scribbles

The Beginning of the End

Welp, tomorrow is my last final for the semester! I've just been kinda' sitting around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for Friday to roll around so I can take it.

Actually, yesterday I was rather bored. I had Junichiro Tanizaki's Naomi lying around, so I read it. I read In Praise of Shadows by him for my Japanese Culture course; there were a few things from Shadows that reflected in Naomi. In particular, there was one part where Joji (what a pathetic guy!) is commenting about the shadows on Naomi's skin. Anyways, it was a good read, and I enjoyed it, despite its morbid and depressing ways; surprisingly, Joji's tone is quite jovial while he's telling the story!

Heh, I e-mailed my Japanese Culture professor regarding what I thought of Naomi, and she remarked that all of modern Japanese novels are depressing. So that got me to thinking: where are the modern Japanese *female* writers? It seems to me that all of these famous J-writers are men writing about depressed, sexually repressed men.

Also, after finishing Naomi I felt like getting my hands a bit dirtier, so I went out and got myself Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; I know, I know, I said I'd read Hardboiled Wonderland, but I felt like getting this one first, so foo! I also picked up a copy of Dave Eggar's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; look, see, I am sort of true to my booklist!

I've gotten about 70 pages into the Murakami, and it's OK so far. This is my second Murakami (first was South of the Border, West of the Sun), but I'm starting to notice a few things about him: he really likes to keep that sense of mystery going on, like purposely putting in things that happen that seem random but will mean something later; and he seems to start out really slow, making the first parts of his books seem sluggish (in not necessarily a bad way!). Anyhow, a friend once commented on him being a Japanese Milan Kundera; I'm not so sure I'd say that. The tone may seem somewhat similar, but Kundera really pulls you in fast and then throws you around while you're in there. Murakami is more on building suspense.

Hmm, maybe I should study just a tad bit before the final.

Fainoru no Toki, Spring 2002

Heyo, it's finals time; but of course, that didn't stop me from going to watch Attack of the Clones last week. Whee! Speaking of copying, before my Japanese final, my sensei asked us all to show our palms to make sure we didn't write cheats on our hands (hehe!). She's such a funny character, and she gave me a little sumo clay sculpture too. :D

Also, China is saying they can get
a man on the moon by 2010. I personally think they can do it; they have the motivation and the ability to develop the technology. They want to show the world that they can do this: it's a matter of pride. What's more is that they want to build a moonbase up there. Now, what I really like about this is that it's like telling the US: "Hey, we're gonna beat you folks." I get a feeling that if China keeps going in this direction, the US is gonna be forced to start moving its space program instead of slugging along the snail it has now. Let's hope the fat cats in DC start feeling the heat of competition (again).

And here's another bit, I recently came upon this interesting piece of monetarium:

Think you've got all of what's been in my head? Ha! Think again! I was wondering if there's a better way to design bottles. You know how when you get to the bottom of shampoo/lotion bottles, there's always that smidgen at the end that you just can't get. Of course, you can (like I do) turn the thing upside-down so next time everything will be conveniently at the "good" end. But, what about designing bottles in such a way that you don't have to do clumsy upside-down turning and still be able to get every last drop? Perhaps there can be some sort of simple air pressure system within the bottle, or perhaps the inside of the bottle can be coated with some slick substance (of course, that still won't ensure that *all* of the stuff will get out). Hmm, something to think about.

Geekin' it up

Last week, I expressed to one of my professors that I had interest in working with a group of EE majors in helping with the software part of their MicroMouse project. Apparently, SFSU won the 2002 MicroMouse competition at UC Davis! Whee! Anyhow, I'm gonna be twiddling with a little chip called an A-Engine (Am188ES), and the team I'm in is using these things called step engines (*scratches head*). Looks like I'll have some goodies to play with this summer. :)

Speaking of geeky things, I'm gonna go watch the 12:01 showing of Star Wars: Episode II tonight (erg, tomorrow morning)! Geek power!

The Japanese Presentation

Every student in my Japanese class is required to do a presentation in Japanese. Some people did show-and-tell. My sensei suggested that I present a current event. Well, I read Mainichi News on a semi-regular basis, and I consider them to be a pretty legitimate news source, so I thought it'd be good to get something from there. Anyways, I found out this Monday that my presentation was the next day (Tuesday)!

Well, at this point, I didn't have much time to find too much, but I'd recently stumbled upon a very interesting article on Mainichi. I wrote up a little bit of stuff in Japanese and presented it on Tuesday.

The reactions I received were a mixture of shock, anger, and (what I'd hoped) laughter. I'd like to point out there was one girl in the class I call Ms. Druggie (yes, she's actually a junkie) who found it respectful to tell everyone not to clap.

The next day, I arrive and Ms. Druggie is talking like they were just already talking about something and raises her voice to say "you know, personally, I think yesterday's class was pretty nasty." I respond with, "Ohaiyo Gozaimasu! :)"

What's funny is that on Wednesday, on the shuttle back from school, I hear some guy telling this other guy the whole presentation I gave. I guess word gets around quick. :)

u p d a t e - 05.10

Ms. Druggie did her presentation today on the movie Battle Royale, and it was stopped short by the sensei because it was too violent! Ha!

Skewered Meats and Cider Drunkery

I was beckoned to join a group of fine Chinese immigrants (aka F.O.B.'s) for a BBQ today, so I went along. It was a new type of crowd, and a new kind of environment, and it was fun! Sure, I really couldn't talk that much (poor ABC boy like I can't say too much), but it was cool nonetheless. Sometimes, I wanted to say something, but didn't want to say it in English, and I ended up not saying anything cause I couldn't figure out how to say it right. Foo!

Anyways, I was going to play Mahjong with them tonight, but I had some problems with my car, so I wasn't going to risk getting stranded. Also, I had something planned for 9, which leads me to...

Later, I went to the Albatross with some folks. Hey, you can see Chiosinh with me. And also, Vince was there; he ended up drinking four glasses of cider, and we had a good time playing darts, pool, and fondling the statue. Ah, goofballs galore. :)

Break the Fast, Feel the Power!

On monday, I woke up after eight hours of sleep, crawling out of bed and slugging my way to school. For some reason, I was still tired! I know that perhaps it was because I'd slept too much, but I was convinced it was something else: I needed to eat breakfast!

So, the following day, I awoke some 30 minutes short of usual to prepare and consume a turkey sandwich (mmm, turkey); for the rest of the day, I felt like a million bucks! I did it again on Wednesday, and, again, I got the same results. Thursday, again. And today, the same.

My adoring fans, this is a goldmine! I shall use this newfound power for good!