Apr132005

stupid

My apartment was besieged by Japanese Mormons today; these two old ladies who about crapped their pants when I answered the door. In spite of that, they still valiently tried their best, but most Japanese people don’t realize that they should speak slowly to people who obviously aren’t good at the language (i.e. all foreigners, at least in the Japanese mind). I eventually butchered my way out of the situation.

Yeah, it’ll be good to get back to the States. I’ve come to the conclusion that everything I like about Japan can be enjoyed just as much in America, if not more so.

No comments · Written by Nathan at 10:28 am · Tags

Apr102005

Weekend? What’s that?

Due to elements beyond my control, I’m now being forced to work on Saturdays, with Sunday and Monday off. This really wouldn’t be such a bad thing (actually, it is a bad thing, because national holidays that fall on a Monday now mean absolutely nothing), except that it totally throws off my internal clock: I know that today is Sunday, but it doesn’t FEEL like Sunday. It doesn’t feel like anything, actually, but at least I don’t have to work, which puts a postive spin on the entire situtation.

I showed Brendan a picture I had taken of him. “My head seems small,” he noted.

Links for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure; far be it from me to force you into automatic acceptance of something I find amusing):

What would you pay for gas?
This is not the next Bemani game, although it would be cool if it was.

Speaking of Bemani, I played Guitar Freaks and Pop’n Music today. Watching crazy Japanese kids absolutely go nuts on these games always makes me think that it’s really quite a waste. Here they are learning a skill that is in no way transferrable; it gives no benefit other than itself. When the arcade stops carrying that game, it doesn’t matter how good you are, all your efforts are basically thrown away. I still stand by my idea of making music games that use real notation, where at least the kid would learn how to read sheet music, if nothing else.

I also went to an amazing store today, where everything costs 390 yen. This in and of itself is not particularly amazing. The amazing thing is the variety of the store’s products. In one box, they had a large stack of old, 50′s era full page advertisements. There were piles of American licence plates (kinda cool for Japanese folks). They had actual USED CLOTHING, stuff that I would ACTUALLY BUY, all the same price. I ended up buying one of the old advertisements, because it seemed appropriate.

I really need to go out and take pictures of drunken Japanese people sitting under cherry trees
Daffodils

Hey, you should all keep playing rock/scissors/paper

3 comments · Written by Nathan at 11:03 pm · Tags

Mar232005

Useless!

Picture update:

Ozaki, the supermarket I usually go to. It’s kind of a trashy place, but the main benefit is that it stays open past 9PM. Since I usually get off work AFTER 9, going shopping is sometimes problematic.

Here are some pictures from my trip to Chicago last year. Probably never uploaded them.
Ed and Kakish playing Halo or something.
Soulman
Soulman and Ed ridin’ the El
Ed poses on the El platform

The next pictures are from the Millennium Park in Chicago. There were some neet-looking sculptures and whatnot there. The coolest piece was probably The Bean. Another shot of The Bean. Unfortunately, the park hadn’t officially opened yet, so there was still a fence keeping us away from the wonder of The Bean. I love capitalizing The Bean.

IMPORTANT QUESTION, FEEDBACK NEEDED
So, I have an idea for a multiplayer PHP game (like I’ve said many, many times). But, I’m not even going to try programming it unless I can get people to actually try it out. I had hoped for people like Matt and Tyler to maybe try playing it, but there’s no way I can compete with World of Warcraft :P

Rough Idea

If you think you might like to muck around with this program, let me know in the comments; I’ll continue working on it if there’s enough interest.

EDIT: I was checking out the traffic info for this page (which I do sometimes, out of a desire for useless knowledge), looking at referrals. Most referrals come from from search engine image searches, but a few are different. So, I found Rie’s Homepage! She links me! Woo! You gots to read the Japanese, though :P

10 comments · Written by Nathan at 12:23 am · Tags

Mar212005

Evil Japanese Machina

(Or, How I Almost Got Owned by a Vending Machine)

Today was my day off, in honor of some national holiday or other. Things were going pretty well: played FFX, read some One Piece, and in short, wasted a lot of time. Around 5 o’clock or so, I had a craving for some of that geek ambrosia, Mountain Dew. That stuff is more popular that I would have imagined: the vending machine outside my apartment is out of stock. Man, I have to walk a whole ‘nuther block to get my artificial caffeine fix!

I get to the machine that has some cans in stock, and that’s when my problems begin. I purchase the first can, then immediately purchase the second, without removing the first. No big deal, I’ve done this tons of times in the States. I look down, and realize that the second can has jammed the dispensing slot. A metal plate has distended, which blocks both cans, and has a message printed on it: something about calling the service representatives. My first instinct is to panic, because not only have I seemingly lost 240 yen (yeah, the Dew is pricey here), but I also don’t have my tasty beverages.

Calling upon my natural intuitive powers, I immediately try to force the cans out, which doesn’t work. I also feel a bit self-concious, because of course there are people nearby, watching me try to break this machine. In my struggle, however, I notice that I can push one of the cans upwards, back into the machine, thereby allowing the metal plate to move back into place. I proceed to do this, then collect my just reward.

Who could write so much about using a vending machine? Me, apparently.

By the way, here are some pictures:
Traffic outside my apartment. Yes, it’s always this busy.
Fall leaves. I took this picture a while ago, but never uploaded it. A few days later, all the leaves on this tree were gone.
A shrine-like thing. When people say “shrine”, they usually mean a Shinto religious building. I don’t know what this is; I need to ask someone.
Bonsai trees. This is actually really cool. Someone filled the entire front part of their house with bonsai.
Closeup of the shrine-like thing. It looks like those figures are ‘kitsune’, or foxes. More than you ever wanted to know about the kitsune.
Another view of my apartment. I’m sure you’ll never get tired of these.
Land for sale. The sign says ‘kokuyuuchi’, which means “state-owned land.” They want 33,000,000 yen for it, which equates to around 300 grand.
An older picture of Sam, Rie, and me. I thought it was pretty funny.

I really should space these pictures out, so I can post one every day. But, I won’t.

Overcompensating. Real life, viewed through the lens of subjectivity, can be much funnier than fiction. This is a comic strip based on that viewpoint. It also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I found it interesting anyway.

No comments · Written by Nathan at 6:40 pm · Tags

Mar202005

Pictures

So, here’s the picture update this weekend.

My friend Dave eating ramen. Yes, that’s black pepper in his bowl. No, he’s not stoned, it’s just a bad picture. Maybe I’ll get away with posting this ‘cos I don’t think he reads this page. Probably if he knew he’d beat the snot outta me.
Yet another blurry night shot of the river I go jogging along.
Another picture of my apartment, because that’s where I’ve been most of this weekend. Mmm… videogames. My clothes are all hung up because dryers don’t exist in Japan. If you walk by an apartment building on a nice day, you can see that everyone and their mother has clothes, futons, etc. out drying in the sun. Yes, that is a copy of Jackie Chan’s autobiography on the floor.
A picture of me, because, let’s face it, that’s the real reason you visit this page. NOW BUY ME STUFF FROM MY AMAZON.COM WISHLIST, YOU TOOLS!

1 comment · Written by Nathan at 8:01 pm · Tags

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