One of the perks of being a nerd in Japan

2005-08-31T04:18:12Z

...is that in a few weeks, I will be able to head to Tokyo and take in the Tokyo Game Show. Yes, this is the E3 of Japan. And I will get to go. Boo. Yah.

It will be pricey to head to Tokyo, of course, but I was absolutely certain I would go there some time during my stay here, and there seems no better time to go than for the TGS. Rumors have it that the Nintendo Revolution will be unveiled there. And, even if not, chances are that I'll get to play tons of games that are yet to be released, many (if not most) on the X-box 360 or the Playstation 3.

Ah, the nerdliness. It sustains me.

This what happens when you start fucking around with Yakuza! Now run home to your mother!

2005-08-29T11:25:53Z

One of my friends here at Kansai is, apparently, doing his homestay with a family who has close ties to the Yakuza. Yeah. That kinda creeps me out, a bit. Apparently they took him to a Yakuza-run fair, and introduced him to several of their Yakuza friends. Despite unbeatable prices on choice electronics (he said you can buy a Nintendo DS for at least a hundred dollars less than you can elsewhere- one guess why), the whole thing made him feel uneasy. Justifiably so, I would say. Furthermore, he has yet to meet his host father. The explanation given for this is that his host father, who is a karate instructor, is on Mount Fuji teaching karate to his students. Is this just a euphemism for "out killing enemies of the Yakuza"? Only time will tell.

In an unrelated note, the complexities caused by the language barrier here can be quite maddening. Plus, discourse with the natives? Halting and uninteresting at best. Being able to say such rudimentary things as "I don't like sports" and "What kind of music do you listen to?" makes for conversations chock full of small talk. Really, really lame small talk. But, interestingly, I found out that apparently my speaking partner's favorite activity to do during summer vacation is get drunk with her friends. Not exactly unique, but funny none the less. She's 18, which makes it a bit strange, too. I mean, 18 year old Americans never get drunk, right? Oh yeah- sarcasm? The lack of it in Japanese causes me daily pain.

Emoticons

2005-08-28T12:28:57Z

Apparently, the Japanese (at least those of the female variety) like to use emoticons. A lot. And they seem much more creative with them than we are. Here's an email I recieved recently:

こちらこそどうもありがとう☆私は関西はあんまり知らないから、うまく案内できなくてごめんねm(_ _)mエルリーは日本語勉強しはじめて6週間のわりにはとてもうまくてびっくりしたよ！
早口言葉→「となりのきゃくは、よくかきくうきゃくだ」「なまむぎなまごめなまたまご」新しいやつ→「ぼうずがびょうぶにじょうずにぼうずのえを書いた」
カラオケいいね(^_^)vでも私も歌はうまくうたえないよ(-.-;)

(emphasis added to the emoticons. And the star, which I guess is part of their punctuation or something.)

I have similar emails from different girls that share these trends, but this is a representative sample. What does it say? ひーみーつ！

The point is, in a language proportedly without much punctuation, they've managed to make clever ascii art part of their normal communications. I am unsure how I feel about this puzzling factoid.

Kyoto is excellent

2005-08-26T13:12:44Z

After an extremely long (yet not nearly as boring as it could have been) welcoming address this morning, we were given a complementary banquet. And I should tell you- the Japanese don't fuck around when it comes to giving you good food. I took pictures, but they don't do it justice. Extremely, extremely good. Tempura, sushi, glazed ham, fruit, and more. All of it excellent. I haven't had a bad meal here yet. (Some sub-par snacks, but I'll get to that in a bit.)

After the banquet I was finally able to change out of my semi-formal attire (dress shirt, slacks and tie. I am sooo glad I opted against wearing the sports jacket. 90 degree weather plus 60% humidity are not sports jacket weather for this Minnesotan.), which proved to be a very wise choice. I finally got to meet my speaking partner, Yasuko Miyazaki, about a half hour before the "Kyoto Tour" that was scheduled for the evening. Our meeting was.. awkward. I know very little Japanese, and she knows very little English. Our conversation mostly consisted of me trying to think of things I know how to say in Japanese, failing, and muttering "sumimasen" (I'm sorry) a lot. So.. that wasn't so great.

The Kyoto tour, however, was, save for one notable exception, absolutely fantastic. A new friend of mine (by the name of Matt) and I got paired with two Japanese girls (Erika and Masami) to go on the tour with. They were exceptionally nice to us, and very forgiving of our poor Japanese. They, thankfully, spoke much better English than we did Japanese. There was still the occasional communication problem (exacerbated by the fact I didn't bring either my Japanese dictionaries with me), but otherwise, the night went very smoothly.

I feel it worth mentioning that, about a half hour into the tour, the four of us were on a train heading to Kyoto while exchanging tongue twisters in our respective languages. I regret that I was unable to memorize the Japanese tongue twister they gave us (Matt knows it, I'll bug him to write it down for me later). We, however, taught them "She sells sea shells down by the sea shore," "How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood," "Six sick sheep," and "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers." They seemed greatly amused by these, and had me write down each of them so that they could practice. They did surprisingly well, especially with the sea shells one.

Once we got to Kyoto, we were going to head to a temple that the girls described as "very scary," where, I understand, we could see the blood stain where a samurai got killed many years ago. Unfortunately, we were not able to actually go into the temple. The events surrounding this occurance are strange, and confusing to me. From what the girls were able to translate for us, it seems that because we did not know Japanese, we would not be able to understand the great history of the temple, and could therefore not be allowed in. We suspect that this might mean that, since we don't know Japanese, we might not be able to follow whatever rules there might be inside the temple, but we don't know. It was, as I mentioned, strange.

So, instead, we went to this quaint little japanese desert restaurant and had a desert whose name I do not remember. Once again, Matt wrote it down, and I shall have to bug him for it later. Essentially, it was italian ice. But in a really big bowl. It was quite good. I had strawberry, but I sort of regret that. Matt and Masami both had green tea (or, more precisely, "powdered green tea") flavored, and Erika got what she described as simply "sugar." Strawberry was fine, but I got to try a taste of the green tea flavor and it was great. One incident of note was that our deserts came with tiny origami cranes, which led me to explain that my last name was, in fact, Crane. Furthermore, a kind elderly Japanese gentlemen struck up a conversation with the girls and, to some extent with us. He actually asked them what the english word was for crane, and they told him. I then remarked, in Japanese, that my name was Crane. He seemed delighted by this fact, and gave me his origami crane in appreciation. As he left, he said something in Japanese that sounded very friendly but which I did not understand. Masami informed me that he said "Goodbye, Mister Crane." That was very cool.

After the desert, we headed to another temple: Kiyomizu Temple (the first link is probably more helpful). It was awesome. I took many pictures which I shall endeavor to post tomorrow, and trying to describe them will not do them justice. Kyoto is fucking beautiful.

As we were leaving Kiyomizu Temple, we witnessed something really awesome that ended up leading to something really unfortunate. Some other Kansai Gaidai students (english speakers) were on the path ahead of us, and seemed to be very excited about something. As we drew nearer, the source of this excitement became clear: a praying mantis was climbing up one of the students. Dude. A praying. Mantis. Naturally, we whipped out our cameras and, I am happy to report, took many, many pictures. I hope that most of them are very sharp, but it was hard to keep the camera steady. This would have just been really, really cool save for what happened next. Matt got in really close to take a picture, and the mantis jumped at him. In his surprise, Matt lost control of his camera and it skittered across the ground. The mantis? Now on a nearby girl's skirt and quickly working its way to her, uh, cleavage. There are some incidental shots of that as I continued to take pictures of the mantis. Ahem. Purely accidental, I assure you.

Matt's camera, however, did not survive the fall gracefully. There was severe external damage (the dial on top to select the camera's mode didn't work at all it was so badly mangled) and the camera, while it would turn on, would only display an error message. So, that really, really sucks. Hopefully, since he just bought his camera a few weeks ago, it is under warranty or something and he can get it replaced without buying a new one. Otherwise..

The trip back to Kansai was fun. We began exchanging information about our respective languages. The girls informed me that using "hai" for yes was far too formal, and that I should instead say "un." Well, I knew this, but I had grown so accustomed to saying "hai" in class that it was hard to say otherwise. There were many instances where I would say "Hai. Er. Un." Which caused them to giggle quite a bit (though this was really quite a frequent occurance, whenever we would try to speak in Japanese. Though the girls were quick to complement our ability to speak their language (I got a satisfying "eeeeh?!" when I told them I had only been studying for ten weeks), I get the feeling that something about how we were talking wasn't quite right. Perhaps it was the constant long forms, which it seems I naturally speak in when not conciously trying to use short forms. I dunno. This parenthetical has become far too long.).

For our part, we tryed to clarify some confusing bits of English for the girls. They inquired about the phrase "Get out of here" which they had been taught to say in class. We explained how, when using a certain intonation, "get out of here" is a command to leave. However, using a different intonation, "get out of here" could be used as an expression of surprise and disbelief, such as "Really?" I also confirmed that saying "Does that make sense?" (which I had been using all day, I should mention) in fact means the same thing as "Do you understand?". We then brought up several issues with English slang that doubtless served to confuse them greatly. For instance, how some people call Coke/Pepsi/Sprite/etc "Pop" (the correct way, I asserted) whereas others referred to it as "Soda" (Matt insisted that this was the proper term) and some, sadly misinformed people (read: the South) called all flavors "Coke." Yeah. I don't know what the hell we were thinking.

Of course, we then tried to explain sarcasm. Lord. They were quite perplexed by how "Thanks a lot" said with one intonation could express a genuine thank you, but said another way could in fact mean the exact opposite. And that tied back into the whole "Get out of here" thing. Of course, I think the crowning achievement of the evening was explaining the "thumbs up" to them. I had been doing this all night, you see, and they found it quite funny. We explained how "thumbs up" meant "ok," or "that's good." They, apparently, were under the impression that the standard hand gesture for this was the somewhat archaic "thumb touching forefinger" signal. We told them that, while that was accurate, it wasn't something you routinely see people do anymore. Of course, this got me thinking that I should explain more about the thumbs up, and I tried to impart to them how it was sometimes used as a reference to Happy Days. What the hell was I on?

Still, they were very nice about everything, and made the trip very enjoyable. It was loads of fun to actually try to communicate in Japanese (and nice to be able to fall back to English when things get complicated), and have native speakers handle difficult things such as chartering cab rides.

We exchanged email addresses, and bid them adieu. Later on, Matt and I promised each other we'd try to take the girls out for karaoke (Sweet Christ what am I thinking?) as a thank you. That will be.. interesting, if it happens.

Japan? Awesome.

Photos up (probably), internet not so hot

2005-08-25T23:35:58Z

Ok, I think the first batch of photos from my trip are now sitting comfortably on Flickr's servers. You can check them out (hopefully) here: Photos!

I have not taken the time yet to organize them or, you know, write descriptions, but that will hopefully happen within the next 24 hours.

In other news.. it's a marvel I was able to upload them at all. The campus internet firewall is obscene. I can't even check my mail. I have to ssh into cda from the command line in order to access my university account. iChat? Not happening. I can't even use AIM Express because, for some reason, while Safari can access the internet, Firefox can't. So yeah, I'm a bit peeved. I'll be talking to the computing services people here to see if I can't get something reasonable like, you know, access to my fucking email account, but I'm not too hopeful. What does this mean? Among other things, my hopes for internet gaming are pretty much dashed. WoW will probably not be happening. That sucks, since I was really enjoying it, and the ability it gave me to interact with my friends from afar. Who knows though, maybe there are some free wireless joints around here (yeah, right) that I can check out.

Until later, enjoy the photos.

The word "Bank" has a lot of interesting meanings. Seriously.

2005-08-25T08:41:47Z

I just finished a rather grueling ordeal. I filled out the paperwork required for getting a bank account here in Japan. The experience has been life changing. No longer will I idly grouse over whatever paperwork might be thrown my way during the course of my largely America based life. Taxes? Cake, compared to this.

We were told very explicitly that our forms (three of them, though one contained multiple pages) must have no mistakes. If a mistake was made, the form must be filled out anew. What constitutes a mistake, you might ask? A better question might be: What doesn't?

Our address had to be written, in total, about four different times. Each time must be written identically to the way it is written in our passport. And strangely, I don't use the word "identically" in hyperbole. If an "i" is not dotted on the passport, then it cannot be dotted on any of the forms. If a certain character is drawn slightly slanted, it must be drawn slightly slanted everywhere. I am not kidding. God forbid you omit a comma somewhere, as one of my room mates did.

We have to sign the forms in multiple places, and the signatures have to be exactly the same. I am not sure if most people are aware or not, but this is actually quite difficult. At least, it is for me. When I sign something, I just scribble something and let my physical memory kick in to make the signature. I don't think about it. Often, my signatures look notably different (not so much as to suggest different people made them, just different. Elongated loops on the L's, perhaps. A long tail on the final "e" in Crane. Et cetera). Conciously making your signature look exactly the same as it appears elsewhere is not easy. I thought I had done it, but they informed me that in one of my signatures, the "r" and "a" in Crane seemed to be closer together than in the other. So, I filled out the form again.

And I should mention, we have it easy. All we needed to do was fill out our name and address, and some stuff about our birth dates. I shudder to think of the pure and absolute hell that would be required to take out a loan.

And, surprisingly...

2005-08-25T02:19:09Z

I got into the classes I wanted to take. Considering I drew lot #281 out of about 430, I find that extremely surprising. But, huttah! Sumi-e was no problem. Here's what I'll be taking:

Geisha, Gangsters and Samurai: Images of Japan in Western Film and Literature

New Japanese Cinema 1995-2002

Japanese-Chinese Brush Painting (Sumi-e)

Omoshiroi da ne?

Reporting live from Nippon

2005-08-25T01:22:00Z

It's now about 10:00am (JST) of my second full day in Japan. I arrived on Tuesday night, but didn't really get a chance to do much more than pile into a bus and take a 1.5 hour bus ride to my dormitory. Yesterday was a blast. I have quite a lot to say about my experiences thus far, but not so much time to say it. I've got to go register in about a half hour (I drew a poor lottery number, unfortunately, so I'm almost assuredly going to have to raise a fuss to get into the sumi-e class I need to take in order to graduate), so I'll be brief.

Japan is very, very different from the States. And from Europe. I have many, many pictures to share at this point, but it will be a little while longer before I can post them anywhere. The reason for this is, mainly, that trying to get personal computers to work with the campus internet is very, very annoying. I stopped in first thing yesterday to fill out the necessary paperwork (and oh god, do the Japanese ever love their paperwork). Not only did I need to fill out an information sheet, but I had to physically leave my laptop with them. Overnight. Yeah. I arrived here again this morning to pick it up, and I found that I had recieved a small paper notice in my campus mailbox: "We cannot find virus on your computer. Do you have?" Now, despite what the note says, I know what they meant: I don't have any virus protection on my computer. Well, duh. I use a Mac. But, this is apparently insufficient. So, I had to download a free virus scanner for OS X, and it is now happily scanning my home directory. When it is done, maybe I'll actually get my computer back. Sigh.

It really amazes me how much the Japanese lag behind us in some technologicial areas (such as the internet), but far outpace us in others (such as in toilets). Back home, I still had to give computing services my mac address to get my computer on the 'net, but that could be done via email. Or the phone. Then, I was ready to go. They didn't require physical access to my computer for more than a day. Oh well.

Yesterday was quite awesome. I have to say: first impression of Japan? The food is truly excellent. I ate at the school cafeteria yesterday morning for breakfast. For about 500 yen (or, approximately $4.53 American) I was able to get a large Onigiri stuffed with chicken, a bowl of grapefruit, and some delicious melon Fanta. Oh man, that onigiri was awesome. I had it again this morning. Superb. And melon Fanta? Man, why don't they have that in the states? I hate those stupid Fanta commercials at the movies, but I'd be willing to bear with them if I could have some of that stuff.

For lunch, I went to eat with several other Kansai students at a Ramen shop across the street from the university (I have pictures of the place, which will be available later). Once again, super delicious. For less than 500 yen, I got a bowl of ramen about twice the size of an american soup bowl, plus a side of dumplings which were fantastic. Like the pork dumplings we can get at chinese restaurants in the States, except a thousand times better. And the ramen? Dude. We don't know what ramen is back home.

Later in the day, after finishing all of my daily paperwork (did I mention the Japanese like the paperwork?), I met up with Tim and we headed to downtown Osaka. The trains here are quite interesting. I don't think I took any pictures of them, so I'll have to remember to do so next time. It's about a 20 minute walk from campus to the train station, (and 20 minutes from the dorm to campus, which makes it a long trek from the dorm to the train station) but it was an interesting one. The Osaka landscape is.. unique, to say the least. Many pictures of that, have I. No grass to be found, but the Japanese seem to be in love with vegetation. You see marvelously tended trees, flowers, bushes, and so forth, but no grass. And there is a decided lack of side walk, which makes it somewhat nerve wracking to stroll down the street, busses and trucks whizzing by a foot next to you. Surprisingly few accidents, I'm told.

Downtown Osaka was really cool. Man, I think my words would fail to do it justice. I took many pictures, which, as mentioned before, I will post later. So many neon lights. Vegas? Looks like Morris by comparison. And it is loud there. People in front of stores yell into loud speakers to, I'm told, get you to come to their shops. Crazy anime posters on everything. Lots and lots and lots of food and clothing stores. The Japanese are obsessed with the clothes.

We ate at this Japanese curry place; once again, excellent, excellent food for less than 10 bucks. We had fried tonkatsu (pork cutlet) on top of rice and curry. So. Good. Also, I should mention how much fun it is to be able to talk with very foul language in front of everyone, fully confident they have no idea what you are saying. In fact, we often discussed negative aspects of Japanese culture while standing no more than five feet away from a throng of Japanese people. Ah, gaijin power.

Before heading home, Tim spotted me 10,000 yen to cover my art materials fee for the sumi-e class I hope to take. Thanks man- you'll totally get your amazon gift certificates as a repayment. The reason this loan came up, by the way, is that either there is a daily cap on how much cash I can extract from the cash machines here, or for some reason my account has a lot less money in it than I thought. I will check into this matter more later today. My travelers checks were worthless, I should mention, because they were in dollars and not yen. This was the very thing I asked the bank about when I got said checks, and was assured that no, it would not be a problem. Guess what? It was a problem. The only way I can use them is to head to a bank (which were all closed by the time Tim and I started trawling through Osaka) and get them exchanged. Bah.

The trek home was interesting. Tim made sure I got on the right train before parting ways, but I was still a bit nervous (kinchoushite ita) trying to find my way back to the dorm by myself. Complicating matters was the fact that I had left my laptop bag in a "coin storage" box (you put in money, take the key, have a storage box for a few hours) and couldn't figure out how to extract said bag (kaban). I got it right eventually, but I paid an extra 300 yen I'm fairly sure wasn't required. Oh well. Walking home in the dark was kind of neat. I crossed the campus, which had been bustling with people all day, in nearly dead silence. Super cool.

Getting back to the dorm, I took a shower (the showers here ROCK), as the extreme heat and humidity of the day had made me quite drenched with sweat. Upon helping myself to both a "banana juice" and some sort of water-like drink from the vending machines in my dorm (oh, vending machines? Absolutely everywhere. On the street, in stores, everywhere.), I trundled off to bed.

And now, I go to register. Let's hope I get at least one of the three courses I want to take, eh?

Pictures and more stories later.

(p.s. There is this girl I've seen walking around during orientation; from the side or back, she looks totally like Sarah Michelle Gellar. If you look at her from the front, not quite as much. Still, I've gotten to calling her "Buffy" in my head, simply because I don't know her name. That is all.)

Let's hope I don't get stuck in Detroit

2005-08-22T12:37:47Z

I'm minutes away from heading to the airport to fly the first leg of my flight to Japan. This is complicated by the fact that Northwest, the airline I'm flying, is currently undergoing a mechanic strike. So, my flight could get cancelled at the last minute or, worst case, after I have already flown to Detroit.

Let's hope it doesn't.

I assume that internet will be available soon after I get to Kansai, but if not, I'll post more entries when I can.

Jaa mata.