So this week I bought and received my ticket to Japan. It's been a long road to get here though, I've literally put many things on hold in the express interest of putting the money together to do this. I've tried applying for English schools, none of those have worked out yet, but I think I don't really want to go over to Japan on that sort of ticket... it feels like... okay, I'll say it, the popular, easy route. I've got work to go to, but I've got a lot more to post on this, I'll come back to it later.

Suffice it to say, I've got a lot of people jealous of me right now. A lot of them for different reasons than I thought it would be for...

tags: japan, moving

I've never run my own website... but that's evidently what I need to do. In order to bring my radio plays for mp3 player concept to life, I need to open a place to organize it.. and one not owned by another group sounds like the best idea.. so there's no intellectual property arguments. Then there's the matter of the domain name.. the one I want is taken, but I suppose a .org is sufficient..

I know I've got a couple people interested in helping out with this thing in various capacities... I guess I need to contact specific people about what they're willing to do. And maybe reconsider domain names.

I've mentioned already to a lot of people that I've recently been made a supervisor at work. This is strange work... I vaguely recall thinking that supervisors don't do a whole lot. I also remember mocking supervisor motivation things... Well, there's still funny things like that, but I think the greatest observation so far from this new job has to be about customers. They seem to think that the solution to all problems is to demand a supervisor... a supervisor whose job it is to facilitate the jobs of their employees... Pretty far away from the 'wiggle your fingers and make my unreasonable demands come true' that I've heard far too often.

I'll spare the specifics. But when it comes down to job description, I'm helping agents remember how to do their job, and trying to help them do it better. Customers demanding supervisors so we can tell them the same thing their tech just told them... *sigh* I think that covers my sentiment there.

By the by, PodPlays is on the move again. I aim to actually get it moving this time.

A coworker pointed out to me at the end of last week that I'm remarkably well adjusted, for an otaku. I have to wonder who that's a slight towards, me or otaku. I mean... I'm inside the otaku community, and self-depreciating jokes about hygiene and social prowess are numerous and.. not without reason, but is that thought common outside, in general society?

tags: geek, otaku

So, I'm in my last week of 'training' at this tech job I'm doing, taking calls and chats.. in exactly the same circumstance as the regular employees, no 'training' involved, no reviews.. pretty much being a regular employee with less pay. Not too bad, $11.50's still decent. $13/hr will be better next week. And the job's not bad at all. Rather good most of the time.

Anyhow, my trainer came up to me this week and told me 'graduation is on thursday, be here from 6am-2:30pm.'

My current shift is 3pm to 11:30.

There's a half hour commute between here and there

Also, not to be missed is time trying to fall asleep, and then time waking up.

Yeah, so when I get there.. sleep deprived.. I think to myself maybe I should pull a prank on this teacher and act *really* out of it and irritated. Irritated is easy.. I sound irritated most of the time anyhow.. or so I think. So, put on a face, twitch and widen the eyes, even remain slightly off balance. Mission accomplished.. but he takes it way too seriously.. okay.. I just drove half an hour after waking up from about 4 hours or less of sleep to work. I do not want to be told 'Go home!' Especially when he's the one who demanded me there at 6am..

It's what he delivered though.. I believe he was honestly worried.. but then, i have him trained to do pretty well exactly what I want him to. (so very easy to maneuver)

Meh, I guess I'm irritated over being told to sleep deprive myself, drive to work, then get told to 'go home'

I stayed all the same, and I've actually been up since. Can't afford to be up for too long before my shift starts tomorrow.

Anyhow, this less than coherent post comes courtesy of.. nothing in particular. I guess I just wanted to rant some

I finished with 2 others as the 'top 3' in my class, so that's an ego point, I received a notebook... with a hardback and print to resemble a notebook computer. Looks like something that would be handed out at a career fair booth. *smirk* Maybe I should carry it around and look smug.

Anyhow, there's an update

XXXI,
-JL

mood: tired tags: irritation, work

This should not be missed, it goes down Sunday.. maybe that night. Nor should The Dark Knight a word about Batman... Heath Ledger's Joker is pure genius. I lament that never will any more be seen of it.

Last week, actually a week ago Thursday, there was a super panic sale of sorts on Newegg, so I picked up a couple Crucial Gizmo Jr drives, 4gb capacity. These things turned out to be slightly smaller than I was expecting. Seriously.. they're like trident gum.. but a bit thinner and wider.

Also old friends have come to town this weekend, dropping in on the way to a reunion.. one with whitewater and skeet shooting... now why aren't my reunions like that? Well, there hasn't been one in a while so I suppose I have no room to talk.. and we actually did go whitewater rafting during one too... okay, maybe I just want to do something outdoors-y.

Had a games night at another friend's last night too, we played Munchkin, Before I Kill You Mr Bond, and The Great Brain Robbery. Great fun.

-JL

music: Speedcore anime mixes tags: movies, tech

Just over 2 months ago, I was ecstatic to get the menial labor job I did then. Reading water meters for the city at $10/hr, full time about 3 weeks in a month. Menial labor, sweaty, hungry work fighting the sun all day long while sticking my hands in holes that are full of spiders, centipedes and ants.
I completed a month and went on 'break'. Late in my off week I get a call from a friend.
( Read more... )
-JL
---------------
su... sugee~

mood: accomplished music: CROW'SCLAW - Crossfire Barrage tags: certification, date, job

This shirt cracked me up today. It fits the bill so well... $30 and then international shipping makes it less attractive for an immediate buy though.
So my guild has adopted a more rigid raiding setup, I'm glad for them, but it means I'll probably get myself out of raiding for now. Can't make the posted start times.
I went and talked with one of my former professors today, it was a relaxed talk mostly to do with work and what I'm doing. I've got plans... but I can't help but think I'm hedging my bets *too* much and I should just dive headfirst into deep waters. What I'm talking about here is going straight for full-time salaried employ at a Japanese Company. Every other plan of mine feels like holdover until I decide what to do. Some dedicated prayer on the subject should help. I get the feeling I know the answer already...
Also.. my 'auxiliary plans' are still sitting idle. I haven't done anything with them. Seems like all my spare time (and then some) winds up in WoW and a scant few other pursuits.

Cloak - Have materials, need to start piecing it together
Book ideas.... would require a whole post to themselves.. mostly not even started.
Website and associated 'web radio play' creations - I've picked out a splash page prototype I'll adapt mine from. I need to write scripts, gather a voice pool, do some serious web design (will suck a lot, as I'm no good at that stuff)...
Boots - Pieces all cut out, have been for years, need to get some shoe goo and get in touch with Ian, set up and knock 'em out.

Sheesh.. and I've probably forgot a bunch

And I still haven't gotten official 'you've graduated' notice.. bleh

-JL
------
Incompetence: Evolved

location: same basement of my parents' as I've been in for... years music: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto music

.. If I were a swearing man, I'd have been running up a storm a few hours ago. I went to a friend's place for fun and games on New Years. That was all fun and good, but a single event
threw the whole night in a jumble. I will purposefully not be specific, as I do usually.
( 'Champloo' is a type of dish where lots of different things are thrown in together )
*sigh* I'm still coming down off this adrenaline high. Hopefully I can sleep tonight.

-JL
Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu

mood: Mood Champloo music: Motteke! Sailor Fuku Bak~ Bak~ Bakoon! Mix

I rolled over a pair of digits today to thunderous silence. It's odd and anticlimactic, just how smoothly life moves on from one decade/year/month/week/day/hour/minute/second to the next. And to answer something a friend said, I make little to no fuss about my birthday at least somewhat to see if others will recognize it *without* my pointing it out. It's petty and selfish, but I do it. Regardless, 30 years old.. and living in my parents basement... pa-thetic. *chuckles* At least graduation and moving out is in sight. I have plans, and they are far from standing still.

As a final note, I saw some lightning today, it was very nice. Made me wish it was raining where I was/am still.

music: Tsuneo Imahori - Suna no hoshi

I woke up about 5:30am today, after falling asleep at 3:30pm yesterday. I was awake at this hour two days ago when I stayed up all night for something that had to be done. All-nighters are getting more and more difficult, at the same time, I find myself wishing I didn't have to sleep most of the rest of the time. I don't really care for sleep all that much. I'm an insomniac for one, so I spend an hour trying to fall asleep before actually getting there most nights (some nights are better, others can be far worse). I don't mind the dreams part.. I get tons of crazy dreams, and some very simple ones mixed in.
So really, I hate spending an hour trying to fall asleep, and I dislike waking up, and there's a pile of small reasons for both, I think I'll talk about one.
This reason has only been happening for the past couple months, and for some reason it has driven home a really ill-content feeling when I'm trying to sleep. There should be someone there. I'll be laying there, and for the barest moments I'm sure there's someone in the bed behind me, and it's a comfortable feeling... but then she's gone, and the hole left behind... it's lonely.
So this wraps around to common topic I get on... girls and why the freak can't I trust enough to even start a relationship. I can admit it, I'm afraid of relationships. I've been hurt considerably in the past in them and I can't shake two of the last 3.. I know they're not bad people overall, but they were malicious in the breakups. Yeah.. blah. well, that's all.
Morning's not bad.. I think I'd rather not miss the evenings for it though.

music: Jinn - Lemmings

This week I was handed a box of old things to sort through. Opening old boxes is dangerous. Things lay in wait worse than just black widows.
The box was a condensation of objects from my High School days.
My old passport, featuring a rather nice picture of a much younger me. Uniform from Boy Scouts, complete with renewed regret over never getting that Eagle. A few painted Drow miniatures bought from an old friend, 3 pieces of iron pyrite, a quartz, 2 stone arrowheads. Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures, featuring people I don't recognize anymore. Even a small case of pictures from Senior year, some of them signed with notes on the back.. there were nice things written. A tiny music trophy with a plastic top attached to a marble base, back from when I still played piano...
This box is nostalgia, and as I sorted many pieces to their final fates, re-dredged memories coalesced before me in an unorganized fashion. Most of the items are going away forever, but a re-casting of the memories with a later perspective will not be leaving for quite some while.
I know I was at least respected by a number of people the last half of High school, this happens when you display force in a memorable way.. but I had no idea how many people actually... cared... It's a strange recast that reminded me I did have a clutch of friends back then. And I could have had more. Renewed is my nostalgia for the town where I was raised.
( And now for something completely different )
Yes, the music nazi has no shame

Crystal Caste has thrown down the gauntlet, and by gauntlet I mean they've gone and had a product for something I've thought would be cool for years. I don't know how long they've had them, but they do. I'd thought I was going to have to find someone to machine out my steel dice but there they are...
Whence has come this sense of hesitation? Is it the cost? Surely $40 isn't that much for something I've been secretly harboring 'that would be so cool' thoughts about for years now... especially when I can and have found them for $32 (before shipping). The 12mm variety could be a cost cutting alternative, even placating measure, or could it? For just that little bit more, I can have dice that give nice dining tables nightmares.
( Weighty concerns )
I will get these dice... the decision remains to be made of *which size* yet, but I will have them.
There remains the matter of a charming anime I've fallen for. 電脳コイル (Dennou Coil) is the name, and it's whimsical nature has captured me. There is something about the innocence of how things are carried out, the childlike playful quality of the struggle. And yet.. noting that the children 'pay' with mysterious cybersubstance, and when comparing the antagonists to DRM and other electronic piracy countermeasures, deeper thought is engaged. I wonder at the developments that will come in the future for it. For now, it is simply charming.

music: Sora no Kakera

... And grinning ear to ear for the shiner.
shadrach_anki has posted something I can't say I wish I hadn't said something about. Perhaps instead of a 'me too' moment I should've taken the opportunity to dig into the satirical look at 'american otaku culture' I've been kicking around in my head for the last year or so.
Am I a fanboy? With no small trepidation I admit to somewhat being so, and somewhat being not. Just like I'll admit to being a near shameless elitist. All the social incompetence and discomfort, yet possessed of social drive, I'll excitedly talk with friends but when they're not there I'll sit quietly and wonder how in the world I can make more. Feeling resentment and jealousy toward those who can easily talk with new people... seeing girls I wish I could approach and at the same time knowing it would end painfully under any circumstance. Yet.. I deny fanboy status. All I derive from 'fanservice' is a need for new, more powerful headache medicines. Yuri, Yaoi, Hentai, I hate them fiercely. To those who call them art, I less than respectfully disagree.
...And know for something completely different...
Ran the second session of a new campaign of mine. Using the Arcana Evolved ruleset, and borrowing piecemeal from the 'Diamond Throne' setting it promises to be.. interesting. I started everyone out with a major dilemma facing their (everyone's) home village. They must choose one of 3 masters, and successfully call them to their aid to defend against the other 2. I've been punching the dire nature of the situation in, and I think they've taken to it pretty well, and I'm excited about every upcoming session.
Also went and saw Ratatouille with Nieces, Nephew, Sister and Mother today. I laughed a considerable amount more than I expected. Pixar really does impress.

music: Fate/ game soundtracks

"The first thing I notice waking up, my body is still asleep. I can't feel anything but 'numb' from all of me. It feels as if my very form were dissociated from me. I'm opening and closing my mouth, yawning, my eyes refuse to open. Just as well, it's still dark out there anyhow. I bring my arm up to wipe my eyes of tear-duct crust, There's a faint sound of skin and linen rubbing as I move, it's still too distant to be my arm.. isn't it? I must be pressing hard.. somewhere through the curtain of static I feel the contact of arm rubbing across eyelid. It still doesn't feel real yet.
"How long have I been asleep?
"It's not dark in here at all.. it's rather bright.. when did that happen? I must have fallen back asleep with my arm over my eyes. Ba-Bump Heartbeat? When have I heard it clearly like that before? The numb is clearing too.. as if the blood is charging down all my arteries simultaneously. It's all so familiar... and still so un-familiar.
( Read more... )

Paper, run some instances, paper, paper, reading, run an instance, more reading, watch incredibly depressing yet somehow funny movies, ponder why such things are provoking such responses, realize midterm papers are almost due, cramcramcram, watch in abstract horror as the hard drive holding my work fails in a catastrophic manner, beg teachers for extension, laugh myself into a headache from a lively chat I get myself into with one of them, scramble to write papers anew, read, watch, write more, sink into dread realizing I have a translation deadline due in 1 day, ask for extension of a weekend, finish in time for the extended deadline...
I haven't been able to catch up. Doesn't help that a lot rides on things going passably well through next week. At least I'm feeling less 'under the gun' right now. With the midterms done and that translation out of the way, I only have finals and a couple other papers to worry about. I just have to hope I've done alright. I'm not confident of that. I feel like I'm gambling with my life. And it's been bad enough the last few weeks I might name my first son "Don't Gamble". (To Live reference, 10 points)
Here's to hoping I pass and am not as busy at least for the summer term. I'll need the rest for Fall.
Shinuki Chuushu

mood: stressed music: Screaming Guitars and Techno

So, I did forget to mention yesterday that Dad saw me come home in my goth gear. Just as I figured he would, he laughed about it.
My latest purchase I have discovered has some potential uses that could make it one of the most nifty gadgets I own. The clock on it is just gravy. All i need to do is start recording things... random thoughts, things I hear, it could potentially make this live journal more interesting when I go to Japan. 'This is my class' and such. The small size = portability which is a direct increase in the likelihood of me carrying it around everywhere.
One of my long standing RPG buddies and I may be starting a one on one thing for all the times we get on and other folks can't make it. Sengoku era Japan, it's got potential.
I don't really like planning out events. Coordinating schedules, divining interest, blah blah blah, it's all so boring. I don't suppose *anyone* likes doing it. Something that really annoys me is when someone else comes up with an idea, and then foists the planning off on you. Yeah...
So anyhow.. what is it with married and engaged couples and the matchmaking thing?
Non-sequitur aside, General conference sessions today were good, I've instituted a practice of concentrated watching and note taking to maximize my 'take' from it all. I really can't pay attention to it if I'm trying to do something else at the time.. anything more than making up lunch or something. Seems to be working.
Mou shinda hazu

The only really important thing to say today is 'Goth Night was a blast' Regrettably, the worst of the knee-jerk reactions we got was a few honks and a call of 'Sinner!' from a passing car. I have no inclination to believe this person was anything but joking. Anyhow, pictures were taken, all on film cameras, so they will make distribution when they come around.
After last night's spat of insomnia and only sleeping from 6:30am abouts to just before 10am, just about 3 and a half hours, I'm feeling spent as I write this. So I will go sleep on my crunchy hair.
Shinanee-nda yo baaaka

Hmm.. I went on quite long yesterday.
Doujin artists of several sites I regularly visit are part of a series of publications that I will most likely purchase soon. Japanese are very keen on moe. And evidently so am I. There is (please ignore the ads on the left side of the following page) another either out or planned to come out soon that I also wish to buy.
Today I continued translating my latest project, there is a good reason people shouldn't learn japanese from anime and manga, and it is the same reason why people shouldn't learn English from Soap Operas or Gangster flicks.
Today I was also pleased to discover a new (to me) musician. DJ Bouche. I always love finding new techno, and trance specifically. This is bonus in that he's done remixes of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu tracks. I'm liking his stuff.
Oh, I've also got Horde and Nirvana patches, as well as a set of Pacman pins all for my bag. Someone posed to me a question of what I would do if the bag broke. Well.. it's Timbuk2, i hope it doesn't just break.. I suppose I'd have to snip off all the patches and send it in for replacement... then sew them all back on a new bag. Well, it's a good idle time project, and so it will be then.
If anyone here knows of some cool patches, point me to them!
Lusus Naturae

mood: Tranquil music: Remix of Hishoku no Sora by DJ Bouche tags: moe, patch, trance

So today I looked at a word, and the word isn't important itself, but it had an 'x' instead of a 'z' in it. So what do I do? I start thinking "Well, they're not that different, heck, x and z both have about the same total length overall... or do they? If we're dealing with a square area then the diagonal of the 'x' takes more line than the horizontals of the 'z', but letters aren't square.. they're usually taller than they are wide..." This quickly turned into a math question. "Wait... I don't have to guess at it, I can prove at what ratio of height to width they would be equal." This turned into the hypotenuse of a right triangle (one half of a rectangle) and a second equation defining 'c' (the hypotenuse) as '2a' (twice the width), and I'm breaking out the math equation editor in Open Office to write all of it out (also partially because I wanted to learn the program)-
...
bimyou
...
( No, the following is not math proofs )

music: Ragnarok Online BGM tags: gaming, math, resolve, rude