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Put-em-up, put-em-uuuuuuuup
Feb. 2nd, 2009 01:49 amCourage.
Definitely something I'm lacking lately. Well, not just lately.
It's funny, run-of-the-mill things people are usually afraid of don't bother me much at all. What ties me up in knots is the idea of taking control of my life and directing it where it ought to go. Scares the ever-lovin' bejeebus out of me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I always take the passive, path-of-least-resistance way in everything. It's not intentional. I just can't bring myself to put my foot down on the right path.
Watch that first step, it's a doozy...
Definitely something I'm lacking lately. Well, not just lately.
It's funny, run-of-the-mill things people are usually afraid of don't bother me much at all. What ties me up in knots is the idea of taking control of my life and directing it where it ought to go. Scares the ever-lovin' bejeebus out of me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I always take the passive, path-of-least-resistance way in everything. It's not intentional. I just can't bring myself to put my foot down on the right path.
Watch that first step, it's a doozy...
Stop! Emo-time!
Jan. 23rd, 2009 03:10 pmNot really, but I guess it's what livejournal is for, in a sense.
Just feeling I'm in a bit of a depressed funk lately, since the turnover of the year.
I have a feeling a lot of it is related to my upcoming 10 year anniversary.
Yes, as of May 15th I'll have been in Japan for 10 years.
It's a little bit scary and a little bit sad.
I will have officially lived in Tokyo longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life.
I only ever lived "at home" in Kentville, NS for 9 years in sequence (and a few other random years disconnected).
I approach my life here these days as, well, just life. Tokyo is where I live.
It's home. It's no longer special or exciting or challenging or whatever other people
might like to think it is. It's just my home. I love living here, I really do,
but it's a place like any other. Maybe when I first came here, I could view it as a learning experience, expanding horizons, getting to know another culture and language, all that sort of stuff. Now, however, those things seem unrelated to my everyday life. That's what tourists do. I'm more concerned with living my life normally.
Which means I haven't addressed any of the linguistic or cultural issues I used to face in the past, because they just faded out of view when my everyday life became more important.
And that is kind of depressing, though I'm not entirely sure why.
Just feeling I'm in a bit of a depressed funk lately, since the turnover of the year.
I have a feeling a lot of it is related to my upcoming 10 year anniversary.
Yes, as of May 15th I'll have been in Japan for 10 years.
It's a little bit scary and a little bit sad.
I will have officially lived in Tokyo longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life.
I only ever lived "at home" in Kentville, NS for 9 years in sequence (and a few other random years disconnected).
I approach my life here these days as, well, just life. Tokyo is where I live.
It's home. It's no longer special or exciting or challenging or whatever other people
might like to think it is. It's just my home. I love living here, I really do,
but it's a place like any other. Maybe when I first came here, I could view it as a learning experience, expanding horizons, getting to know another culture and language, all that sort of stuff. Now, however, those things seem unrelated to my everyday life. That's what tourists do. I'm more concerned with living my life normally.
Which means I haven't addressed any of the linguistic or cultural issues I used to face in the past, because they just faded out of view when my everyday life became more important.
And that is kind of depressing, though I'm not entirely sure why.
I guess it's unsurprising that I'd be drawn to an application named "Chrome", but there it is anyhow. I installed Google's new browser this morning and started messing around with it.
It is of course still a beta product, and thus lacking a number of features and customization options. That said, it is ridiculously fast, and smooth as all heck. I have to say that I am very impressed with the state it is in already.
Once they add some features such as mouse gestures and custom hotkeys, I'll be uninstalling Firefox and using Chrome as my "app to use when Opera flakes out on a site".
It is of course still a beta product, and thus lacking a number of features and customization options. That said, it is ridiculously fast, and smooth as all heck. I have to say that I am very impressed with the state it is in already.
Once they add some features such as mouse gestures and custom hotkeys, I'll be uninstalling Firefox and using Chrome as my "app to use when Opera flakes out on a site".
Interesting
Aug. 18th, 2008 08:27 amYour result for The Perception Personality Image Test...
NFDS - The Guide
Nature, Foreground, Detail, and Shape
You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on what's in front of you (the foreground) and how that is affected by the details of life. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to deal directly with whatever comes your way without dealing with speculating possibilities or outcomes you can't control. You are highly focused on specific goals or tasks and find meaning in life by pursuing those goals. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.
The Perception Personality Types:
Ah what a night
May. 20th, 2008 01:51 amThe Good News:
Bills of Japanese currency are capable of withstanding a trip through a washing machine
The Bad News:
I discovered this by leaving my wallet in my pants when I put them in the laundry
My clothing was covered in a fine, confetti-like layer of what used to be my ATM receipts. All my cards and ID and such appear to be intact, though I'll have to wait and see if my bank cards work anymore. Nothing of value was lost, but it was a shock and an extremely tedious thing to clean up.
I really should have known better than to put things in the wash without checking pockets, but I had actually forgotten to start the laundry and only realized at quarter to midnight, so I hurriedly gathered everything up and shoved it all into the machine.
Bills of Japanese currency are capable of withstanding a trip through a washing machine
The Bad News:
I discovered this by leaving my wallet in my pants when I put them in the laundry
My clothing was covered in a fine, confetti-like layer of what used to be my ATM receipts. All my cards and ID and such appear to be intact, though I'll have to wait and see if my bank cards work anymore. Nothing of value was lost, but it was a shock and an extremely tedious thing to clean up.
I really should have known better than to put things in the wash without checking pockets, but I had actually forgotten to start the laundry and only realized at quarter to midnight, so I hurriedly gathered everything up and shoved it all into the machine.
Was just chatting with someone about where I am in life, what I'm doing, where my focus is, that sort of thing. In the process, I came up with an interesting way to describe my situation and I thought I should write it down.
I said that right now my life is like a coloring book. I'm carefully and quietly filling in the colors, trying to stay in the lines, deciding what color my sky should be.
I said that right now my life is like a coloring book. I'm carefully and quietly filling in the colors, trying to stay in the lines, deciding what color my sky should be.
Inspirational quote of the day
Mar. 5th, 2008 09:06 pmYou don't exist.
You just think you do.
We're nothing but the stories we tell ourselves. We know in our hearts what kind of people we are, what we're capable of, because we've told ourselves what kind of people we are. You're a carefully-rehearsed list of weaknesses and strengths you've told yourself you have.
(Self-confidence, for example, is a particularly nebulous quality you can easily talk yourself out of having.)
You owe no allegiance to that self-image if it harms you. If you don't like the story your life has become — tell yourself a better one.
Think about the person you want to be and do what that person would do. Act the way that person would act.
Amazingly enough, once you start acting like that person, people will start treating you like that person.
And you'll start to believe it. And then it will be true.
Welcome to your new self.
You just think you do.
We're nothing but the stories we tell ourselves. We know in our hearts what kind of people we are, what we're capable of, because we've told ourselves what kind of people we are. You're a carefully-rehearsed list of weaknesses and strengths you've told yourself you have.
(Self-confidence, for example, is a particularly nebulous quality you can easily talk yourself out of having.)
You owe no allegiance to that self-image if it harms you. If you don't like the story your life has become — tell yourself a better one.
Think about the person you want to be and do what that person would do. Act the way that person would act.
Amazingly enough, once you start acting like that person, people will start treating you like that person.
And you'll start to believe it. And then it will be true.
Welcome to your new self.
Sometimes I get ideas, and I rant about them to someone for awhile, and then they disappear forever. Usually they're stupid ideas, most of the time they're impractical or naive, but sometimes they're not bad. I figure I oughta write some down. On that note, I just started rambling at someone over IM about my ideal e-book solution.
It would have a solid spine maybe a centimeter and a half wide, thin novel width basically. That would house whatever power adapter slots, batteries, storage slots, etc you need. Aside from solid protective front and back covers, the inside would consist of about 6 sheets of digital paper. At the bottom and top of every sheet of paper would be small round holes such as were used in tractor-feed paper for printers in the Good Old Days(tm). The first one or two holes on the left and right sides of the sheet would contain input contacts. The spine would use these to feed the data to the paper. You turn pages as you would in a normal book, but as you turn the fourth page over the first page is slid through the spine to reappear at the back of the book. Thus you always have three pages on either side. When you reach the point where the remainder of the file being read can fit on three double-side pages, of course the sliding mechanism stops to allow you to finish reading using the end-pages. I chose 6 sheets because I figure it will be easier to ignore the sliding about of pages if there are at least two or more sheets on top of the moving one.
This seemingly silly mechanism would allow people to get the benefits of digital storage of books, without losing the feel of reading a book. Almost everyone I know who is an avid reader hates reading things on a screen, and part of that reason is that it just doesn't feel the same. There's something enjoyable about turning pages. I'm sure this is by no means an original idea, but I just thought I'd write it down.
It would have a solid spine maybe a centimeter and a half wide, thin novel width basically. That would house whatever power adapter slots, batteries, storage slots, etc you need. Aside from solid protective front and back covers, the inside would consist of about 6 sheets of digital paper. At the bottom and top of every sheet of paper would be small round holes such as were used in tractor-feed paper for printers in the Good Old Days(tm). The first one or two holes on the left and right sides of the sheet would contain input contacts. The spine would use these to feed the data to the paper. You turn pages as you would in a normal book, but as you turn the fourth page over the first page is slid through the spine to reappear at the back of the book. Thus you always have three pages on either side. When you reach the point where the remainder of the file being read can fit on three double-side pages, of course the sliding mechanism stops to allow you to finish reading using the end-pages. I chose 6 sheets because I figure it will be easier to ignore the sliding about of pages if there are at least two or more sheets on top of the moving one.
This seemingly silly mechanism would allow people to get the benefits of digital storage of books, without losing the feel of reading a book. Almost everyone I know who is an avid reader hates reading things on a screen, and part of that reason is that it just doesn't feel the same. There's something enjoyable about turning pages. I'm sure this is by no means an original idea, but I just thought I'd write it down.
Thought-provoking
Jan. 31st, 2008 01:40 amDespite the fact that I already have a ridiculously large number of webcomics that I keep up with on a daily basis, I discovered a new one today which really strikes a chord with me, so I had to add it to the list. I also felt I wanted to share the image which hooked me, so I'll add it after the cut. Click the image to go to the first comic in the series.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
First Snow
Jan. 23rd, 2008 09:18 am
So we got our first snowfall of the season this morning. It's still coming down out there, but not too heavily. Not really enough to stay on the ground except where there's grass, but since the city is mostly concrete that means it's not really staying at all. It usually doesn't get truly cold here until the end of January or beginning of February, so this is fairly on-schedule. We typically get an occasional day of faint snowfall with none of it really sticking.
I've noticed this before, but since I'm posting now I thought I'd mention it. My route to the office involves a short trip underground via a walkway beneath the expressway. It's a small little passage down some stairs, across the street, and back up again. Only takes a minute, minute and a half I'd say. Without fail, every person, whether foreign or Japanese, always closes their umbrella about halfway down the stairs...and then re-opens it about halfway up the stairs on the other side. Even though it's less than 2 minutes from one side to the other. Even though it's just a bare passageway with nothing in it. In fact, even the thought of not closing my umbrella makes me feel kinda uncomfortable. Sometimes our irrational cultural mores are truly bizarre.
Lastly, on the tragic note of Heath Ledger's death, I couldn't help but notice that mere moments after news of the event had spread both his imdb page and his wikipedia entry were updated with the details. It is kind of creepy to know that there are people out there, hovering in place, just waiting for this kind of information. It would not surprise me in the least if some kind of informal competition were in place for most up-to-date posting of this sort of information.
I've got a wicked headache right now, which has little to do with it being the first day back to work after a long weekend and everything to do with this being the first morning I've been awake before noon in a few days. Friday night saw the continuation of last week's overtime, with my staying in the office until around 2:30am or so. I find that even when it's quite late, I am unable to go to sleep immediately after arriving home. I wound up not getting to sleep until sometime around 4 or 5. This of course meant I woke up late Saturday afternoon, and did not sleep that night until around 6-7am Sunday. And so on. It's a terrible, vicious cycle that I get into almost every weekend. Except this time it was compounded by the fact that Monday was a national holiday.
Seijin no Hi (成人の日) is the day when all young folk who will attain their majority (20 in Japan) during the coming school year attend a small ceremony at their local city or town office. Most young women dress up in traditional kimono, with the classic long sleeves. Some men also dress in traditional, though not nearly as many. It's interesting to note that Japan has a number of these sorts of lifestyle stage ceremonies. Rites of passage are something I think our western culture is sorely lacking.
Seijin no Hi (成人の日) is the day when all young folk who will attain their majority (20 in Japan) during the coming school year attend a small ceremony at their local city or town office. Most young women dress up in traditional kimono, with the classic long sleeves. Some men also dress in traditional, though not nearly as many. It's interesting to note that Japan has a number of these sorts of lifestyle stage ceremonies. Rites of passage are something I think our western culture is sorely lacking.
Boring Weekend
Jan. 7th, 2008 09:38 amRather uneventful weekend this time, spent most of it at home. I had some correspondence to catch up on, and spent the remainder of my time enjoying some television. My coworker has lent me the entire set of Babylon 5 dvds because I am one of the few sci-fi fans out there who has never seen it. I'm about 3 seasons in now, and it's really not bad for the time in which it was made.
Still falling into my bad habit of oversleeping on weekends in order to catch up on sleep I missed during the week. It's tough to break this, as usually Friday nights I have plenty of things I want to do and wind up staying up until some ungodly hour in the morning. Then I need extra sleep saturday, and don't wake up until the mid-afternoon. The cycle repeats.
Come Monday, I am in no shape to be coherent in the morning and am often late for work (as I was today). Definitely something I need to try and deal with, but I've been trying for years now and just can't break the habit. I'm a night-owl by nature, so I prefer having more free time at night than during the day. But this of course only bolsters my normally hermit-like nature.
Still falling into my bad habit of oversleeping on weekends in order to catch up on sleep I missed during the week. It's tough to break this, as usually Friday nights I have plenty of things I want to do and wind up staying up until some ungodly hour in the morning. Then I need extra sleep saturday, and don't wake up until the mid-afternoon. The cycle repeats.
Come Monday, I am in no shape to be coherent in the morning and am often late for work (as I was today). Definitely something I need to try and deal with, but I've been trying for years now and just can't break the habit. I'm a night-owl by nature, so I prefer having more free time at night than during the day. But this of course only bolsters my normally hermit-like nature.
