October 28, 2002

Surrounded by Rising Suns

Tonight, there was a showing of the original Japanese version of The Ring at school. Oooh, scary scary. I think I liked Dark Water better, though. We had like a small clan of Japanese 103 students there; what a bunch of freaks we be.

I am experimenting with a new way of studying my Japanese. Here's what I do. If I'm studying new vocabulary, I imagine that I'm in a theater and I concentrate on an English word being in big bold letters on the screen. Then, the word slowly fades and is replaced by the Japanese equivalent. I do a similar trick when studying Kanji, but with those I do this thing where I visualize the connections between vertices in the character. So far, it's been working quite well. It's sort of a psychological trick I learned while doing some of the people thing--basically, building associations between things in the mind.

I've established contact with my Japanese conversation partner now. Hey, maybe one of these days I'll be able to hold a decent conversation! I'm excited!

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October 27, 2002

Post-Hell Weekend

Welp, it was a hard week, but it seems that I've made it out alive. And after it was over... it was time for a nice break!

Yesterday was Red Bull's Flugtag in San Francisco (well, yes, I guess there was also that anti-war protest there too). There were a many-good number of folks there, and it was all a barrel of laughs. I especially enjoyed one group's flying squirrel contraption as well as another group's good use of surgical tubing to project a man on a skateboard... and of course, the Austin Powers group with their giant martini glass of a flying machine.

Sometime afterwards, it was time to trek to San Lorenzo for Sean's halloween party. I originally wanted to dress as Mao Tse Tung after finding a place that sold replicas of his hat, but I couldn't find a shirt/jacket that would work. So, I abandoned that and just disguised myself as a Chinese man. I'll be sure to get pictures up for all of you, my humble servants, in due time.

Somewhere in-between there, the Giants lost game 6, but we won't talk about that.

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October 23, 2002

Send in the relief Ivan

I am currently in the midst of a Hell Week.

Sunday night, I took a trip into San Francisco's mission to view a couple of films that the San Francisco Film Society were showing at the Roxie: Dark Water and Inugami. I was scared.

Monday night was orientation for Barnes and Noble. Yay, I earned $15 for sitting around and filling out forms for 2 hours.

Tuesday night, last night, my paper for Japanese History was due. There were a few small problems, however: I hadn't finished reading the Tale of Genji and Tale of the Heike, the primary sources for my paper; and I didn't have a clear idea on what the heck I wanted to write. But, fret not, my dear fans! 17 years in the institution of education didn't teach me nothing: I was able to finish up the 6 page (pssh, child's play) paper by 4:30am when I only had 2 paragraphs at midnight and also a thesis revision at 2am. I am mastah.

So, that brings us to today. Today, I had an important lunch. Tomorrow, I have to perform my skit for Japanese. And tomorrow night, I've got first day of training for B&N (whee!). And, oh crap, I have a midterm for Kanji on friday.

I shall face Hell head-on. Foul beasts and demons, beware!

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October 15, 2002

Shigito suru

Peet's Coffee didn't want me. Walden Pond didn't want me. All those bastard on-campus jobs didn't want me. But now, my talents may be properly used at the new Emeryville Barnes & Noble. Yes, folks. Last week, I applied for the job with a simple interview. Yesterday, I received a call to go in for the second round of interviewing. I call today and setup the interview for an hour later (I wasn't doing anything important anyways, pssh, who needs preparation?). I get there, and I am the freakin' king: no question is beyond the magnificent stride of my rhetoric and wit. I am master of the universe. She is impressed; she is charmed. The awesome skills I've learned from the people thing came in considerably handy. Anyhow, I think I was pretty much set from there: she just needed to call a reference and get back to me. A few hours later, I get a call, and I got the job. :)

Oh, what do I do? I get to work the espresso machine and all that other cafe serving goodness. I am thrilled!

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October 10, 2002

The Talented Mr. Ripley

The weather in the Bay Area has decided to get back to its old self again: spontaneous changes from hot to cold! And with it, I caught a few germs along the way, but I'm nearly fully recovered.

The A's lost. :(

After snuffing out Computer Science, I started looking into fields such as Communications, Film, Broadcasting, (hmm) Japanese, and all the fun stuff at my school. Well, a friend from class is studying in the Industrial Arts program; I've added a new prospective to the list: Product Design.

Too much video-gaming can be hazardous to your health.

There is some "new" lemon technology.

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