Apparently, I am neither rude nor unkind, neither acerbic nor pointed, only that I am, perhaps, on occasion, a little too honest. It is not that I said anything that was not already known to everyone in the group, merely that I said it at all.
Naturally, I consider this a step up from previous indiscretions.
Life moves on.
Filed under Left From Seattle
What were your top
fivenine TV shows of 2006?
Filed under 51841
X-mas was good. Nothing to complain about. I was wrong to be such a grump. My bad.
Now. Go away.
Filed under Learning From the Master
A Christmas Eve post:
We had dinner at Mom-in-law’s tonight. We bought a whole roasted chicken that I managed to carve, without inflicting damage on anything save the bird. MIL made mashed potatoes and M made gravy, so that was good.
Presents were exchanged. I gave MIL a DVD player and the Japanese version of “Shall We Dance” and M gave her a new 5 Year Diary; I gave M Eigozuke (Steeped in English!), an English training game for the DS and she gave me “Red Steel”, a yakuza fighting game for the Wii. M and I managed to surprise each other with some small, for the sake of coolness gifts. I scavanged the used toy stores and managed to get her a “Fone Bone” figure from the Bone comic book series and she gave me a light up bath duck.
Yes, at 31 years old, I finally have my own, glowing, rubber duckie. Life is good. Some small amount of Christmas Joy has been returned.
Off to watch DVDs now.
Filed under Left From Seattle
How did you find out the secret behind Santa Claus?
Submitted by Carinish.
What secret? You're telling me there's a conspiracy behind the man in red? Dammit. Is nothing sacred? Santa…how could you?
Filed under 51841
Happy Emperor’s Birthday!
I often think that we Americans should declare a moveable holiday based on whomever the current president is. However, for that to be effective, we would have to prove that the current president is a) the legitimate president, and, b) was actually born instead of being spawned from the deep receces of Hell itself.
Yeah, I said it.
Filed under Left From Seattle
I have been in need of a mission of late. Something to clear my mind. Something completely inconsequential to focus on. To that end, I have begun collecting these. Are they cheap? Yes. Are they stupid, little, painted pieces of plastic? Yes. Will I be ebaying these very same collectibles someday? Yes. Are they driving me out of my recent irritablity? Yes. Enough said.
Filed under Left From Seattle
The thing about a wardrobe based around black T-shirts and jeans is that it is good all year ’round; it is suitable for any occasion; it makes dressing a no-stress event. I had forgotten that. I even went so far as to experiment with [shuddder] pastels. But that is finished now. The black T-shirts are neatly hung in the closet, the jeans folded on the shelf beneath them. All is not right with the world, but it is one step closer.
Filed under Learning From the Master, Left From Seattle
Congrats – TIME Magazine voted you "Person of the Year"! What's your acceptance speech?
Ladies and gentlemen of the audience: It is occasions such as this, with the forced humility brought by rememberance of those who have stood here before me, as well as the pious modesty with which I am known to express myself, that remind me of one simple fact – I am better than you.
In proof of this I offer these facts: It is I who stand here tonight basking in the warm glow of the spotlights, disdainful of the applause of my peers and all too aware of my own radiance being underwhelmed by the same, not you. Further, it is I, not you, who have sacrificed the hard work of so many for the further edification of myself. Third, and perhaps most important, that I was the one to realize the brilliance of those rising stars and had the forethought to warp them to my own will and desires, not you.
Some of you may think me arrogant, and to that I say, you only cannot see the world as it truly is, here from the top of my man-made, self-made, ready-made, dis-mayed pedestal of glorious delusion from which I speak.
Thank you.
Filed under 51841
Here are two links to recent finds of mine on eMusic.com, which I would recommend to the right people, who would be, in turn, in the right frame of mind:
This Is Metal’s Most Covered Moments of the 80s – Particular favorite tracks are “Fallen Angel” performed by Bret Michaels (of Poison), Kevin Dubrow (of Quiet Riot), Tracii Guns (of L.A. Guns), and Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N’ Roses), and “Crazy Train” performed by Dee Snider (of Twisted Sister) and Don Dokken (of Dokken).
The Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show – Standout tracks include “Sweet Transvestite” by Apocalypse Hoboken and “Super Heroes” by Ruth’s Hat.
Filed under All the Baby's Linkage, Punk Rock Saved My Life
The Democracy Internet TV player is extremely cool. It lets you subscribe to and watch video feeds on and offline. Lots of nice features like sharing options and how long you wish to save which videos. Very cool. New web tech at its best.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters
For the record: Bah fucking humbug. I think I manage to detest this season a little more every year.
Filed under Left From Seattle
Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe?
Submitted by EmmyAngua.
Audrey Hepburn, circa "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Filed under 51841
Casino Royale = good movie, great Bond movie. Very close to original story with only details changed to bring it up to date. Fun and entertaining. Recommended.
Filed under Brando Said It Best, Plugs and Shoutouts
First of the season’s bounenkais is tonight. Should be good. Beer, food, idle speculation about the true nature of god and why it is that I never managed to hook up with what’s-her-name that time.
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s Friday. I could really go for a beer. Instead, I’ll go to work like a good little monkey.
Filed under Uncategorized
What's on your holiday wish list?
I would really like to get a paid writing job somewhere online. I keep applying, but no luck yet.
Filed under 51841
Way back in the day, Groove Neuter and I used to sit around and joke about the action figures we could make out of the people in our lives. There was the two of us, obviously, and our nemises (nemisi?), the Engineer, the Home-Wrecker, the Oddball, the Con-Artist, and the gods only know what all I have forgotten.
We furthered the idea by coming up with a playset for the radio station we worked at, as well as accessory sets for my truck and his car, complete with removable stereos and coolers.
Even these days, in the privacy of my head, I still think about the action figures I would make from my life – the Samoan Lawyer and Groove Neuter himself come to ming – and now, I can.
The Vicale Corporation has set up an online shop where you can design and order your own action figure. The designs are somewhat limited at the moment, but, still, you can order your own action figure! Of yourself!
I love technology.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters
M and I have been spending our weekends house hunting.
Well, just last weekend, and it was only two model homes, but still, we have been looking at houses, with the idea that we ought to buy one. We decided that we need one big enough for the two of us, at least one, if not two kids, and my mother-in-law. And an office for me. Which is a lot of house.
Today, M decided that she had had enough of pre-fab and pre-designed houses and picked up some design/3D modeling software for herself. She got it installed and running after work this evening and has been playing with it for a while. She maintains that she intends to design the house we’ll live in, as she doesn’t want to spend that much money for something she isn’t completely happy with.
And that makes sense to me.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters
What books did you love as a child?
Submitted by hearts.
I was, and am, a huge Bradbury geek. I must have read The Martian Chronicles a dozen times in five grade alone.
Let's see…the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. The Oz books by L. Frank Baum. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. All of Heinlein's young adult novels. Both the White Mountains trilogy and the Burning Lands trilogy by John Christopher. The Tarzan books and the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper.
Dozens more. Hundreds.
Filed under 51841
What is your pet peeve, the one thing which really drives you mad?
Submitted by Beki.
Busy work and / or time-wasters. Any job I've ever had, the surest way to piss me off and to get me to start slacking off is to give me busy-work or assign small tasks that just waste my time. I have better things to be doing and if my bosses don't trust me to be doing them they should hire someone else. Fortunately, at the moment, I'm my own boss and I trust me just fine.
Filed under 51841
All the rumors are true. This game, on this system, rocks.
M and I are both finding that Wii Sports is a fantastic game for us to play together. It brings out a lot of the competitiveness that could show up in negative ways otherwise. After all, being able to box each other without doing any physical damage or sending me to jail is a good thing, right?
We took it out of the box last night and started off by playing tennis. We both liked how the controler requires one to swing it like a racket as opposed to pressing a button and moving around the court requires you to hop about your living room like a sugar addicted monkey. We also liked that we could get the feeling of playing tennis at 10:00 on a rainy Tuesday night without actually going anywhere. (Although I can see feeling a little riduculous if we happend to be playing tennis on the Nintendo on, say, a bright, sunny, Saturday morning.)
We tried out the rest of the games – bowling, baseball, and, golf – and really liked that we had to move about and mimic the forms of the real sports in order to be good at the game, but the shiner (pardon the pun) came when we got into the boxing.
One of the highlights of the Wii system is the ability to create an avatar that has more than a passing resemblance to oneself, and the Wii Sports title is structured to let you import your avatar into the game. So, in each of the games, you can see yourself, as well as your partners, actually in the game. Including the boxing game.
What makes the game all the more exciting for me is how the game reflects real skills. The game does not allow one player to hit harder than another, although it does permit faster punching, but it does show stances and guards that the players, in their living room, settle into. For example, when I settle into a boxing stance and drop my guard, my wife is able to clobber me. But, when I settle into a boxing stance and remember to keep my guard up, she can’t touch me.
This system and this game have been one of the better electronic gizmos I’ve managed to buy, and you all know that I’ve bought my share.
Hey, at this point, I’m thinking that we will never, ever, need couples therapy. And that’s a good thing. At least until she wins.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters
Great Robot Overlords, but I love teh interwebnets.
At the moment, I’m listening to a couple of podiobooks (free audio books in podcast form), Brave Men Run, by Matthew Wayne Selznick and The Rookie, by Scott Sigler. They’re both excellent so far and I highly recommend them.
But that’s not what I’m writing about tonight.
What I wanted to write about was the novel (sorry) way that Scott Sigler is promoting his book. The Rookie is a far-future science fiction story and it’s also a football story. Yeah. The story revolves around a young quarterback named Quentin Barnes, who has just been drafted into the equivalent of the major league, called the Galactic Football League in the story.
Again, the story itself is not the point tonight. Mr. Sigler has built a seperate web page for the GFL and updates it with new stats after each chapter has been uploaded or aired, for lack of a better term. The site has news stories as well as mascos, logos, and images from each of the teams in the GFL. He has also had a full line of professional football style merchandise created for the main team in the story. As if the above weren’t enough, the author has held post game interviews in Second Life with his avatar guised as the protaganist and Mr. Sigler playing the role for the duration of the meet-up.
All of this strikes me as using the internet’s fullest potential to market a property and I think it’s fantastic that this author is using these tools and opportunities to find new ways to promote himself and his work. This is the kind of thing that makes my little geek heart gush in so many ways; this is what I hope more authors take upon themselves to do. This is what I want to do, just as soon as I get my book written.
Yesterday, while I was out photographing and meeting friends, I ended up in the big electronics store that I like to go to. I had been there first thing in the morning to try to buy a Nintendo Wii and was told that they were sold out. When I walked back in, later in the day, it was with a friend who was after my advice on some hardware and a new battery for his cell phone.
While my friend was getting his new battery, I wandered around, poking at this or that, checking the occasional price, etc. I saw a staffer walking towards the games area with a massive cart piled with boxes that read “Nintendo Wii”. I followed him and managed to be first in line to buy a new Nintendo.
I don’t have a good reason for buying one other than I want it. I like to try to justify the expense by saying that I have been wanting to buy a first edition of a new console for years and always talk myself out of it, and while that is true, it isn’t really a reason. The truth is, I wanted something new and shiny, so I got one.
And I like it. A lot.
The only game I picked up was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the latest chapter in one of the oldest RPGs out there. I played the original Zelda a bit, years ago, but I have never really played computer based RPGs. After watching M dance through Final Fantasy III DS a few weeks ago, though, I decided I really wanted one.
The trick here, though, is that I’m playing this RPG in Japanese. For those who have never played an RPG, they require a lot of reading. There is a story to the game and goals must be accomplished to move the game forward. The end result is that I’m playing much, much more slowly than I would if the game were in English, but I have managed to add two or three words to my vocabulary already.
Of course, at the moment, right now, as I write this, I’m completely stuck and waiting for M to get home to help me.
Progress, isn’t it grand?
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters
JPG has put out the first theme for their next issue – Street. The editors have put in a clause mentioning that this is meant to be examples of Street Photography, not photos of streets; Street Photography is candid, natural photography, usually done with a minimum of set-up or apparatus. The goal is to capture people as they go about their lives, doing the things that make them interesting.
Getting published in JPG is one of my goals as it is a different kind of magazine. For one thing, for me, personally, it represents the more artistic side of camera-work, as opposed to journalism or advertising work and I would like to see some of my work in that category. For another, it is socially based. Photos are voted on and chosen by editors based on recommendations from readers and photographers who submit to the magazine.
All of which is a long lead-in to my getting up this morning and getting out into the rain with my camera to take pictures of people being people on a cold, wet Saturday morning. Nothing fantastic yet, but it felt good to be out and working at crossing a goal off the list. Managed to squeeze in time for some good curry and nan at lunchtime with a friend, so, even better.
I have a few more weeks yet, so I’m going to keep working the theme. They’ll all be up on Flickr and JPG eventually and I’ll choose one to submit. I’ll make sure to post something here for anyone who is interested.
Warning: In this post, I do very little, save bitch about my job.
Ah. December. The air is cold, but dry and sunny; things are winding down for the year. Project deadlines are up and everyone is rushing to get all their business taken care of before the end of the calendar year. Parties are being scheduled and presents are being purchased.
And my students are overwhelming me with questions about Christmas in America.
It’s hard to explain why this irritates me so much, but it’s a combination of naivete, insensitivity, and ignorance compounded through bad television.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that they are not asking because of any of those things, they’re asking out of natural curiosity and a genuine desire to understand an alien culture better, but the way the questions are phrased sometimes has me tearing my hair out.
Naive question: “Why do Americans believe in Santa Claus?”
So now I have to explain that most people don’t and the ones over the age of say, twenty, maximum, are generally considered crazy. Also, it’s only kids, but each child is different and believes until a different age, depending on upbringing and religion. Etc.
Insensitive question: “Why don’t you go home for Christmas? Don’t you miss your family?”
Uh, yeah, of course, but the reasons are private and I don’t feel like sharing them with a classroom full of students.
Ignorant question compounded by misconceptions from tv viewing: “Do all Americans really fight with their families at Christmas?”
How the hell do I answer that? How about “Yes, but not like they do in the movies or on t.v. and for reasons that are too complicated to be explained to anyone not in their family or who has known that family for decades.” or, maybe, “No, that’s only in the movies.” Answer one is too complicated, answer two is too simple.
It’s only the eighth and I’m tired of Christmas already.
Filed under Left From Seattle
Kinda hard to believe, but it’s true. This post, this post right heah, that you is now perusing, is number 600 on Left From Seattle.
I should get some kind of award for that, right? I mean, do you have 600 posts on your blog? Are they as pointless as mine? Full of a lack of noteworthy information? Excruciating in their navel-gazing goodness?
I didn’t think so. Yeah. I rock.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters, Left From Seattle
To say that I have a green thumb would be an excellent example of either irony, or outright lying. M isn’t much better.
However, we decided a couple of months ago that we really needed some greenery in our home. We were just tired of plain brown and off-white, the colors of any new apartment, and wanted something to help give the place some life.
So I bought a small tree for us.
The local shopping center had a special in their garden section for aquatic plants that were meant to be placed in small balls of pre-packed undergrowth for several months, possibly years, until they were big enough to be transplanted into a soil-packed pot. The tree is, two months later, growing well and is currently four inches tall. It has begun to send roots all through the undergrowth and, if it continues as it has, should be ready for transplanting this summer. We’re quite pleased.
A month or so ago, we bought a three pack of cacti at the Ikea in Chiba.
Two of them are doing very well. One, unfortunately, seems to be a bit too susceptible to the cold and is not doing well at all. We’re doing our best to keep him in the sun, with minimal water (so as not to freeze the roots at night), but he is still fairing poorly.
But, hey, three out of four isn’t too bad, right?
That’s the debate at the moment. I would like to get a few larger plants for us, to put in other rooms; something larger than the four miniscule plants we have now. I would like a bamboo tree or a bonsai tree or something. M says we should wait and see if we can keep all four alive through the winter before buying more.
She’s probably right, but it would be nice to get a few more green things in the apartment before the grey sets in next month.
Filed under Left From Seattle
What's one thing you regret not doing?
Submitted by Mr. Nice.
I could not possibly limit this post to one thing. Suffice it to say, they are all things that I passed on for very good reasons and sometimes I even remember what those reasons were.
Sometimes I even think they were valid.
But mostly I just think about how things might be different and if I would really want it that way. Anyway.
Filed under 51841
What is your favorite board game?
Submitted by I'm Unique.
Either Dominoes or Scrabble. I'm usually up for either.
Filed under 51841
This morning I deleted several hours worth of programming that I hadn’t gotten around to watching yet. A lot of other things got deleted as well. A lot of projects got taken off the back burner and just filed away to be dealt with or not dealt with well at some other date.
I had been feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the various things that I like to do and want to do and just decided that I wasn’t going to play that game.
I’ll be keeping a few TV shows like Battlestar Galactica and My Name is Earl, and there are still some projects I’m working on, like trying to write a novel, but not much else. I intend to just relax and do what needs doing for a while instead of obsessing over what I should be doing all the time.
I hope to, anyway.
Filed under Attack of the Robot Monsters, Left From Seattle
Still no energy after the simultaneous high and low of the test, so I have just been taking a bit of time to work on some of the projects I have lying aroung – projects that take some time anda few resources, but very little brain power.
In this case, I’ve been working on the archives for this site. There are over 500 posts for the past two years and several photos, drawings, random linkings, and all the other detritus that blogs accumulate in their existence, and I have been trying to get them cleaned up and into book form.
This isn’t a money-making scheme or anything like that, this is just a project to give myself a nicely typed, bound copy of my journals, basically. This blog has been at least a fragment of my daily life for the past two years and I like to go back and read the posts sometimes, but online archives are actually not the best method for doing that a lot of the time.
Anyway, it’s just one of those things to occupy fingers and brain cells until full functionality is restored.
Filed under Left From Seattle
What song gives you the most holiday cheer?
Submitted by Roxy.
Pretty much anything by the Vandals, the Descendants, Social Distortion, or the Clash. I don't much care for holiday music.
Filed under 51841
Well, the test is done with for another year or four. I think I did ok, but I don’t know if I actually passed or not and won’t find out until February. The first section of the test kicked my ass, so it remains to be seen if the second and third portions, where I think I did ok, were good enough to pull my overall score up to a passing percentage.
Hung out with lots of people I don’t get to see too often after the test and drank a few beers too many and got home too late, but it was worth it.
Spent all day revising my notes. Test is tomorrow. Currently feeling like I might actually pass the damn thing. Feeling will pass, I’m sure.
In the meantime, window shopping for toys on the internet. Credit card safely tucked away in wife’s purse, under wife’s pillow, under wife’s sleeping head. Cannot get to credit card without waking wife. Have tried. Have failed. Am now surfing net from metaphorical doghouse.
Keyword searches for toys: Hot Wheels. Mimoco. Star Wars. Kubrick. Lego. Robotech. Snoopy. One of a kind. Custom. Unusual. Odd. Weird. Made in Japan.
Chuckling over snide comments in head to the effect that the last four are all synonyms.
Having no luck. Will log off computer and beat head into wall until sleep becomes an achievable goal.
Test tomorrow. Argh.
Filed under Learning From the Master, Left From Seattle
What's the most klutzy thing you've ever done?
Submitted by Jecka.
During a party one night, a friend of mine, who is in much better shape than I am, was kicking the ceiling and I decided that if he could do it, I could too.
Let me back up.
A friend was hosting a party in her apartment, which was done in traditional Japanese style, replete with low ceilings and tatami mats on the floors. Several of my friends and I were there, deep into our drinks and engaging in, shall we say, friendly competitions, like arm-wrestling and what-have-you. One friend declared that he could kick the lowest ceiling beam, which was low enough that he could just walk under it. I am a bit taller than my friend and could not walk under the beam without ducking.
As I said, my friend is in much better shape, but I am something of a showoff and decided that I would kick the ceiling too. My mistake, in retrospect, was in forgetting that we were standing on old, worn, slick tatami mats and I was wearing socks. I took my stance, threw a kick straight up, connected with the beam, and felt my other foot slide out from under me.
I hit the floor hard enough to knock the lamps over in the apartment below my friend's.
That was the last time I went around trying to kick things that high off the ground.
Filed under 51841
Finish this sentence: "What in the world was I thinking when I…?"
Submitted by jammin15.
…walked to the edge of that pier and jumped in wearing all my clothes, including the t-shirt I had won for drinking four other guys under the table in that bar in San Luis, all the while singing the chorus from "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and taking swigs from the whiskey bottle in my hand, which, when all was said and done, floated not as well as I did.
Filed under 51841
Here’s a list of places and/or organizations to whom I am considering giving money to in the next twelve months:
There may be more as the month progresses and I start figuring out what I want to focus on in the next year or so, but, for the moment, I’m leaning towards the above organizations, all of which support freedom of speech, as a platform from which to base my personal politics, and thus, my actions in life.
Filed under Toad Web, True Thoughts on True Life
Left From Seattle 