Thoughts
"This cake is the article of the gratitude to the direction I have usually English taught to." I still find Engrish funny, but in the same manner that someone who runs into a nicely cleaned glass door might find the fact that he just did so funny. By this I mean, I find it funny, with the distinct realization that I sound exactly the same way in Japanese.

Two days ago our hot water went out. Not our gas, but our gas powered water heater. You see, in Japan most places don't have large standing water heaters, they have small gas heaters that produce hot water on demand. The gas company has now been here two days, and they are replacing the heater so hopefully I won't have to go swimming as a way to shower.

It is hard to believe that it is already Thursday. We leave for home in three days, and we haven't packed yet. We did pick up a digital camera and I've completed my first project, from computer to convenience store. We've also done some Christmas shopping, though at least one person has already received their gift. In fact, this year we are doing a lot less shopping, priamarily for family only, though we are picking up some stuff for people we haven't seen in a while, longer than most others.

As far as music goes, I've really been enjoy Ogurusu Norihide, an acoustic guitar player that mixes his playing with sampling for a beautiful mix of acoustic electronica. I'm not up on all the different genres of electronic music, otherwise I could possibly be more specific in my description. I'm also hoping to get the Timbre Hollow CD by the Threnody Ensemble, a modern chamber music group released by New Albion. I found out about both bands at Epitonic.com. Regardless, the review compared Threnody Ensemble favorably to Rachel's, another indie chamber music group released on Quarterstick. They have a wide variety of talent, and as the reviewer states, the use of acoustic guitar with cello, combined with nonWestern musical techniques, makes this group very interesting to listen to. Their instrumentation includes Erik Hoversten (guitar), Amy Domingues (cello), Martha Bausch (piano), David Jordan (clarinet), Harrison Haynes (percussion), Dominique Davison (cello), and Margaret White (violin). Erik Hoversten plays in the band A Minor Forest, which can be placed as Math Rock, and Amy Domingues plays in the band Telegraph Melts. I suggest you head over to Epitonic and download their sample track and listen to your hearts desire.

My last exam takes place tomorrow. Also, make sure to get your new bionic eyes. I realize the news it a little old, but I just read it and thought it was cool. That's all.

Thoughts
Okay, this past week was really weird.　　先週は変でした。　　I had a test I was studying for; I was going to take it on Friday, but the school didn't send it, which made it difficult to take. I've been trying to get in touch with the school to make certain that I do receive the test and am able to take it, but it seems they won't get any correspondence until Monday, which means I won't be taking the test until at least Tuesday. I tried really hard to explain this to my Japanese teacher in Japanese, it took me about fifteen minutes, but I finally got it to a point of understandability. We're going to see Last Samurai on Wednesday evening after my Gambro lessons.

As you may have read, on Thursday my computer decided it wouldn't no longer accommodate usage so I was forced to reinstall everything after using Linux to clear my partition tables and such. Ah sweet Linux. Anyway, reinstalled Windows and everything is back in working order, and I also got rid of my three different installs of the Java SDK. I had recently purchases an external hard drive and had already placed a fairly complete copy of the C drive onto it, so I didn't lose that much data, just about a day and a half trying everything else before deciding at last to reinstall. Anyway, I'm studying through the internet, and I have to participate in discussions. This past week we were supposed to be reviewing our material for the exam, but I was spending it repairing the computer. Luckily, I had Lynx and participated in the discussion through text based only. Luckily we only have to do three posts to the forums so I posted three moderately helpful points and then vanished to complete the fixing of the computer. I finished at about 10 AM on Friday, two hours before my exam, had it arrived.

At some point in the repairing I managed to get ill, so I spent most of the day asleep, and then went to Japanese lessons in a less than aware state. Still, it was fun. We went to dinner with K and R from しがらき. I'm not even going to try the Kanji for that. I talked to K about the reinstalls and such while R and The Wife talked about other things. After lessons R from 水口 came with us to Saizeriya, a local Japanese-Italian place. They have 100 yen drink bar.

Anway, we discussed work ethics and psychological problems, which got me wondering about the occurrences of alcoholism in the States compared with Japan. The reason being, I read an interesting article from the Heritage Foundation about taxes and spending. The Foundation is fairly conservative, so be aware. For example, they are hailing the creation of 57,000 new jobs as proof that the economy is improving, but according to a report in the Arizona Republic, states that 150,000 new jobs per month are necessary to keep up with the labor force. A report on CNN states that 200,000 to 300,000 jobs a month are necessary to significantly reduce unemployment. Now, it must be stated that, 57,000 new jobs is better than it was last year, it is certainly less than the 306,000 jobs per month that Bush said the tax cuts would create. Anyway, to the article, the author, Brian M. Riedl, makes some interesting observations, which I agree with, but also I questioned. He states that Western Europeans make 40% less than Americans, and they lose about 50% of their income to taxes. I haven't checked those statistics, but I will be doing so shortly. What I was interested in was, say, Germans get six weeks required paid vacation as starting employees, or the French work 35 hour work weeks, what is their standard of living, not just income, but their enjoyment of life compared with say America and Japan, two countries that believe the longer you work, the better employee you are?

We talked a bit about this as well as the nature of hikikomori, that strange psychological disease only found in Japan. R's new special someone deals with "handicapped" children. I find it interesting that they call the people they do "handicapped." I've had to teach one "handicapped" class and they were more willing to participate and in general had a better retention level than the normal classes. This isn't handicapped, this is different. For all I can tell these were normal kids, who for one reason or another just didn't fit in so they're given their very own, "handicapped" class.

Saturday was fun, even though I still had my exam hanging over my head. The Wife and I took a date to Kusatsu, me to study, she went to just read for fun. That old Mastermind game, six colors, four slots, 1296 combinations, just in case you were wondering. I had Apple Cider, Mmmmmm! We met R from しがらき and had dinner with him at the ロテーリア, at least that's how I think it is spelled. When we got home, I forgot to tape the K-1 fight that was on public television because I was watching Simpsons episodes on the computer.

The Wife sang in a choral concert on Sunday, and I went down with her. While the choir was getting ready I wandered around Parco and the Starbucks, I think they sell coffee there. I spent some time in Tower Records inside the Parco and they had a great deal, The Early Works of Andres Segovia, I should have picked it up, and when I returned it was gone. BLAST! They also had a great Kishidan display. Kishidan is a band that I think I could like. They have the necessary amusement factor. After enjoying downtown of scenic ぜぜ I headed to the concert which was wonderful. The Kyoto Symphony Orchestra played for the choir and the conductor was a show to himself. Imagine one of those toys that when you press the base of the toy they collapse, and when you release they snap back to standing, that was the conductor. I don't know how they made such a realistic toy, but then again this is Japan where you can by the man-sized Gundam toys at the local Heiwado.

I got an e-mail from JMU, they couldn't send me the exam because everything was shut down due to a massive storm that hit the East Coast, I will be taking it tomorrow for certain.

Perhaps you will remember the discussion I had with Dr. Turner about higher education. That particular conversation has stuck in my mind because just recently, when I was checking the ACM job site, I noticed that there were two professorships available at Calvin College. This struck a chord with me because had I entered Grad School straight out of college, I could be teaching at Calvin, which for me drove home the point that those in higher education shouldn't really stand on their pedestals, mostly because I don't feel I would have anything to stand on.

I've been having some really bizarre dreams as of late, but unfortunately I can't recall the whole of them, but the most recent had something to do with highschool, but what I can't rightly recall.

I would like to say, that if you are able to, pursue your passion. One thing I admire about Ender is his drive. I would like to say I have the same drive, for different aspects, but that same desire to do what you would feel comfortable doing rather than what other people feel you should do. One thing I hated hearing in college was, "Oh there is a lot of money in computer science these days." That would be great if I was studying computer science for money, or if I was studying what people perceive as computer science..."My printer is broken, could you please fix it?" Ummmm, no, I don't care about fixing printers. I think it would be the same as telling Ender, "Oh you can get a great job in business with Japanese," I think that this would be one instance where he could probably beat me in a fight. Oh, threw 1000 punches today to start warming up again, had to wait until The Wife went to bed. Anyway, passions; The Wife told me if I died she would probably become a Nun because she wanted to help people. I told her if she died I'd become a Monk, for Shaolin. That's not to say I'm a great martial artist, just that if I had no more responsibilities I would most likely follow that path. So, when Ender says, "I want to be a rock star in Tokyo," I say, "Good Luck, if you need a place to crash, our house/apartment is open." Anyway, here is to drive and passion. Speaking of which, University of Edinburgh e-mailed me a few days ago. I'm pleased, I've been in a fair amount of correspondence with them and I'm hoping to attend their CS school for my Phd. Well, I"m off to finish up my studying.

Thoughts
I'm heading to Kusatu with The Wife, study Date. I will write more when I return.

Thoughts
I've been working on fixing my computer for almost 24 hours. It works again thanks to Linux and a reinstall of windows. I need new a hard drive. I am now going to sleep. Final tomorrow, or maybe the day after, it depends. he he he. Sorry, not much here today, but I'm beat.

Thoughts
Okay, so if you didn't get the last post, The Super Station, not TBS, but The Super Station here in Japan, is airing Knight Rider episodes as well as Macgyver. It is really quite astonishing how terrible Knight Rider is/was. When I watched it in the 80s I just wasn't aware at all on how bad it was. I know this is probably breaking with orthodoxy, but it has to be said. I guess the biggest problem, or perhaps the saddest thing, is that an inanimate object is capable of out acting David H. Also, wow can that car can do everything. Combination locks, no problem, safes, easy as pie, walking upstairs, well, they're working on that. I mean, there really isn't a reason to have a human actor in the show at all. What really strikes me is the similarities between Knight Rider and Riding with Death, a doomed TV drama that was spliced together into a feature film staring Ben Murphy and a disgusting cracker that always seemed to have spittle smeared liberally on his lips. "That abbey, she's some gal." I like the plot outline, "Dimwitted, meaty guy foils criminals by turning invisible." As always, best when viewed through MST3K. I'm done studying for the night. I had been banging my head against a problem for a long time when I realized that I had skipped an iteration of the algorithm. Things like that annoy me to no end. I am not a computer, I don't want to do things like a computer. It is also already Thursday, which is awesome because it means that my exam is tomorrow, which means that the weekend is fast approaching.

I took all the recycling out yesterday. It isn't something I enjoy, especially since last month we missed it and moved it to our veranda to get it out of the way. It then decided to rain for 60% of the next month, filling the bags of recycling with yummy water. It was only half sorted so I spent about two hours sorting through soggy cardboard and half-filled cans. MMMmmmmm, Oichi dechu ka? I did get it all out though, so we won't have a collection of stuff all December and January.

Music: I'm listening to Sonic Youth and Marzuki. There is just something about Sonic Youth's music that I find most amusing. A lot of what I listen to has nothing to do with liking it, it is a sense of amusement I get from it. The Youth have this way to pull out a coherent melody from the most beautiful cacophony. Marzuki is a band I enjoy listening to, alas, they went the way of Class Action, though Sufjan Stevens was a member of the band, if you happen to know who he is. They all work with the independent lable asthmatic kitty. I'd like to get some of Stevens' albums, but, sigh, priorities in money and all that. Oh, I also started an Amazon wish list, not for actually getting anything, but as a way to see what my own desires are. It has been interesting, but also time consuming, and I'm not near completed yet. Going to bed now.

Class Action!
Class Action is my new favorite band of all time! The great mix of Michael Knight and Stevie make for a great sound. With K.I.T.T as their mixer they turned out some really great hits and were on the cutting edge of music, some of the first musicians to use the digital format for their music. I know they won't be considered in anyone's top bands of the 80's but with Michael Knight's performances in Australia and Stevie's career with the band before Knight's arrival they were able to merge into that beautiful, stereotypical 80's pop rock sound. What really sets them apart is their explosive moves on stage. Their moves infuriated gun toting thugs, but luckily the sound man, K.I.T.T, was able to know when the gig was up and shut down the show before the ultraconservative rioted and then smuggled drugs. Their personal body guard, who failed to protect Knight's predecessor, took care of the thugs, but that cost Class Action their career. Stevie left to form a solo project and Michael returned to the foundation. Alas, one of the greatest bands of the 80's is lost to us because of the NRA and lack of handgun control. Luckily the DEA was their to seize the drugs though, thanks to the quick thinking action of Class Action!

Thoughts
This is sort of inline with the previous idea. It is the idea of, why do I feel that some of my friends are growing, but others are staying the same. I've moved around quite a bit in my life and I still keep in touch with several of my old friends, some of them I don't worry about stagnating, but others I do. This is supposed reinforced by talking to the people that I feel are attempting to grow; people that are in touch with the people I'm worried about. I want to hope for the best, but my nature is to fear the worst, that way, when it doesn't happen, I'm pleasantly surprised. I guess you could say I'm an optimist through pessimism.

Tonight I went on a date with The Wife. Tuesdays are usually very busy for both of us. The Wife sings in a choir in Otsu and I have a private lesson. I canceled all my lessons for this week for my upcoming finals, so I had free time. We met in Kusatsu for dinner before she had to run to choir. She still isn't back yet, but it was nice to see her for a while on a day where we usually see each other when we get up and then only again when we go to bed. Looking at that last sentence makes it seem that we actually get up and go to bed together most of the time. Regardless, after she left for choir I headed over to get coffee and study. Two and a half hours later, I was four chapters through my seven chapters a night study session. It was then when I realized how much I enjoyed it. Not just the studying, but also the alone time. I have quite a bit of it, but usually it takes me getting up and out of the norm to really enjoy that time to think. This time it was focused primarily on probability theory, but I do enjoy my thinking.

I was talking with a Dr. Turner about a month ago. Dr. Turner is a London based physicist who was giving lectures at the University of Kyoto. Very interesting man, can't say he was pretty, but he was interesting. We talked a bit about higher education and the problems there of, and he mentioned something I was perhaps aware of, but not thinking, and that was the concept of ego. He stated that quite a few problems in getting people to even begin higher degrees is the thought that they cannot do it. Many people holding advanced degrees lord those degrees over "the lessers," and speak with authority about such things without taking into account that they had to go through a process to get to that point as well. I think this has to do with the fact that most people are frightened of being proven wrong, or worse, stupid, and so they hold onto those degrees for validation of the fact that they are not, in fact, stupid. This, however, hurts the general process of education. It is important, I believe, for students to believe that they are capable of the sort of intellectual discussion that is expected at a higher education level. It is equally important for the teachers to realize that they can facilitate learning by sharing the process in which they learned, as well as the necessary information. Process are those things are not a part of the subject, but part of learning, things like, this is how I did my research, these are the mistakes I made when doing this, etc. Equally important on both sides, not to believe that you have learned all there is to know on a subject. I think this is why there is a publish or perish principle in most schools of higher learning; it spurs teachers to continue to research their topics. I don't necessarily think that learning has to continue in a single field though. I guess if things turn out in certain ways and I end up a professor, I don't want to just focus on my "area." I want to explore other subjects as well. I figure, if we've got an average of 70 some odd years, might as well make use of it; instead of using education as a means to an end enjoying it for what it is.

I swam today. It was a good swim, about 2000 meters, in 50 meter chunks. I swim during the day, so typically there are quite a few older people in the pool. Usually they'll let me to a lane by myself and I'll swim distance, but it was exceptionally crowded today so I was sharing a lane. I usually don't like swimming in 50s, especially because it usually means I'm swimming slower than my normalized speed, but today I just enjoyed a nice "relaxing" swim.

Gaming Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier, I'm preparing to run some demo games when I return home. The games are going to be set in the Hero Wars setting. A friend of mine mentioned something about a story based, introduction to Glorantha, book, and said it was very poorly written and poorly edited as well. This is something I have noticed about the new books being put out by Issaries as well. It seems to mostly focus on their fiction and background books, though the primary rule book also had major misprints as to the effects of some of the abilities. I know that they are for the most part fan produced books. The point of the new game itself was that fans kept clamoring for more Glorantha, but I do think they should increase the quality of their editing as well as writing standards. I still really like the character creation and contest resolution systems, so I'll continue to play the game. The game world is also very interesting to me as well. It reminds me of a game world that I'm creating myself, slowly, which is based in dark bronze age mythology. I have a lot of people interested, but very few finished characters for the games, so I'm going to be doing some pregenerated characters for people that want to just jump in. I think they'll be fun.

Not much happening in the PBEM, we introduced two new PCs, roughly, but its done at least. I like having people that post, it makes my job easier. The characters are buying supplies before heading South for the Tribal Market in an attempt to find out why the Lunars keep sending troops to the South as well. Should be interesting.

Thoughts
The Wife and I are preparing to go "home," for the holidays. I say "home" rather than home, because I'm not really certain where I would call home. I have some serious fears about change and friends. I have a thought that says, everything is good for me when it happens, but dwelling on that overly long holds me back. I guess it has to do with the battle of being in the present, while using the past as a guide and looking forward to the future. I don't want to dwell overly much on either the future or past, but each one is necessary for my present condition. I guess I worry that friends I know will expect me to be something I am no longer. Usually those fears are allayed by serious contact with people in the past. Unfortunately it seems that serious contact is very difficult to come by, and so I fear that my friends will believe me to be something I am no longer, because perhaps I see them the same way. It isn't much, but that's about all I've got running through my head right now.