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.