Not too long ago--er, maybe a year ago, knowing how long it takes me to blog some things-- Makku (that's McD's for those of you outside of Japan) had macha McFlurries. I love macha in my food. Greeny catechin goodness.
Related: Catechin Coke.
Showing posts with label things I want/miss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label things I want/miss. Show all posts
October 14, 2009
Pic of the Moment: Macha: Green McFlurry
Not too long ago--er, maybe a year ago, knowing how long it takes me to blog some things-- Makku (that's McD's for those of you outside of Japan) had macha McFlurries. I love macha in my food. Greeny catechin goodness.
Related: Catechin Coke.
July 23, 2009
February 25, 2009
Biohazard 5 Japanese Commercial
Hey it's Chiaki Kuriyama (the girl that played Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill)! And she's playing with... whassisname from all those dramas... little help here? Anyways, as he gives a little assist, the CM says "ふたりでバイオ". Futari de Bio means "[Play] Bio together". Of course you may know Biohazard as Resident Evil if you are from an English-speaking background. But the Biohazard title sounds cooler with that creepy guy's voice (towards the end of the commercial--as far as I know, the say it in all the games at the title screen), which reminds me of a video I have to post soon...
September 12, 2008
Tell Me How to do People Stuff
In this post I turn to you, the readers, because you have common sense and I don't.--case in point: Today I finally decided figure out how to pay the rent in this country. That's right, for three years, stuff just happened for me and I didn't really know how, because I had kind keepers. I guess I've done 振込みs before, but this was the first time to pay rent by them for me. End digression with double hyphen in 3, 2,...-- So, my question for you, gentle reader, is:
How do I realize my dream to work in the Japanese book industry and design book covers and layouts? Should I break down and go to grad school some where? Should I just teach Eikaiwa after I finish at this little language school, and hope an opportunity comes to me somehow? Should I get a job in the mail room at a Japanese publisher and work my way up? Should I dust off my old graphic design portfolio and hope no one asks why the only thing I've designed in the last 4 years is a blogspot layout (yes this one). I'm not sure.
Seeing the principal advising all the students here each day, who are much younger than me on average and just looking to begin their college careers in earnest, has me thinking about my future. I am, though poorish, debt free at this point in my life, and I didn't like academia the first time around. Don't get me wrong, learning and studying are some of my favorite things, but I draw to much attention to myself in a classroom environment, and that can cause teachers to polarize towards or against me. And then these very human people control my fate and wrack me with stress and emphasize things they care about over what I want to learn. Messy. But I guess that's part of life, eh? Dealing with people and their highs and lows. It can be beautiful, but...
This post reads like I am autistic, doesn't it.
--
Then I have the other dreams to do something involving the Japanese movie industry too. And even a dream to just work in a rice field somewhere, like this guy. Or own a bookstore. There are tons of things I want to do in Japan. I have a friend thinking about coming back to Japan and marrying his girlfriend, then owning a restaurant. That would be awesome.
How do I realize my dream to work in the Japanese book industry and design book covers and layouts? Should I break down and go to grad school some where? Should I just teach Eikaiwa after I finish at this little language school, and hope an opportunity comes to me somehow? Should I get a job in the mail room at a Japanese publisher and work my way up? Should I dust off my old graphic design portfolio and hope no one asks why the only thing I've designed in the last 4 years is a blogspot layout (yes this one). I'm not sure.
Seeing the principal advising all the students here each day, who are much younger than me on average and just looking to begin their college careers in earnest, has me thinking about my future. I am, though poorish, debt free at this point in my life, and I didn't like academia the first time around. Don't get me wrong, learning and studying are some of my favorite things, but I draw to much attention to myself in a classroom environment, and that can cause teachers to polarize towards or against me. And then these very human people control my fate and wrack me with stress and emphasize things they care about over what I want to learn. Messy. But I guess that's part of life, eh? Dealing with people and their highs and lows. It can be beautiful, but...
This post reads like I am autistic, doesn't it.
--
Then I have the other dreams to do something involving the Japanese movie industry too. And even a dream to just work in a rice field somewhere, like this guy. Or own a bookstore. There are tons of things I want to do in Japan. I have a friend thinking about coming back to Japan and marrying his girlfriend, then owning a restaurant. That would be awesome.
September 9, 2008
Because You Asked
What, you didn't ask? That's odd. No, really, someone was having trouble finding my wishlist, during this, the crucial month of my birthening. Try going here. I'd like some books with the Power Japanese sumo wrestler on them please. Or 1 yen Trick books (on the first page of the wishlist).
Shameless, but I've always considered blogging a job that one can tip on, if so inclined, via comments or what have you. The internet is one giant coffee shop.
Shameless, but I've always considered blogging a job that one can tip on, if so inclined, via comments or what have you. The internet is one giant coffee shop.
June 23, 2008
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
Are the words of Thoreau I believe (I think we could do with one less simplify in there though). While I would love nothing more than to live in a wabisabi little house in the woods, I must bust my chops soon as I move to Saitama and become a student again. The TV is not going with me. And I think the wii must be sold off. I love it, but I don't use it enough to justify it's existence. I've had no motivation to do wii fit either.. I may still buy a wiimote to play emulated games with via Darwin. But it's gonna be hard to find someone willing to pay a fair price for all these games. Other things I may try giving up for as long as standable include internet and cell phones. Doubt I'll get far without those. I'll always find ways to blog though.
This video fits into this post better than the last one:
This video fits into this post better than the last one:
March 17, 2008
Rollplaying in the inaka
I don't know if I invented it just now, but the non-standard spelling "roll-playing" should be used to avoid confusion when asking friends if they roleplay.
As you can imagine, the country-side affords no opportunities for roll-playing, but I may be getting some foreigners that are interested; I talked with some new people the other night.
D&D and roll-playing have a following here (well not here but elsewhere in Japan). There are transcripts of game sessions published and widely read. Even manga and anime have sprung up from D&D sessions (more here).
I am quite excited about 4th ed. D&D; a bit of a shame Gary Gaigax died recently and couldn't live to complain about it a bit. "In my day, we didn't have Cheetos or mountain dew and we liked it!"
Here's some exhibition game character sheets for the new edition. I kinda miss sorcerers for flavor reasons...
As you can imagine, the country-side affords no opportunities for roll-playing, but I may be getting some foreigners that are interested; I talked with some new people the other night.
D&D and roll-playing have a following here (well not here but elsewhere in Japan). There are transcripts of game sessions published and widely read. Even manga and anime have sprung up from D&D sessions (more here).
I am quite excited about 4th ed. D&D; a bit of a shame Gary Gaigax died recently and couldn't live to complain about it a bit. "In my day, we didn't have Cheetos or mountain dew and we liked it!"
Here's some exhibition game character sheets for the new edition. I kinda miss sorcerers for flavor reasons...
March 10, 2008
Existential that, bub
I used to get lonely. Now I think living in a mountain farmhouse would be an ideal existence a lot of the time. Am I a living cautionary tale?
So I am supposed to be an art teacher. That's the backup career. But I am really supposed to be an artist and writer. However, I subscribe to the philosophy that more stuff and a well-paying career won't really raise happiness levels, so I concentrate on being happy as a ESL face.
I have been thinking recently that I surf too much when I should be drawing, writing or studying. Doing something to exercise my talents. Entertaining 14 year olds on youtube doesn't count.
My jaw is clenching even more than the other day. Still wondering if it is stress, or worrying about the future that is doing that to me. Could be unregisterd loneliness stress Today I'll probably apply to a language school...
So I am supposed to be an art teacher. That's the backup career. But I am really supposed to be an artist and writer. However, I subscribe to the philosophy that more stuff and a well-paying career won't really raise happiness levels, so I concentrate on being happy as a ESL face.
I have been thinking recently that I surf too much when I should be drawing, writing or studying. Doing something to exercise my talents. Entertaining 14 year olds on youtube doesn't count.
My jaw is clenching even more than the other day. Still wondering if it is stress, or worrying about the future that is doing that to me. Could be unregisterd loneliness stress Today I'll probably apply to a language school...
December 19, 2007
September 21, 2007
Anyone know where to buy a decent rang in Japan?
I miss ranging. I was fairly good at it the few times I tried, and these empty mountain parks are begging me to go to them. I consulted Linus, but then I realized that the sizes were much smaller than I thought.
For instance:
Looks good, but it's only 20 inches, and that is the biggest on the site.
For instance:
Looks good, but it's only 20 inches, and that is the biggest on the site.
September 1, 2007
Disconnect
It is one of the sad things about life that in any human-to-human relationship you are in, chances are one of you is more invested than the other. And when you realize this imbalance, there is little happiness to be gained.
March 1, 2007
I teared up a little when I found this site.
First, the photo is from Bluemoon. But it's not her site, but rather the site she recommended, that I am weeping for joy upon finding. The Meat Guy. Meat. Cheese. Duck! In Japan! To my rural Saga-ken door!
I wanna cook a duck just like she did.
August 19, 2004
My list
Everyone's doing it, so I took ten minutes to write the top fifty things to do before I die, in no particular order (mostly).
Robert Anton Wilson feels that half the problems in this world arise when people try to make a mark that will allow them to be effectively immortal by being remembered by others. Guess I'm a problem starter.
There is a lot of overlap in these.
1. Write the great American novel
2. Have a nationally published comic series that wins acclaim in the mainstream literary community
3. Create a character that becomes a household name
4. Help establish a utopia, maybe on mars
4. Become ruler of the world, possibly through the Ted Turner route
5. Get married, preferably to a girl who's language I can't speak, so we discover each other without all that superfluous language junk.
√6. Write a story in the cthulhu mythos.
7. Become fluent in Japanese, then 39 other languages as I'm told humans are capable of learning that many.
8. Have one child of my own, then adopt two more from third-world countries
9. Have an art gallery in New York show my work
10. Teach a child that will become the next great artist
11. Resurrect art, as it is dead
12. Create a world wide phenomenon of a movie that will replace star wars in terms of nerdy fanboy adherents
13. Create a theosophical movement that will facilitate dialogue between faiths, creeds and even nations
√14. Never get fat
15. Be called the Charles Atlas of artists/novelists/comicers like Boris Vallejo.
16. Make a comic series that is so successful, that I can have the Japanese make it into an anime.
17. Learn how to play the guitar in such a way as to impress people around the campfire.
18. Learn how to play three songs on the piano in such a way as to impress people at a five star restaurant.
19. Travel back in time and challenge Bruce Lee to a fight.
20. Adhere to the 4 agreements.
21. Learn to control my anxious nature.
22. Find the balance between being mysterious and being aloof
23. When aliens arrive, I will be the person that gets to greet them in the name of Earth
24. Fight zombies with akimbo barettas
25. Have Jonny Dep lean over to me at a party and say, "Okay, Clay. How do you do it?"
26. Star in a major motion picture that doesn't suck.
27. Learn how to constructively assert myself when I have problems with people.
28. Design and buy a zombie-proof house located in Scotland. Said house will have a very large library.
29. Backpack across... everywhere. This will facilitate goals number 7 and 5.
30. Have an opportunity to have my enemies bow before me, then pass it up. Actually, I'd prefer to not have enemies.
31. Have someone say, upon my leaving, "Aren't you at least gonna kiss her?" Then I will look at the girl and say, "nah."
32. Always get catcalls when I'm wearing my swim trunks.
33. Learn how to wield a katana without being a nerd about it.
√34. Talk with strangers like I did during my first year in college.
35. Inspire someone.
36. Impart wisdom.
37. Never stop learning.
38. Expand my vocabulary to incredible proportions.
39. Sell some modern art to a sucker.
40. Achieve a state of zen in which I can ignore my own suffering given any situation.
41. Create a movie called sober master, in which I fight Jackie Chan at an A.A. meeting.
42. Gain a long-overdue nickname.
43. Watch a caribou wander through the ruins of new York.
44. Do my part to help alternative energy take hold, or at least have a hand in anti-matter's successful harvest and isolation.
45. Create the grand unifying theory in the middle working on a crossword puzzle, almost as an afterthought.
√46. Finish this list.
47. Get frozen in carbonite and reanimated in an age when humans have evolved into forms of pure energy.
48. Find satisfaction, and hand a little to Mick Jagger.
49. Stare a guy down in a bar.
50. Add at least ten words to the English dictionary of my own design.
fifty is not enough, I have so much more to do
Robert Anton Wilson feels that half the problems in this world arise when people try to make a mark that will allow them to be effectively immortal by being remembered by others. Guess I'm a problem starter.
There is a lot of overlap in these.
1. Write the great American novel
2. Have a nationally published comic series that wins acclaim in the mainstream literary community
3. Create a character that becomes a household name
4. Help establish a utopia, maybe on mars
4. Become ruler of the world, possibly through the Ted Turner route
5. Get married, preferably to a girl who's language I can't speak, so we discover each other without all that superfluous language junk.
√6. Write a story in the cthulhu mythos.
7. Become fluent in Japanese, then 39 other languages as I'm told humans are capable of learning that many.
8. Have one child of my own, then adopt two more from third-world countries
9. Have an art gallery in New York show my work
10. Teach a child that will become the next great artist
11. Resurrect art, as it is dead
12. Create a world wide phenomenon of a movie that will replace star wars in terms of nerdy fanboy adherents
13. Create a theosophical movement that will facilitate dialogue between faiths, creeds and even nations
√14. Never get fat
15. Be called the Charles Atlas of artists/novelists/comicers like Boris Vallejo.
16. Make a comic series that is so successful, that I can have the Japanese make it into an anime.
17. Learn how to play the guitar in such a way as to impress people around the campfire.
18. Learn how to play three songs on the piano in such a way as to impress people at a five star restaurant.
19. Travel back in time and challenge Bruce Lee to a fight.
20. Adhere to the 4 agreements.
21. Learn to control my anxious nature.
22. Find the balance between being mysterious and being aloof
23. When aliens arrive, I will be the person that gets to greet them in the name of Earth
24. Fight zombies with akimbo barettas
25. Have Jonny Dep lean over to me at a party and say, "Okay, Clay. How do you do it?"
26. Star in a major motion picture that doesn't suck.
27. Learn how to constructively assert myself when I have problems with people.
28. Design and buy a zombie-proof house located in Scotland. Said house will have a very large library.
29. Backpack across... everywhere. This will facilitate goals number 7 and 5.
30. Have an opportunity to have my enemies bow before me, then pass it up. Actually, I'd prefer to not have enemies.
31. Have someone say, upon my leaving, "Aren't you at least gonna kiss her?" Then I will look at the girl and say, "nah."
32. Always get catcalls when I'm wearing my swim trunks.
33. Learn how to wield a katana without being a nerd about it.
√34. Talk with strangers like I did during my first year in college.
35. Inspire someone.
36. Impart wisdom.
37. Never stop learning.
38. Expand my vocabulary to incredible proportions.
39. Sell some modern art to a sucker.
40. Achieve a state of zen in which I can ignore my own suffering given any situation.
41. Create a movie called sober master, in which I fight Jackie Chan at an A.A. meeting.
42. Gain a long-overdue nickname.
43. Watch a caribou wander through the ruins of new York.
44. Do my part to help alternative energy take hold, or at least have a hand in anti-matter's successful harvest and isolation.
45. Create the grand unifying theory in the middle working on a crossword puzzle, almost as an afterthought.
√46. Finish this list.
47. Get frozen in carbonite and reanimated in an age when humans have evolved into forms of pure energy.
48. Find satisfaction, and hand a little to Mick Jagger.
49. Stare a guy down in a bar.
50. Add at least ten words to the English dictionary of my own design.
fifty is not enough, I have so much more to do
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)