Esprit's Ponderings

Vampires in the 21st Century

2009-09-20T16:56:00.002-05:00

Vampires are all the craze now. The general public has bitten into them like a vampire bites into a young hot blooded human, with pure abandon. What started this craze? Some may say that Twilight kicked off the this sudden interest in vampires. If you mention vampires, especially to a female teen, the first thought will likely be Twilight. Twilight was released in November 2008. Now, if you are up to speed on the latest shows on the air right now you will know that there is a cable TV series called Tru Blood, which follows the southern belle named Sookie and her vampire lover Bill. Tru Blood started airing as part of the new Fall 2009 lineup, about two months before Twilight was released.

So Twilight theoretically did not start the vampire craze that has infected much of the general population now. Though, admittedly this new found interest in vampires did get a good push from Twilight.

Vampires have become the new cash cow in movies and television. In fact Twilight has grossed (according to BoxOfficeMojo) about $380 million to date. Tru Blood has started its second season and the CW network has released its own teen vampire series called Vampire Diaries.

Vampires are popular now, but the answer to 'why' has not been answered yet. Let us backtrack a little. Back in 1997 Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released. Immensely popular, Buffy staked vampires for seven seasons, with the series ending in 2003. In the Buffy series, a brooding bad-turned-good vampire named Angel was so popular that he received his own spinoff series named Angel, in 2000. Angel fought evil for five seasons, ending in 2004.

Because Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first vampire TV show that I remember, and remember being popular, I will use Buffy as the baseline for modern vampires. So from the beginning of the series in 1997, vampire shows have been around for over a decade. But with the ending of Angel in 2004 there was a bit of a gap between vampires then and vampires now. If you slide over in to the movie realm to see what the big studios did with the popular vampires back then you will come across Underworld, led by the stunning Kate Beckinsale. Underworld was released in 2003, with a sequel (2006), and prequel (2009) in subsequent years. We can safely say that after the original Underworld and definitely the sequel that the vampires sort of limped along for a couple years.

Glide ahead a couple years and we land in the middle of today's vampire craze with Twilight and the upcoming New Moon release dominating the female teen age group and True Blood dominating the male 18-35 age group. An interesting fact is that Twilight and True Blood are based off of books. I would guess that the popularity of the Twilight book series got the attention of some movie producers who then bought the rights to turn it into a movie.

On the topic of books, I will say that I am immensely amused by this whole vampire craze. The general population have jumped onto the vampire bandwagon like it was something new. From a literary perspective they are sorely mistaken. I will borrow a term that is often used in vampire books; new bloods. New bloods are vampires who have just recently been turned into vampires, vampires that were once human. Everyone who suddenly became interested in vampires with the release of Twilight and Tru Blood are new bloods. New bloods are people who have not read any books are decided to read the books after seeing the movie or series. The real fans are the ones (like myself) who have read notable vampire authors such as Laurell K. Hamilton, J.R. Ward, Kim Harrison, and Anne Rice.

I am curious on how long this vampire craze will last. I hope it ends before all of the Twilight series are turned into movies.

Staying in Contact or the Lack Thereof

2009-05-23T22:33:00.002-05:00

This is a rant, because it is nearly midnight, and the later it gets the less restraint I have when it comes to speaking my mind.

About a week ago I called a friend of mine, left a message to give me a call back. She has yet to return my call. This person has admitted to me on several occasions that she is bad at returning phone calls. That is, anyone outside of family or someone really important. She will eventually give me a call, often two or three weeks later, and usually lead off with the fact she is horrible at returning phone calls and apologize.

She is not the only one. I know a couple other people (girls in fact) that have also said the same line of "I am bad at returning phone calls." when I call them and they do not return calls for weeks on end. They know they are bad at it, I have been told they have had other people tell them the same.

Do they do anything about it? No. It is a bad habit that annoys and polarizes the people that try to keep in touch with them. What kind of message are these girls giving their friends? Basically: "You are not that important, and I will call you when I have nothing better to do or the guilt finally gets to me."

Honestly I do not know why I even bother talking to them anymore. I guess I really have already written off two of them, and the third and last is well on her way. Perhaps it is just me they do not want to talk to. That is fine, but taking the cowards way out and ignoring a person is simply uncouth and onerous. I hope that their other 'friends' also decide to stop calling, and then these girls will realize they have no friends outside the one 'best friend' and family. Not that it will fix their bad habit.

Just one more example why most girls are too bothersome to deal with.

The Value of Friends

2008-06-05T20:30:00.003-05:00

As we go through this complicated dance, this dance of Life, we are bombarded with changes, continuous stream of different emotions, happiness, sadness; the ups and downs of our existence are forever in flux. But in this chaos we are enveloped in from birth to death there are a few things that we can count on the solidarity of. One of these things is friendship. Friendship is the pillar of strength that we all need, no matter how strong you are.

Friendship is talking about a good book or enjoying a sports game together. It's about being a good listener or blazing the trails on a bike. We need friendship as much as we need air to breathe. People may say they are strong, they do not need friendship or companionship, but they are wrong. Everyone needs a friend. Everyone.

Friendship is a broad term. Friendship is the base of the bond you have with your lover, your amour. Friendship is also what you have with your pets. Friendship is the connection you make with your... for lack of better terms... friends. You know you can rely on them, you know you can trust them, and you know they are there to set you right when you have gone astray. They are the lodestone to you finding yourself again when you have gotten turned around in this complicated world we live in. They are the proverbial lighthouse when you are lost in the stormy seas of life. It keeps us sane when everything else is driving us to insanity.

Having a friend or friends truly makes a positive difference in your life.

Revisit of Some Favorite Picture of the Day Submissions

2008-04-18T18:59:00.008-05:00

Our diligent forum host is busy putting Fantasy Essentials onto a new server so that we may have speedy access to our favorite threads once again. This also means that people cannot submit any new pictures in the Picture of the Day thread. We must wait until the server goes live and our forums are returned to us again. While we wait, I have decided to go back and post a few pictures that I have enjoyed posting more than others.

I hope you enjoy seeing these favorites again as much as I do as I go back to my folder, from time to time, where I keep all my pictures that I have posted over the years and those that I have not posted yet.

Chances are most of you will not see this blog entry until the forums do go live again and I direct here, but a few of you may wander by here, perhaps while you wait for FE to come back to us. Click the pictures for the larger version. Enjoy!

MoonKey
Artist - Olivier Ponsonnet

The Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath
Artist - Marta Dahlig

Hajieelkhe
Artist - Linda Bergkvist

Naga Dance
Artist - Camille Kuo

Peacock Woman
Artist - Jiri Adamec

Luna
Artist - Jang Seong-hwan

Food is Trendy?

2008-04-10T18:04:00.002-05:00

Today I ate out with some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings, BW3's. After ordering our meals, the server came back with our drinks. I had ordered a water. I took a sip of water from the straw only to discover that the water tasted brackish and hard, not sweet and refreshing like water should be. I stated this discovery to those around me and one tells me I should get a soda or iced tea. Water is what I drink mostly and I avoid soda / pop because it tends to makes you thirstier and it is not good for you. And the last time I had iced tea, I added more than five packs of sugar to it, before it was sweet enough to my liking and then it did not taste all that great after all.

This a paraphrased version of the conversation that went on after telling him my preferences:

Friend, "So you only drink water, and nothing else?"
Me, "I drink mostly water, but I also like - "
Friend, "Don't tell me it's Crystal Light... " (pause for response)
I opened my mouth to give a positive indication, and did not even get a word out before...
Friend,"... it is, isn't?! You are like my grandma, drinking crystal light."
And with sarcasm, "It only has 5 Calories per serving."

He proceeded to tease me of drinking it for a minute or two longer.

All this while, I am sitting there thinking "What's wrong with drinking Crystal Light???" I tried asking that question, but either I was not heard over the loud atmosphere or my friend chose not to answer. I did not need his answer though, because I knew that there is nothing wrong with drinking it, even if his grandma drank it.

Has food become trendy? Are certain foods limited to a specific generation, like Crystal Light? I did not think so until today. But it seems from my friend's comment, certain foods and drinks may have association with a certain age group and it is a social faux pas to consume it if not in that age group. Frankly, I think that is ridiculous. If a grocery store sells it, any age group should be able to consume it, whether prune juice or baby food. You may get odd looks if you crack open a jar of mashed pears, but you should not with something like Crystal Light.

My friend needs to get beyond such silly notions of avoiding food stuffs based on age groups.

Note: I'll probably avoid Crystal Light now, because it contains aspartame which is a somewhat controversial sweetener.

No Lights, Camera, Action! Round 2!

2008-01-20T21:39:00.001-05:00

Digital cameras are great things. There are so many creative ways to use them. One of these ways is using them for long exposures. Long exposure means the shutter is kept open longer than what it would normally stay open as compared to taking a regular picture (e.g. of your pet). This weekend a friend and I did our second photo shoot utilizing long exposures. We went to my parent's house, where there is little to no ambient light at night and took long exposure pictures using various light-props.

I will let the pictures do the talking. Below are some pictures, with captions explaining how they were taken. I recommend clicking the pictures for the larger version, as these small thumbnails do not do the pictures justice.

My friend stood in place as I used a blue LED light to draw wings and horns around him. Ideally it would have been red, but blue was easier.

This picture came from the idea of 'holding' a ball of light or energy, the way sorcerers or other magical beings do. I 'created' the ball of energy with a few of the light props and then exposed him with a spot light, otherwise you would only see the ball of light.

We set a time delay and ran into the woods to run around with lights. My friend drew the word 'HELP' with a red LED light. Without any other ambient light it is difficult to see the trees.

The blue LED spells the word 'HAUNT' and the white is supposed to be a ghost. It is not an easy task to 'draw' words in the air. You have to have good spacial awareness of where you have 'written'.

After a few successes with 'writing' in the air, I could not pass the chance to 'write' 'REDRUM' in the air, from the Stephen King novel The Shining. It spells 'murder' backwards, in case you did not get it.

A smiley face, well, because I wanted to draw a smiley face.

I brought some LED Christmas lights with me and after hooking up a few extension cords we were able to use the string of lights in the view of the camera. The word is 'rainbow', because there are many different colored lights.

I like skittles, so I tried to write a little more. The 'writing' took a little longer, that is why the image looks a little different, the exposure time was about 45 - 50 seconds.

Spinning the LED Christmas lights and running around the field of view, crazy.

The string of lights were wrapped around my hand, so that they were in a kind of ball, and I was able to spin my arm around to get this effect.

This time the lights were spun in a couple different directions; lasso around my head, spinning around in a circle facing the camera, and then a kind of figure-eight type spin.

As I was preparing the props for the next round of pictures, my friend let the creativity cut loose and did a series of exposures of his face. He would turn a flashlight on, exposing his face, then turn it off again, moving to the next spot to repeat the process.

This is another one of the face-light pictures, I particularly enjoyed the expressions on his face.

The next set of pictures introduced our most favorite prop yet of these type of pictures; fire. Inspired by a picture from a slow-synchronized flash image of a guy spinning a torch, my friend and I decided that we needed to try a torch too. A stick was wrapped with strips of old cloth, tied down with wire, and doused with lamp oil. The torches stayed lit for five to seven minutes. A bucket of water was prepared in case something caught fire. As you scroll through the pictures I would urge you click the images for the larger version, the beauty of the flame trails can not be appreciated at such a small resolution.

This as the first picture of the lit torch, I did not know what to do, so I just waved it around.

The torch was saved around in pattern of circles, if you look close you can see faint shadows of my arm waving the torch.

Again, the torch was spun in circles, you can see how the fire light me up and I was expose to the camera in a series of blurred poses.

This picture is neat because of the way the fire paths go behind my friend and he appears to be in the middle of the flame path. He moved his arm around so that the torch reached behind him.

The torch was spun in wide circles before being brought back down to the ground. The patterns the fire makes is very neat.

In the spur of the moment, I drew a pentagram, which some people believe is a symbol of evil. The effect is even better by the partial exposure of my face. I have to admit, the picture is a bit sinister looking. I apologize to those who may take offense to such a picture, it was done for artistic purposes only.

This picture is reminiscent of the LED angel wings I drew on my friend earlier.

My friend and I were so enthralled by the first set of fire pictures, with one torch, that we needed more pictures, and this time we made two torches. Here I am holding both torches lit, which gives the appearance of my caught on fire.

Again, not knowing what to do with myself and two torches, I made some circles which made some neat flame trails.

Two torches, spinning circles across the field of view.

My friend had me stand in this pose while he used the torches. We were both impressed on how amazing the picture turned out, giving the appearance of me being on fire. My friend started on the right side of the picture, drawing the flame trails around me and then exiting on the left side of the picture.

I took the torches and spun around in a circle to make it look like I was in the middle of spinning flames. I got dizzy and stumbled off the field of view.

No! The torches are dying! Quick, wave them around frantically for one final shot!

After the last set of torch pictures were taken, it was getting too late to do any more shots and after experiencing the euphoria of the fire pictures and not wanting to go back to LED pictures, we called it a night, already planning the next photo shoot using long exposures, with even grander ideas. Of course there is fire involved.

I hope you enjoyed viewing the pictures. What you saw was not all the pictures that were taken. What you saw were some of the pictures that turned out better than others. With every one good shot, there were two or three not so good shots, but that is simply the nature of photography. Each picture had an average of 20 seconds of exposure, ranging from five seconds to 30 seconds, except the 45 - 50 second exposure picture.

Feel free to comment, either on the blog or by email, I would like to hear what you thought about the pictures.

-K

Rumors, Gossip, Hearsay, and You

2008-01-11T23:07:00.000-05:00

We all grew up with it, rumors, gossip, and hearsay; people talking to people about other people. I can remember it back in elementary school, but I was not nearly as attuned to it as I am now, and by no means do I consider myself well versed in such methods, but I have certainly been exposed to a lot more of it through my high school and college years and even now. Let me start out with a few definitions:

Rumor (ru·mor) n. - 1. a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts 2. gossip; hearsay

Rumormonger (ru·mor·mon·ger) n. - One who spreads rumors

Gossip (gos·sip) n. - idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others

Hearsay (hear·say) n. - 1. unverified, unofficial information gained or acquired from another and not part of one's direct knowledge 2. an item of idle or unverified information or gossip; rumor

The definitions pretty much go full circle, with 'rumor' covering 'gossip' and 'hearsay' and then 'hearsay' leading back to 'rumor'. Combine the definitions, and gossip, hearsay, and rumors are defined as a story or statement in general circulation, about the personal or private affairs of others, often without confirmation of certainty of facts. That statement sounds pretty awful. People talk about other people's private lives, not concerned with the real facts, and the more 'juicy' the facts, the less people care if it is the truth or not.

Rumormongering, spreading rumors, is rude and bad mannered, and can cause rifts in friendships and relationships. But friends still gossip and listen to hearsay without considering the feelings of the person or group they are talking about. Rumors often come from one person who hears small detail about someone, thinks it is worth telling to friends and embellishes it, usually adding their own prejudice or feelings into this small detail. The most common rumors and gossip is about other people's relationships; who they are dating, relationship status, relationship problems, etc... The type of details that are none of their concern. Knowing the details about your friends' relationships is a privilege, not a right, and that privilege should be exercised accordingly (meaning, not telling everyone who have no need to know).

People who gossip and rumormonger about other peoples' relationships and lives have no business doing what they are doing. If a couple decides to discuss their private life with friends, they will tell them about it personally, you should not be discussing the private affairs of your friends behind their backs. I am not saying it is savvy to talk about their affairs when they are present, but at least they can stop conversation or verify details about their personal lives if they are present.

I will concede that gossip can be good, but more times than not, gossip and hearsay is hurtful to someones' feelings. I have read books where peoples' lives are destroyed by an errant rumor, I have witnessed, in real life, the havoc rumors and gossip can have on groups of friends. I admit, listening to gossip is thrilling, and certain gossip can be harmless; telling others about someone receiving an award or talking about someone's acceptance in a prestigious academy. Those examples are harmless gossip and are fine to talk about. The type of gossip and rumormongering that is not savvy, is talking about an argument you overheard between friends, who are dating, and then making gut judgments on their relationship, with no facts to back up the judgment. The next thing you know, that gossip you talked about has turned into a malicious rumor and people start getting hurt. In the first place, you had no business overhearing the conversation, and you have even less right to discuss it with friends and make conclusions.

In the intelligence community hearsay has little to no credibility, when it comes to intelligence gathering. And in personal lives; even if it is given little credence, it does not make it any less hurtful.

So, next time you overhear a choice tidbit of information about your friends, pause and think if it you have a right to tell others and if it can hurt the person whom you are talking about.

Ciao,
-K

Does Such Love Exist?

2007-12-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

Reading many books and novels, I have come across a type of love that you may find hard to witness in our current time. It is that love that springs from sharing dangers and harrowing experiences together, a kind of love that is so wonderful that it is painful. I will give you an example of what I mean. I was recently reminded of the movie Stardust, based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. In the movie, there is a scene where the girl confesses her feelings to the boy she loves:

"Yes I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable, and strangely easy to mistake for loathing. What I am trying to say Tristan, is that I think I love you. My heart... it feels like my chest can barely contain it, like it doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs to you, and if you wanted it I would wish for nothing else in exchange; no gifts, no goods, no demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you love me too. Just your heart in exchange for mine."

It has been a while since I had heard such a touching confession. And it is that type of love that I am talking about, the type of love that is fully given without pause, despite knowing the person for less than a week. Less than a week! A fairy tale love is what it sounds like, but it is that type of love that any romantic may hope for. Another example that comes to the forefront of my thoughts is from a book I am currently rereading. In the fantasy novel, after being rescued by an adopted kitchen boy, a princess of a duke, falls helplessly in love with the boy. A few excerpts:

"She took a long breath, then softly added, 'That's why I think I love you. You could never be false with anyone. Least of all with yourself.'

She came softly into his arms, holding him tightly her face resting on his shoulder. 'Never, Pug. I could never care for another.'"

Skip forward most of the book, where a close friend talks about her after she finds out Pug has been captured by enemy forces and presumed dead:

"Roland looked at the Princess, seventeen years old just this last Midsummer's Day. No longer a petulant little girl given to outbursts of temper, she was changing into a beautiful young woman of thoughtful introspection. Few in the castle were unaware of the many nights' sobbing that issued from Carline's suite after news of Pug had reached the castle. After nearly a week of solitude, Carline had emerged a changed person, more subdued, less willful. There was little outward to show how Carline felt, but Roland knew she carried a scar."

Two years was the rough time difference between the first excerpt and the second, two years she spent harboring her love, a love that still remains, because that love would turn her into the woman she will become.

It was that unconditional love, that seeded and budded during such harrowing times that you will be hard pressed to find in society anymore, where much of society's youth have many dalliances and trysts that are for the most part meaningless. Harsh words, but it's true. And if love develops, it is not the love that is created in such a pure fashion, a bond that is neigh unbreakable. Oh sure, love exists in many wondrous forms, and can rival the love that I talk about, but what kind is it? Is it a connection between two people that cannot be explained? Or is it because the couple has such mutual interests that love is formed from that? Maybe, but it is not the same. There are too many people who do not know true love and the evidence of this ever present in society, with divorces, cheating spouses, broken families, etc.

Another quote I think will help close out this entry:

"There are many ways to love someone. Sometimes we want love too much, we're not too choosy about who we love. Other times we make love such a pure and noble thing, no poor human can ever meet our vision. But for the most part, love is a recognition, an opportunity to say, "There is something about you I cherish.' It doesn't entail marriage, or even physical love. There's love of parents, love of city or nation, love of life, and love of people. All different, all love."

People need to read more fantasy novels and understand what love really is, or see what love can be, because the love I read about, is amazing.

A Weekend and an Observation

2007-10-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

This entry starts with no title, in hopes that it will come to me as I compose this. I really have no solid topic. The inspiration probably comes from a few things I have seen in the last few days that made me giggle a little to myself. I do hope this does not sound rant-ish.

It is interesting, 'it' being defined as an event or a multitude of events with a singular or pairing of connections, that the amount of touch a person may desire is, whether it is for lust or simply to, for lack of subtlety, to mark their territory. I have read enough books, seen enough movies, television shows, and real life experiences , to be facetious enough, to be able to reflect on the interactions of two people with a degree of confidence, maybe.

What I saw recently, and made me giggle a little, has to do with what I wrote about in the previous paragraph. When someone owns something, and desires that ownership to known, they often indicate this by touch or holding, or something along those lines. For example, a child who happens upon some sort of sweet and discovered with it will often clutch it to themselves and declare 'Mine!', to indicate ownership. Of course when it comes to people, it does not quite work that way.

Someone won't go up to their amour or sweetheart and grab, declaring 'Mine!' (unless it is an over dramatized scuffle between two girls and one guy, whom they both like). It is less dramatized, but not necessarily subtle. When a guy, who is interested in a girl, sees another guy who he perceives to have a similar interest in that very girl, he will often show the other guy, by 'marking his territory'. No, he does not pee on the girl, that is disgusting. It is shown by touching.

The touching will often come in the forms of a playful shove on the shoulder, a hand on the small of the back to lead the girl in a certain direction, or simply standing close. The touching may even extend to an excuse to hold the girl, such as throwing over the shoulder, or simply picking up, to tease or chide. In small amounts, this is normal, but when done in rapid succession, it indicates his particular interest in the girl, it may even be considered flirting. Call it what you will, but it is also done to show the other guy (or guys) that this girl is his, exerting his dominance.

When sufficient attention of touching has been shown, and the girl has not completely shied away from this attention, he will feel like he has 'marked' his territory and will be confident to let her leave his presence, confident that nothing will happen. Of course this confidence is boosted when the other guy, the rival, does nothing and makes no move to touch, hold, or initiate any other physical contact with the girl.

I think I was considered the rival, perhaps, but whether that was true or not, I saw what I saw, and it amused me.

This sums up my short entry, and I have not come up with a title for this blog.

Update:

I was talking with a friend and she asked if guys really have that sort of mindset, being 'territorial' so to speak. I think it is (since I wrote about it), though I have seen it in a more confrontational mode and some would akin it to the jealousy mindset, but I do not think it is as severe as jealousy. If it were that bad, then you would have something as extreme as the Axe commercial, where one girl sprays a male mannequin and another girl walks up to it seductively and the first girl pushes her back shouting "Get away from my man!", except the genders would be reversed (think 'Get away from my woman' ... of course then you get into the whole problem women not wanting to be seen as objects to own... but that topic will be left for another day).

Ciao,
-K

Follow Up: Friends Who Will Remain Friends

2007-09-12T20:40:00.000-05:00

Almost two years ago I wrote an entry in my blog that talked about friends who you made in college, that would remain your friend after you graduate. Now that I have graduated and it has been about four months since graduation, I thought I would follow up on that post I made somewhere in the middle of my college life.

In case you do not remember what the entry was, or you did not know about my blog at that point, the link below leads to the previous entry...

Friends Who Will Remain Friends

The part that I am referring to, is the tangent portion, and the part I would like to take a closer look at was somewhere in the middle where I stated:

"When you are in college or highschool, you meet a lot of people, and you get to know their names and maybe even learn a little about them as you progress through classes with them. But there are some people who you won't remain in contact with after you leave the institution you are at, whether high-school or college. Yes, you may have worked together, and laughed about the same jokes, and hung out, while at school, but beyond that, nothing. Then there are those friends who will still remain your friends after you leave. You may not see them all the time, but you'll stay in contact via phone, email, or what-have-you. Those are your friends, the difference between calling someone your classmate and your friend."

And then:

"... of the 30-40 odd acquaintances I had at high-school, my classmates, there are less then five I probably stay in regular contact with and call my friend. The same will happen in college ... "

About four months later, my prediction that I made two years ago, is more or less true. At the moment, there are less than a handful of classmates who I stay in regular contact with, and even some of those are a singular effort on my part. It is kind of scary, do you not think? I spent five years in college and only came away with a handful of real friends?

Now I would like to extend that to you. Can you name more than a handful of college classmates who you can call a friend; with whom you stay in regular contact with, whether it is real life, internet, or phone? Just out of indignation, you might say 'yes', but take a step back, I am not trying to be flip. How many classmates are your friends?

I found it was an interesting observation to make.

Ciao,
-K

Do You Really Have A Cellphone?

2007-08-05T20:02:00.000-05:00

"I'm going out with some friends from school tonight."
"What are you doing?"
"Hanging out, maybe catch Independence Day at the Dansberry."
"Okay, be back by 10 this evening, or you'll be grounded."
"Yes mom."
"And take your jacket, it might rain."
"Yes mom."
"Oh my friends are here, they just pulled up, bye!"
"Remember, be back by--"
*door slams*
"-- ten."

Does that sound familiar? Okay, maybe you could not be caught being seen in theaters watching Independence Day, but hey, Will Smith was popular back in the 90's.

Fast forward a decade.

*your pocket vibrates and a catchy series of tunes plays*
"Hey."
"Hey."
"What's up?"
"Want to go catch the newest Pirates movie?"
"Sure, who's going?"
"The gang, the usual people."
"Cool, meet you down there at eight or so."
"Cool, later."
"Later."
*stuff phone back in pocket*

Does that sound familiar too? If you did not catch the difference, that was the difference between when we had cellphones and when we did not have them. Perhaps your conversations played out cooler than that, but probably not.

Many of us, where 'us' is defined as graduates from high school around 2002, got our first cell phones near the end of high school or the beginning of college. It was convenient and nice to be able to make phone calls anywhere, if you had signal. But, cell phones have morphed (think Power Rangers and when they fight the big monsters, except the opposite direction) into a device that does 100's of functions. But the underlying function still remains, calling people and receiving calls. We rely so much on cell phones, that landlines are becoming unnecessary, with in-calling, free nights and weekends, and enough anytime minutes where we do not need the extra fee of a telephone at home.

However, are cell phones really the convenience that we are lead to believe? No... no, no, no! But why 'no'? Well, let's start with the misnomer 'cellular phone', which to most people means a phone that is small enough to carry around on one's self. When someone tells you to call their cell, you immediately think that they will have it with them, and that you can reach them easily. That is a false image for most people anymore.

I know people that are nearly impossible to reach, even though they have a cell phone. Either they never pick-up, they never listen their voice mail, or they choose to screen the call. When I am not trying to reach those people, I often get to call a group of people that rarely pick up on the first call. They either have the phone on silent, on vibrate, or it is simply not on them. Then there are a few that actually pick up most of the time, those are rare of course. And no, I am not calling in the middle of the day. It is often evenings or weekends when they should have their cell phones with them or nearby.

What is the purpose of a cell phone when you do not pick up, you do not keep it on you, or just do not bother to care to answer calls? Sure, you can be in a movie, or otherwise busy, sometimes. But for those who rarely pick up, is your life truly busy that much that you cannot spare half a minute? I doubt it.

So my rant moves to advice. Your cell phone is there so people can reach you easily, keep it with you as much as possible, or have it on a loud ring if you leave it in the other room. If you ignore or think that you will call someone back later, then think what the other person feels, when they call time and time again, unable to reach you, without them knowing that the person sees their missed calls and listens to the voice mails? What if they have a good story to tell you, or some tragic news, or some funny incident to tell you that happened at work? When you call back three or four days later, that person will be like, "Oh yeah... never mind." and bam, you have inadvertently burned someone. Perhaps you can try answering and ask if they can call back later, it takes less than a minute, and if it is the night or weekend or in-calling it will be free. Or if you have a text plan, have a Quick Text of "Saw you called, will call back soon." and it takes less than 20 seconds.

Bottom line: You have a cell phone so that people can reach you, stay mindful of that.

A Day in Sweden

2007-06-17T15:49:00.000-05:00

IKEA.

Still confused? I suspect half my friends know nothing of what that word means. It is the name of a Swedish furniture store that is raved about among homemakers. I will not go into the history of the store, because I do not know it, and it would prove of little interest to you. It has strong roots in a few cities around this country, and the heart of it, is Chicago. Chicago, Illinois is the home of not one, but two IKEA stores, and the one to the north is the second largest IKEA furniture store in the world; the largest being in Sweden, of course.

This weekend, I drove up to IKEA, for the first time, with my parents, who are veterans of the store. My mom is an IKEA fanatic, to put it lightly. Since the discovery of the store, my house has undergone a transformation. My mom is German, and for whatever reason, she is very particular about furniture here in the US, preferring European style furniture (which makes sense if you think about it). Before, our house could have been considered to be furnished as Euro-American, but that has changed to a dominance in European furnishing, with a slight hint of American styling.

Getting back on topic, I went to IKEA this weekend to find a bed and desk for my new place, and I brought my camera. I will post a few thumbnails that link to the photo album, click the link to get to the album. There is even a picture of me, attempting to look sinister.

This is the IKEA store, as you drive in from the main road.

The place is huge, three massive floors of furnishings. The second and third floor has all the furniture and furnishings on display. Each display item has a set of tags on it, describing the item, and more importantly a row and aisle number. If you want to purchase an item, such as a bed, you go to the first floor which is like a warehouse, containing the items that the second and third floor had on display. Most is self-service, you go down to the first floor, grab a cart, and with your shopping list, you find the items that are all neatly packed away in boxes, awaiting assembly.

A view of all three floors. You can see the boxes of furniture on the first floor. An island with walkways leads you to the lights / lamps section.

We spent four hours in the store and we really only spent time in the bed, bathroom, desk, and kitchen section of the store, sampling each section only. I could probably could have spent twice as much time there, especially in the kitchen and tableware section, looking at glasses, plates, pots and pans, and other useful kitchen and eating items. Yes, I enjoy that stuff, because I like cooking, and I like to make things look nice, especially if I have guests eating. You need the proper utensils, from start to finish, to make a proper meal.

This view shows about a third of area for kitchen stuffs, table ware, and furnishings. Glasses, mugs, plates, utensils, are all there.

A nice thing about the store is that you do not even have to leave the store, if you are hungry. The third floor has a restaurant with Swedish food, including Swedish Meatballs. The first floor has a quick meal place, such that you find at baseball stadiums, and even a small food area, where you can buy authentic Swedish food-stuffs. Bathrooms are on each floor. You can spend all day at the store, like the store owners intended.

When are finished shopping, and you have paid for your items, there are even convenient loading areas where you can pull up your car and load the big boxed items into your vehicle. Workers are available to help you jam your newly acquired furniture into your car.

Two guys loading an item onto their car, at the loading area, that is too big to fit in the car, as it was too full with the other boxes they had bought.

By the time we left, my feet were tired from all the walking around and looking. Content with our purchases, we left after a meal at the restaurant on the third floor, helping ourselves to the cookies that were marked "Free milk & cookies for kids." Next time I visit the place, I hope to see more of Chicago than the inside of IKEA. I would show you pictures of the new items I got, but they have not been assembled yet. :)

Ciao for now,
-K

Are You One of Those People?

2007-05-16T21:18:00.000-05:00

At this risk of making people mad at me, I will post this...

Are you one of those people that reads jokes forwarded to you, and laugh to yourself, and then continue on with your day? Are you one of those people that gets a link in your email or you are told to visit it, and you do, and then do nothing except keep it to yourself. Do you never respond to links, jokes, or other non-personal e-things?

You just think to yourself, 'Oh, that was neat.', or you laugh to yourself, or you think 'Ugh, weird.', never to let those comments reach anyone else's ears except your own? Do you not think it is odd that you do not respond to the person who sent you the e-link/message/joke? Do you think they are all rhetorical, and that you should not bother to send something in return, that they'll somehow think that you are thinking what you are thinking, that you subconsciously think they have some kind of ESP that can understand what you are thinking without them actually knowing, and so your need to respond to them in the physical world is not needed?

In reality, they never ever actually receive your thoughts of amusement, disgust, or impassiveness. They have no knowledge that you even opened the email. Does everyone live such jaded lives that they cannot bother with a simple response, that you mind-numbingly go on to the next email and revolve around your own little world? Yes, harsh words, especially when I am somewhat of a hypocrite, since I can answer yes to most all of the questions I asked in the couple paragraphs before this. Are people's lives are oh-so-busy that they cannot seem to spare a moment to acknowledge the person who sent them something or link to something of interest?

Let us take a personal example for instance. I sent out an email about a comedic explanation concerning quantum physics. I sent the email to 12 friends. I do not get a single response... not one. Wait, I take that back, I got one auto-response telling the person was out. Did each one look at the email and skip it? Did they even bother to open it? Heck if I know. Should I have written in the email, 'tell me what you thought'? I thought that it was courteous to respond to someone who was nice enough to share a bit of something they enjoyed. I guess my internet manners are set too high and I should not expect such things from friends.

Another example, I had a link in my Gmail status message to some pictures I took. I am pretty sure that many people saw the link and might even have clicked it. At the risk of sounding high-minded (or is it too late?), I can say that those pictures were damn cool and that I am sure that others thought they were damn cool too. In the nearly five days it has been online (almost all day and night), only one single person has said anything. You know how happy it made me? You probably do. When someone acknowledges something you are proud of, something you spent considerable amount of effort on, that is the feeling I got when that person told me the pictures were damn cool. Of course, some people might have thought to themselves that the pictures were damn cool, but I do not have ESP, so I have no clue what they thought.

Perhaps those two examples were fuel for this blog, but they were mearly the catalyst for something that has occurred to me for quite some time, that people do not thing it is worth their time to respond to a friend.

No, it is not like I want everyone to be like; 'that was super cool' (super is said with a French accent, pronounced sue-pair), but a comment here and there is surely appreciated, and I am sure that when you send out something that is funny or weird or interesting, that you would like some kind of acknowledgment of appreciation too.

So next time you get an email from someone or a forward, perhaps you should try and respond with a comment that takes you less than ten seconds to compose and send out. You will make that person a little happier for actually responding to them, I mean, they are friends after all. If you remain impersonal to them, you will drift apart when you no longer see them after they have left for jobs not near you. That excuse for being too busy sure wears thin after the umpteenth time of hearing it. Where it may be true, you surely are not always too busy.

Respond to emails, you will be surprised on how far a response, that takes less than a minute to send out, will go.

I am sure to have raised the ire of my friends, but I am trying to say something that encompasses not only me, please remember that.

Ciao for now
-K

Watching the Clouds

2007-03-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

As a kid, did you ever look up at the sky and let your imagination run wild as you looked at the clouds? I do, and I still do now, but not as often as when I was a kid. You saw anything and everything in those clouds, from creatures such as fish, deer, and ones you could not name to houses, cars, and other fantastical constructs. It did not matter what shape the cloud was in, your mind could always think of something that the cloud would be shaped like.

Now though, graduating from college soon, to start a new chapter of my life (scary, huh?), and you find you are too busy to really take the time to relax and do nothing. There is always something you should be doing, whether it's studying, doing work for your organizations, looking for a job, or practicing your Australian accent. You might find that you are not able to relax, you have been so busy for so long that when you really can relax you might not be able to relax properly. I know some people would deny that they do not know how to relax. Relaxing can be anything that you personally find relaxing; drinking a cup of tea, reading a magazine or book, hitting the trails with your mountain bike, or spending time with your friends or family. But what about watching the clouds like when you were a kid?

Imagine a rolling field of grass, as far as your eyes can see. The grass is green, lush, and soft to the feet. As you breath in you inhale the sweet fragrance of spring, a fresh smell of grass and flowers and clean air. A soft breeze sends ripples through the grass, making the vast field look like a green ocean, rocking gently underneath the touch of the of wind. Wild flowers such as foxglove, lupine, morning glory, and flox are scattered in patches among the grass. The only sounds you hear are the whispers of the wind as they pass through the blades grass and the occasional twirping of a bird. It is a warm day out, you are comfortable wearing shorts and a t-shirt, neither too hot nor too chill and the humidity is just enough to wrap you in its warm embrace. The sun shines down on you, warming you through and through. You look up to see clouds, white and fluffy, gracefully floating through the air, casting large shadows on the field as they pass by. The ground is soft and yiedling and when you lay down in the cushioning grass, you are comfortable as you stare up at the sky and clouds. You are relaxed.

That is the type of relaxing I can imagine. Unfortunately such a place would not be the easiest to find. I do not think I have had the experience to find such a place here in the states. I have come really close to such a field in Europe. I am sure such a place exists in reality, but not near any city. I would encourage anyone to find such a place and just sit back and stare at the sky, letting the rays of the sun warm you, and let your mind wander as the breeze carries your consciousness to the clouds. The clouds will be shaped to my imagination's desires and the sky will become my imagination's playground as it creates creatures and things that only I can see.

One day I will find that field and relax. But for now, I will let my imagination continue to do its work and dream up wonderlands in my mind.

The Night An Engineer Dressed Up

2007-02-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

Last night was the culmination of Engineering Week, the banquet at Music Hall, downtown. It was only my second time attending, last year being the first year I attended the banquet. It was not a good night to be out and about, the weather was horrible; rain, sleet, and the onset of night was not a good combination of conditions to be driving in. But my resolve prevailed, (and the fact that I did not really care about the weather) I drove to Music Hall. I was there a little early to help Mike out with a few last minute things. When I arrived (on time) everything seemed to have been squared away already. After saying my hello's to Char & Mike, I took the chance to look around, admire the decorations, and take a few pictures before all the other guests (and my friends) started to arrive.

The DJ was still setting up, the tables were set, and the food was being laid out on the serving tables. I was relatively hungry, and all the food that was visible was not helping things out, so I moved away to quell the tempatation of acquiring some food. I did not have to wait long before the first bus from campus arrived dropping off people, including a large group of my friends. They were all fancied up too; the guys wearing sleek suits and the girls wearing alluring dresses, quite the change when compared to our usual wear around campus. Compliments were passed around, pleasantries were exchanged and coats were checked before making our way over to a table. There were too many of us to sit at one table, so we managed to split ourselves among two tables. I sat with Mike, Carley, Adam, Emily, Dusty, and two others that I do not know. Emily, Dave, Andy, and Stacie sat at a table next to us with some others that I do not know names of either.

After the dust settled in the scramble to getting seats, the mingling began. Casual chit chat was had, some went to get some of the appetizers that consisted of chips, veggies, and dip. I wandered around talking intermittently to friends. I went up to the entrance, where Roy and his wife and Janie were kind enough to check ID's and give out bracelets to those of us who were old enough to drink. Mike and Char were overseeing everything, answering questions as best as possible and not freaking out in the process. The buses were coming reguarly now and wave after wave of students came in, all fancied up as well. I think we were able to say that we were officially sold out of tickets, after all the final head counts were made, breaking last year's attendance record.

Soon it was 8 o'clock and it was time for dinner to be served. We wanted the the faculty, alumni, and sponsors to go first to get their food before the horde of students befell the spread like the ravenous beasts that we are. I am not sure how well it worked, I might have missed an announcement or three, because I was walking around only to see the people at my table in line and being informed that I could get food as well. Of course I did not hesitate to stake my place in line, because if this year's dishes were anything like last year's, I could not waste any more time. I mean, I had to get through the main course as quickly as possible to get dessert... What? Did you think that I was worried about getting the main entré? Please, the delictable desserts were not to be passed up. Though, the main entré is not to be pushed aside, because it was delicious. This year the entré consisted of two types of salads, one plain and one with a raspberry dressing, dinner rolls, steamed vegetables that consisted of brocoli, cauliflower, and carrots, a cheese sauce that was to die for, roasted chicken, cheese potatoes, roast beef and gravy, and of course one cannot forget about the buttered spiral noodles with 'Shake & Bake'. I might have missed a something, but that is what was on my plate and anything else must have not been appetizing enough for me to give it further thought.

Making my way back to the table, my plate properly laden with food, I sat down to dig in only to discover that if I wanted any more alcoholic drinks I should go now before the bar closes during dinner. Accompanying Emily to the bar, I asked for another glass of white wine (a Chardonnay) and a Screwdriver with a shot of Sprite, per request from Adam. We eventually made our way back to the table, after being waylaid a number of times, and I was finally able to eat. The cheese sauce was just as good as it looked, and it made everything on my plate taste much better. The chicken was a little dry, but with a little cheese sauce, all was well again. The salad was not the greatest, and so I did not focus on it too much, because I doubt that the cheese sauce could have improved it.

After a fascinating discussion about Mike's love of buttered noodles in highschool, we went and headed to the dessert table, which was hidden in the back corner of the hall. There was a lot to choose from, all which looked delicious; brownies, chocolate cookies, cream puffs, mini pies, fresh fruit (pineapple, grapes, strawberries, and cantalope), and lemon bars, with bowls of yogourt spread and a large bowl of warm melted chocolate. My choices were sadly halved due to giving up chocolate for Lent (yes, I'm crazy), but that did not stop me from enjoying all the non-chocolate dishes. Mike could not pass up the chance to tease me about the chocolate though. I enjoyed the fruit & yogourt and lemon bars the best. The creme puff was a little bland and I did not favor it too much.

Just as I was finishing up dessert, the more somber part of the evening began; the speeches and award recognitions. There were a couple of different awards, including the Herman Schneider Award and Professor of the Quarter Award. There was another, that even some friends were in, but I do not remember what it was. The best part of the award and speech ceremony was probably when the Electrical Engineering Coop advisor butchered the Herman Schneider Award's recipient's name that sounded very similar to the last two syllables of 'lasagna' minus the 's'. I'm sorry, but if you nominate the person and then mispronounce their last name, you have to see some humor in it. I almost forgot, the E-week competition winners were announced, but most of us already knew who placed in the top three. The team I was in placed 2nd, five points away from first place. If we had had perfect attendance or went just a little further in the food drive, we would have had clinched first place, but oh well, it was fun and I would do it again if I was not graduating this year. The winning team's captain gave a little victory speech, which was more of an announcement that they were going to blow their prize money on a kegger after the banquet. He really did sound the model partying drunk college student. A baritone voice that seemed to lack intelligence. I am probably being a little harsh, but it's my blog.

After Andrew, one of the three E-week co-chairs, finished stumbling through his little mini-speeches, the dancing was next. Before that there was a round of pictures before everyone threw off their shoes and loosened their ties for the dancing. There was a group picture of the Electrical Engineers attending the banquet, then one for the graduating class of Electrical Engineers, and finally a group picture of the Engineering Tribunal Executives. Nothing really happened during the picture taking, so I'll leave it at that, though I am sure Steve did something.

There is something that I forgot to mention earlier; Jeff was at the banquet. Jeff, the MSA racing fanatic, the one who refuses to do anything social unless it only involves drinking, the one who said he would come dressed in jeans and his most pit-stained shirt if he came at all, showed up at the banquet. He told those who did not know that he had bought his ticket on Wednesday and had atempted to keep it on the down-low, to surprise everyone. It was pretty cool that he came to the banquet. Of course he really did not dance... at all. Well, maybe he danced a little at the end with Char, but he must have been pretty inebriated at that point. Some of us later in the evening attempted to force Jeff to dance with us, but we were unsuccessful on multiple tries.

I am jumping ahead a little though. The dancing began shortly after everyone took pictures. Personally, I am not a big fan of dancing, especially that freestyle type of dancing, because I think I look pretty silly when I do eventually start dancing. It would be pretty boring to sit at the table all night long, not dancing. I had my camera and it was a good excuse to be on the dance floor and not dancing a lot. Janie danced a little at the beginning which was cool, I think I have a video clip of that. The DJ played songs that the majority of people seemed to recognize, which was a little passé, in my opinion. He played the usual songs, like Cotton Eyed Joe, Electric Slide, Electric Salsa, and other late 90's dance songs. Throw in some rap and a handful of slow songs and you have a pretty generic set that does not dissapoint the majority, nor does it make it very amazing. A couple of shining points in the DJ's set was when he played Kylie Minogue's Love at First Sight (per request from Adam in lieu of the DDR competition) and the one and only techno song of the evening, a remix of Darude vs. Robert Mile's Children of the Sandstorm (sample here). To me, that song generated the most energy in the crowd, but I favor that genre, so I might be a bit bias. You cannot blame the DJ too much for not straying from the safe confines of accepted music, but a little variation from last year's banquet would have been nice too.

You have to wonder though, would people dance like they would if they were not as intoxicated as they were? I probably had a glass of wine and few sips of drinks people offered me, the under-developed drinker, to sample, and even though it took me a little to warm up to dancing, I thought I swallowed my humility rather well without the need to be intoxicated. Of course my dancing style is probably an issue as well, but who is to judge someone's dancing when they look just as silly? And what do people really think when they see someone else dancing? Do they mentally judge the person's dancing capabilities? Perhaps some of my friends will enlighten me on that issue.

The dancing went on for about two and a half hours, a long time for dancing, but it seemed shorter, maybe because I was enjoying myself a lot. For someone who does not like the free style type dancing, club style dancing, I thought I covered my bases pretty well, I danced to the fast songs, to the line dances, some salsa, and even a couple of slow songs. Everyone else seemed to have managed too. Even Dave, who hovered at the edge of dance floor, and would do nothing besides mingle with people, danced a little too. I even dragged him through the dance floor once, so he could say that he was on the dance floor and not merely on the edge of it.

When the dancing ended, I was a little disappointed, because it meant that the night of fun was pretty much over and that reality would rush back in a very short time. As the buses started taking the partygoers back, people chatted among themselves, taking a few last pictures, before going their separate ways, either to get some rest or continue the party elsewhere. I was part of the former group, going back to get some rest. I said my goodbyes and left.

Overall, the evening was a blast, the food was delicious, especially the dessert, people had fun hanging out with friends, and enjoyed some dancing. I do hope that there will be more times like this before graduation and I think that others would agree with me.

Oh my!

2007-02-24T01:18:00.000-05:00

What an exciting evening! Wow, simply, wow. Tonight was the Date Auction for E-week, at The Mad Frog. People get auctioned off for dates, and all the proceeds from the auction go to Children's Hospital as donations. I was there to see some friends auctioned off, as well as getting some pictures of all the fun. I was pretty close to the front, near the stage (and a speaker!) so I had a pretty good spot for taking pictures. One of my friends was the MC (Master of Ceremony) to auction off the girls, he read their bios and convinced people to continue bidding. People danced, guys took off their shirts, and more, just to get more money.

Another friend of mine was getting auctioned off and she was super nervous about getting auctioned off, whether it was because she was worried about having people bid for her, or if just general stage fright. She eventually gets on stage and the bidding starts. I started bidding, and soon the bidding became very heated, the amount continuing to go higher and higher. It was crazy and I won! Let's put it this way, the auction came down to two people this way and I had a great amount of support from my friends who were very encouraging. My heart was racing, and I definately was weak kneed, the bass made me dizzy everytime it beat. The girl who I won in the auction, is very well known (she probably had the loudest cheering when she was introduced), and so me winning put a lot of attention on me. People were looking at me and were probably wondering who I was, or if they did recognize me were wondering why I bid so much.

I'm a little concerned about what will happen. I hope I did not step on anyone's toes, I do not even know who I was bidding against. Was it someone setup earlier to be that person to bid so that the girl was not auctioned off to someone she did not want to get auctioned off to? (Actually I found out, and two words... oh dear.) Is she okay with me winning? I think her initial reaction was disbelief, as was the reaction of many others who know me and her. I was not sure how to react, and so I tried to be as casual as possible, but I doubt people really thought that. I hope everything works out okay. The rumor mill is surely working overtime.

Formality of Names

2007-01-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

It has sure been a while since I have blogged anything. The days of inspiration from Psych 101 have long been past and I found that if I was not typing on my laptop it did not feel the same, perhaps my laptop is my 'journal' and without it, I cannot write. Enough of that, down to business. In this blog, I will refer to myself as Kevin Soulchaser, to maintain some semblance of anonymity.

In Japan there is great importance to names. Take the Japanese name Tsumura Tokiko, a girls name, in case you were not sure. You would introduce yourself and then she would introduce herself as Tsumara Tokiko, and since you are simply an acquintance, you refer to her as Tokiko. You may also use Tokiko-san, the san is a title of respect, similar to Mister or Missus. Until Tokiko-san gives you her permission to call her Tsumara, you may not call her that, unless you want to be considered rude and unmannerly.

'Wait a second, we do that here in America, do we not?' That is probably what you are thinking right now. Yes we do, but we do not hold as much importance on the use of our first name. You see it mostly in business or more formal meetings, where someone might say, "I'm Kevin Soulchaser, but please call me Kevin." In an informal setting, such as school or gathering, people introduce themselves by their first names to be amiable and because it is odd to address classmates as 'Mister' or 'Missus'. Even professors who wish to be more personal with students, will let their students know that they can refer to their teacher as 'First Nmae' or 'Professor'.

However in Japan, first names are reserved to kin, very close friends, or relationships. When a girl and guy start going out, often the girl will tell the guy to call her by her first name, or vice versa, and that is considered to be an act of intimacy, not so much in a sexual way, but in terms of being closer. Even in school, classmates call each other by their last names, unless otherwise asked.

I have observed something of this in school too, here in America. I know people who refer to others by their last names. I have had friends refer to me by my last name often, not by Mr. Soulchaser, but simply Soulchaser ("Hey, Soulchaser!"). I do not think that they are doing it the same way that Japan's culture uses names, I doubt they even know that aspect of Japanese culture. But at the same time it is a little true. In college I have a friend who calls a girl by her last name almost all the time. I have heard him call her by her first name on occasion, but not as often as the way he uses her last name. He does the same to a few others too. He works at a place where he is surrounded by a lot of Japanese co-workers, though they have probably adopted the Western style of addressing people and use first and last names like us, so I doubt (and he would vehemently deny) that he has picked up on their culture.

When I think about it, I have done the same, and not just to one person, to multiple people, whether I am talking to them directly or mention their name in passing. I have realized that these are people who I really have not had much interaction with over the last few years, due to the rotation of schedules, despite being in the same class. Did I automatically use the Japanese style of addressing people, and use their last names, because I did not know them well enough? Probably not, but at the same time I did anyways. I do it less now, because I realized what I was doing.

There could also be another reason behind the use of last names, to prevent any confusion on who someone actually is addressing. Last names are more unique and you usually will not find another person with the same last name in the same group of friends, but it is probable that there will be more than one person with the same first name. So that could also be a reason why some of my friends will refer to certain friends, using their last names.

In closing, I do think it is interesting the way we have developed another way to refer to friends, even if it does resemble the way people in Japan call each other. Work may also have picked up on some of this, but it mostly when the boss needs to call someone out, without a doubt on who they may be referring to. Perhaps in time, when people develop a better connection with those they address using last names, they will use their friend's first names more.

Picture of the Day - October 25th, 2006

2006-10-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

The forum admin is being slow and is not putting the Image forum back up. He has not responded to my PM either.

Today's picture,

Click the picture for the full image.

Snow White and the Seven Days of Vacation
Artist - Vo Tran

Comments: I found this one interesting, it's been a while since I've seen a Disney themed drawing, maybe because of copyright reasons artists don't do anything like this. I think it's really neat. Can you name all the Seven Dwarves? (Without searching in the interweb?)

Picture of the Day - October 24th, 2006

2006-10-24T17:08:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my Blog!

Because the Picture and Image forum is not up on Fantasy Essentials, the Picture of the Day posts will temporarily be going through my otherwise unused blog. Once the forum returns, I will move back and create a thread there, especially since picture posting is not setup correctly here, and I would rather change the code of the template. In the meantime, please enjoy the pictures.

Click the picture for the full image.

Legend of the Vampire I
Artist - Michelle Chuang

Love & Relationships in Anime vs. TV Dramas

2006-07-25T19:36:00.000-05:00

As a viewer of both Japanese Anime and U.S. TV Drama, I've found that the mechanics of love and relationships aren't the same. Anime and TV shows typically have the same number of episodes per season, except anime is more consistent. TV dramas typically start their seasons beginning mid-late September/early October, have about a 1 month hiatus for the holidays and continue until May. Depending on the network and the writers you get around 26 episodes, but that can vary. Anime is more predictable in the number of episodes they have per show. You can get 13, 26, or 52 episode shows. That is your typical structure; some shows have 100+ episodes (aka never ending). The difference between TV dramas and anime is that anime shows are pretty much one time deals, once the show has run its course, there no more 'seasons' like in TV dramas, where a network can opt to renew the show for another season. Technically the 52+ episode shows are multiple seasons, except that it's not broken up, just played continuously (one per week). That way, anime watchers don't get stuck with boring filler TV shows as regular shows go into a summer hiatus while filming continues or there is just a break.

I will explain anime love and relationships first, as it's probably the tougher of the two. And I will be focusing on the anime that has more high school age kids, which is typical in teen TV drama. There are so many, many different kinds of anime you can watch. If you look at Netflix, anime has its own subgenres due to the variety. Sci-Fi, Romance, Horror, Drama, Fantasy, etc... so the types of romance also vary quite a bit. Most anime romance & relationships have fundamental rules that you can see through a variety of genres.

The girl typically does the confessing to the boy she likes. Asking the guy out is not very common. Love letters are normal, and a girl usually confesses her feelings to a guy in a letter, or in person via a meeting arranged through a note (letter). The delivery of the note can be done a variety of ways; in the shoe locker of the guy, having a friend deliver the letter to the guy, personally handing the letter to the guy (which usually ends up with the girl running away), or the girl handing him the letter and waiting nervously for a response. After the delivery of the letter, answers to the letter are usually received within a day or two, either on the roof of the school or behind the school, meaning, secluded locations. Of course a guy can confess his feelings too, but a guy writing a confession letter is pretty a-typical. Guys typically have face to face confrontations with the guy blurting out his feelings because he's so nervous and awkward. Face-to-face confrontations by a boy or a girl lack direct eye contact until an answer is given. In either case, the girl or guy receiving the confession usually is shocked, as if they were completely oblivious to anyone’s' feelings. Of course there are other types of confessions, but those are often during times of dire circumstances; such as a culmination of feelings and the girl gets in harm's way somehow and the guy bursts out telling his feelings to try to snap the girl back to reality. Or if the main character guy is on the verge of dating a minor character girl, the main character girl that has been hiding her feelings will blurt out her feelings in an desperate attempt to get the guy, because she had hoped the whole time that the guy would understand her undying love for him simply because the girl talked to him twice, alone.

In anime, physical contact, especially skin to skin contact, is a big deal, whether a girl and guy are dating or not. If a girl and guy's hand would happen to touch, both would flinch and be embarrassed. If a girl stood close to the guy he would appear nervous, especially if he liked the girl. Holding hands is a BIG step, hugging is an even bigger step. Usually a hug occurs only if the girl is emotionally upset and in a sign of affection the guy will hug her, and that hug will initially shock her and she'll freeze up, but only for a moment, then she will melt in his arms and have a real emotional breakdown. A girl and guy dating often will simply wave a good-bye to each other. Another sign that a guy and girl may be involved is if they are walking close to each other. Proximity is important. Then you get to the kiss. It's uncommon to see kissing in anime. But the times you do see kissing it's often very dramatic. It's almost always a first kiss too. You may only see one or two kisses in a series, and only if there is a dramatic romance.

You will not see a romance like you are used to in a TV drama. Romances in TV dramas can be a sub-plot that surfaces as a main plot time and time again, but that's not true with anime. You either have a romance in anime, or you don't. A romance in anime is still a romance if the guy or girl harbors their feelings until the end of the series where some circumstance will make them confess. Unrequited love is almost a given in anime. When a girl and guy start dating in anime, especially if it's a main character, the relationship is pretty solid. It may have it's rough spots, but break-ups are very circumstantial and not common. Romance I described for anime is a basic overview, and it does not cover all types of anime romance, just the typical ones.

In TV dramas, romance and relationships are much more, for lack of a better word, dramatic. Confessions are not like confessions in anime. It's more along the lines of your traditional 'boy likes girl' scenario. If a guy is interested, he will ask her out, either to dinner, to a movie, or something traditional like that. You will also get that 'instant attraction' type of relationships where the guy and girl would be talking or just be standing really close to each other and somehow their lips would have acquired a magnetic attraction for each other and their kissing. In TV dramas, unlike anime, it is not uncommon for the kissing to come before hand holding and hugging. TV producers know that that sort of thing will attract an audience and so kissing is very common in TV dramas. Another plot device that attracts an audience is unstable relationships and break-ups. TV Drama would not get its name if it did not have drama, and the most common way to drum up drama is for teens to have relationship problems and break-up. Whether it's because of another girl or guy, or because they don't feel the 'magic' anymore (aka the kissing is no longer good), a TV drama's relationships will go through many predictable hook-up and break-up stages.

A relationship in a TV drama may start relatively early in the season/series only for it to have a rocky path throughout the entire season. Or two of the main characters will become more and more attracted to each other throughout the season and have a magical episode where they act on their attraction at the end of the season only to start their rocky relationship path the next season. Of course hook-ups always have an episode or two of bliss and happiness, but the producers of the show have determined that that does not get TV ratings, so they always make the relationship become unstable.

Where a relationship/romance in anime tends to be a culmination of the series, in TV dramas it is almost the opposite where relationships/romances start at the beginning of the season/series. In anime, producers aren't typically worried about gathering ratings from a romance; rather, they prefer getting ratings for the uniqueness and quality of the series they created. In my opinion, I think the approach anime takes is better than the way TV dramas work. I prefer seeing a quality series, with good music, good animation, and a good story, rather than romantic ups and downs that are designed to hook the viewer emotionally through shallow plot devices. Seeing a romance/relationship work out in anime is much more satisfying because the characters will go through more normal motions of relationships, doubting their feelings, trying to discover their feelings, overcoming obstacles to approach the person, or simply accepting their feelings for someone. Anime is full of shallow characters, but shallowness hardly ever wins out in anime and the shallow characters are often made fun of for that. It's the personal growth of characters that makes anime romance and relationships better than TV Drama romance and relationships. Of course that's only true of the anime has that sort of aspect in their story line. Anime is able to do more, because they aren't limited by a young actor's abilities, rather they simply have to pull from a vast list of voice actors and the animators can do the acting of a young character that a young flesh and blood actor cannot.

Anime and TV relationships can both be enjoyable, but I find that I prefer anime ones because they seem more realistic, once it's compared to real life romance.

Chubby America

2006-07-20T15:28:00.000-05:00

Gastro-bypass surgery is such a common term anymore. If someone mentioned 'stomach stapling' a few years ago, you'd probably not know what that meant, you may not even know now. Both those terms are surgical processes that aid overweight people get thinner again, by making a smaller stomach. Jenny Craig, Slim Fast, Weight watchers, used to be the common things people thought of when women wanted to lose weight. This was years and years ago, now their are whole aisles and sections of health and food stores devoted to weight loss for men and women. Pills, tonics, elixirs, powders, emulsions, etc... you name it, are available to help you lose weight. Ten years ago you wouldn't have seen such things at your local GNC or health store, at least not in such quantity or variety.

America is fat. There is no way around this, so many Americans are overweight that it has become norm in our society. The other day I was at a theatre to watch the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. While waiting for the movie to begin I looked around and was amazed on how many fat people were in the theatre. I should probably use 'overweight' but that's just prettying up 'fat' as it's more derogatory. I needed to get a drink of water and as I walked down the large aisle on the side, I had to squeeze myself through two fat people walking up the aisle. Of course these people had large containers of sodium loaded popcorn with extra butter on it. There are even butter dispensers... butter dispensers? More like fat dispensers. That fat allows for the popcorn to slide down easy, you don't even have to chew. Of course you chase it down with a gallon of your favorite soda. Fat people are hardly the only ones who eat this stuff, many others enjoy it too. Though, when a thin couple walks in with a large popcorn it seems too much, but on a fat person the large popcorn seems proportional somehow. That’s pretty scary. I can't even finish a third of the popcorn in one of those large bags, it's just too much.

When I say 'fat' you probably imagine some large 400 pound man or woman who is obviously heavier than is healthy to the point where overweight people think the person is fat. True, that's fat, but my 'fat' also includes those who have pot bellies, beer bellies, or who I consider 'chunky'. Not overweight in excessiveness, but are still overweight or fat. Of course I'm referring to mostly adults. What's scarier is a fat kid. Parents should be ashamed of themselves if their kids are fat, it is their fault and their fault alone. They manage their kid's diet and activity, they are responsible. And don't give me that 'my kid is a healthy eater' or 'my kid has thick bones' excuse, it's just another reason to cover up your short-comings of a parent. Wait, I'm being insensitive, overweight can be considered genetic now. Though, I wonder, 50 years ago, if overweight was genetic, or if it's just an excuse to hide behind in this day and age. It's true, I suppose, I've seen stories where a fat-- excuse me -- overweight person eats healthy and exercises daily and still gains wait. I believe that only a small percentage of people really are affected by that condition, the rest that claim their fatness on genetics are just making up excuses. I also have my suspicions that these this overweight condition can be developed just like diabetes can be developed.

But who can blame them? It's so easy to get fat in America... fast food restaurants, elevators, escalators, moving walkways, rich food, grocery stores loaded with salty and sweet snacks and junk food, delivery of food to your door step, etc... Junk food is inexpensive and healthy food is not. Foods are loaded with sodium, fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, preservatives, additives, anything to make the food taste better. What was that? Oh yeah, 'reduced sodium/fat/cholesterol' foods/snacks. Don't delude yourself. Just because your eating those types of foods doesn't mean you are eating healthy. Do you really think you are eating that much healthier when you are eating reduced sodium Doritos’s [chips]? If that appeases your conscience, fine. No trans-fat! Yay! There is still the other fat and it's bad for you too, trans-fat is just the worst of it. Oh, and drinking a galloon of 'diet' soft drinks is probably just as bad as drinking the regular stuff, you just have another excuse to hide behind if you are fat. I've seen regular people switch to 'diet' soft drinks to manage their weight gain. Hey, how about drinking water instead? It quenches your thirst and has no bad stuff in it. If you really need flavor, get some of those flavored + caffeine water drinks.

Soft drinks are available at almost every street corner. Many kids grow up practically breast-fed soft drinks. It's cheap and easy to get. Milk is expensive. Why pony-up nearly $3 for a gallon of milk when you can get a 2-liter of pop for $0.99? I have yet to see a 'pop-machine' dispense healthy fruit or vegetable drinks. That's how bad it is, 'pop-machine', a ubiquitous term that people identify as a machine that one puts money in and then one can select a drink. It's not necessarily 'pop'. It can be water or some sort of sports drink. Healthy drinks are either more expensive or don't sell as well. I'd be happy if I saw a drink-dispenser have fruit and/or vegetable drinks alone. I'm waiting for the day when drinking fountains have a soft drink rather than water.

It seems every town and city have 'gyms', places that you pay to have access to facilities that have weight training, exercise machines, running tracks, and/or swimming pools. When I look into some of these places (most or completely glass paned, for whatever reason, so you can see who's working out) it's mostly slim/healthier people. I'm not saying these gyms are bad, as it's more convenient and comfortable to work out in an air-conditioned building year round, rather than biking or whatever outdoors especially when weather can be temperamental and seasonal. Also, weights are expensive and not everyone has the room or money to have their own set, and a gym is ideal for weight training. You can watch TV or movies while you work out to help make the grueling experience somewhat more palpable. Though, of the time I've spent overseas, which is a lot, I've never really seen 'gyms'. Bigger cities may have them now, but people typically eat healthier and are more active in Europe and don't have the need for 'gyms'. I feel like America is the only place that really needs gyms.

I think that's one of the problems in America, people don't make the time or have the time to eat healthy or stay active. People jam pack their lives so much, that they only have time and patience to pop in to a fast food place or get a microwaveable dinner. Both are very unhealthy. Healthy-Choice dinners aren't as healthy as one would hope. People don't eat normal anymore either, skipping breakfast, and sometimes even lunch, just to eat unhealthy food or snack on junk food later. All your food intake ends up being unhealthy, loaded with sodium and fat. If that's all you eat, it's no surprise that you are fat. A part of keeping your weight in check is to have a healthy diet, but of course everyone knows that. People just define 'healthy diet' differently and end up being fat even when they say they are eating healthy. If you want the true definition of a healthy diet, talk to your doctor or a nutritionist (those only came into existence because of fat people).

There is no easy solution to fix fat America, mostly due to the fact that it's up to individuals to take the steps necessary to maintain a healthy weight. And that 'healthy' is defined by the nutritionists and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as well as doctors. Fast food restaurants would end up losing money if people chose to eat healthier. Maybe that would force fast food chains to re-evaluate their menu and get rid of 400g of fat burgers. But, it really boils down to the individual to have the will power to do something about their fatness. Many men make the mistake of eating how they did in college, after their metabolism slows down in their 30's. Changing your diet is tough, but it's necessary to change it as your body changes and handles the foods you eat. Women never really have a change in metabolism, but they need to change their diet too, and change it according to the way their bodies handle food. It's easier to develop a healthy diet earlier, the longer you maintain an unhealthy diet, the harder it is to change it. Maintaining a healthy diet requires effort. Fruits and vegetables go bad, so you can't buy large quantities of them and have fresh fruit two weeks later. You also need to be smart about what foods you cook, how much fat, cholesterol, and sodium they have. The initial effort is the hardest, but once you develop a healthier diet you'll find that it is relatively easy to maintain.

"Let's Just Be Friends"

2006-03-07T23:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. I either haven't had the chance, or maybe it's because I haven't been in school where I have inspirational Psychology to spurn the blogs I've typed up in the past, haha. The other day, my younger sister told me she enjoyed reading some of my blogs and that I write well. I thank her for that (I write well? Sure.). It's partly because of her and some unfortunate events that lead me to this next blog.

Again, this blog revolves around romantic things, to which I am hardly qualified to write about. I'd like to assume that I am qualified, but reading situational romantic stories and scenarios hardly qualifies me to write about this sort of thing. I will still write about it, but remember, please take what I write with a grain of salt. I should also point out (for my girlfriend) that this purely from an objective viewpoint and are just opinions. Also, this blog has no direction, you've been warned.

"Let's just be friends."

Those words you would have loved to hear from the 'large boned' 4th grade bully, who terrorized you and your fellow first graders, back in grade school. But those words were never forthcoming. Her reign of terror, (What? You expected a male bully? Welcome to the 21st century.), only ended because she graduated. I digress…

"Let's just be friends." Did you just feel a chill run down your spine? You have every right to feel that, because when you are in a relationship, those are some of the last words you want to be heard together, in a sentence. Guys probably felt the chill, more than the girls, because more so than not, the girl will say those words when they wish to end a relationship. The reasoning behind saying those words can be seen from different views. On one side, the person really wants to remain friends with you. They just don't want to be your boyfriend or girlfriend for reasons to broad to even cover. They met someone else, but still think you are cool, and they want to hang out with you still and talk, but they need to be free so they can pursue their next match-up. Or the person simply wants to cushion the break-up.

For the latter reason, in the previous paragraph, it's hardly a cushion, and can be an even harder break-up. When you break-up with a person, you want it to be simple and clean. No beating around the bush, no pre-emptive speeches, no disguising the truth with a fancy dinner or one last make-out session (I hear high emotions make for a nice aphrodisiac). When you break-up with a person you want to cut the strings quickly, and then proceed to be there to help break the fall. You want to pick a neutral location, so that they aren't emotionally attached to a location that might drudge up the breakup later. You don't do it in an email, phone, fax, page, voicemail, forum, or letter. You don't do it at their house or at a restaurant. In my opinion, the best place is at your place, hopefully where they are comfortable. Don't make a big deal out of it, I recommend not making dinner. If you don't want to seem ominous, ask them over to your house for drinks or ask them over to hang-out with you. When they come over, offer something to do drink, during which you can cover with some casual chitchat. When you are seated, that's when you tell them. You can say something like, 'I don't think we can be together anymore.'. Personally I can't tell you what the right thing to say is. But after you tell them something indicating an end to the relationship; quickly proceed to explain to them why you are breaking up with them.

After you give your explanation (be sure to have one, else they'll think that you are breaking up for no reason or for someone else), be prepared to answer a lot of questions, possibly explaining yourself a few more times, there may be tears, and there may be violent outbursts (which I hope doesn't happen). If you are a girl, and you are afraid that the guy may get irrational, you may want to have a guy friend in the other room or close by, but I sincerely hope you don't have a guy who would become physically abusive. Anyway, before the person leaves, make sure that you've explained the break-up to the best of your abilities, and that the person understands. It may take 15 minutes or 2 hours. Be patient, you broke up with him/her, the least they deserve is time. And when they leave there should be no hugs, no kisses, and no handshakes. Another reason for picking your place for the breakup is that when they leave, they will have the illusion of leaving you, allowing them to maintain some pride. After all, you did the dumping.

If you don't plan on seeing the person anymore, then you are done. But, if you plan on staying friends with the person, make sure you leave an opening for that, before they leave. If they bring it up, then it's fine, and go with that. If they didn't bring up friendship, you can ask him/her to be friends, but let them be in control. You pretty much will have to ask for their permission to be friends. Try to indicate that it would not be an immediate thing, but maybe in a two or three months or possibly even a half a year to a year. Remember, you'll need to time to sort through your emotions, as well as your ex.

Moving on… So let's say that you break up with your boyfriend and girlfriend. Do you remain friends? Or don't you? That depends on a few factors.

Was the break up amicable? Meaning, were you on speaking terms with each other after you broke up? Whether yes or no, that doesn't necessarily determine whether you will remain friends. I prefer to think that there are other factors involved. A friendship can weather fights and disagreements. So that is the main point; were you friends before the relationship? Some relationships are based on lust and desire (we like to call those 'sexual relationships') and those people tend not to be friends, if they breakup. (They may be on good terms with each other, but that only extends to a smile, wave, or greeting in public.) Some relationships are arranged, but then again, we don't really live in that era anymore, at least I hope not. Other relationships are based off of a traumatic or emotional experience, such as being marooned on an island together, but, that's rather far fetched. You could also get one of those 'captive falling for captor' situations, but that's just weird. Then there are the relationships that are based or built off friendship. All these type of relationships have the potential for friendship after a breakup. But I would tend to favor the relationships based off of friendship. Friendship can mean many years or just a few weeks (days, if you spend everyday together). You both will have something in common, and even after you breakup, you probably still have that thing or things in common still. And the desire to be able to be able to talk about your common interests will probably remain, as they were not hinged on your making out or anything else that happens in a relationship. Then again, it's possible that your common interests would be a sore spot in a failed relationship.

Of course there are the ever-mysterious middle and high school flings that defy all logical relationship rules. These flings (note, 'relationship' does not even qualify) are common in middle and high school. The different combinations of girl and boyfriends are only limited to the number of popular and shallow people in the school. One day Bobby is with Samantha, but a couple of days later they have a tear filled break-up, all because Samantha got a note from her girlfriends that Bobby was seen making out with one of the cheerleaders behind the bleachers. Was it true? No use trying to find out, because no amount of reasoning will win Samantha back to Bobby's side, even if Bobby was in the hospital because of a burst appendix. The note is more valid than any doctor's signature… somehow, someway, Bobby had sucked face with that cheerleader. And of course Bobby's next 'girlfriend' becomes Sam's sworn enemy, as she is that chick that stole Bobby, completely ignoring the fact that she dumped Bobby.

I think this is the end of the blog. Like I said earlier, this blog had no real direction besides having a focus on relationships.

Ciao for now.

Handshakes

2005-12-25T23:01:00.000-05:00

I don't know if it is just me or if other people do it too, but I tend to shake hands differently based on the person.

The main difference is gender based. I am not going to crush some girl or woman's hand, because they tend to be more delicate, compared to a guy's hand.

When I was in church for Christmas, you get to the part where you shake everyone's hand (sorry, I forget what it's called, I do not attend church regularly) and I get through my family, wishing Merry Christmas and I Love You, etcetera. Then you look around to people near you and shake hands. I look behind me and there is a couple behind me. I shake the gals hand first, a firm, yet gentle handshake. Then I shake the guy's hand, and it's different from the girls. The handshake is stronger, for lack of adjective. Even when shaking a kid's hand, you aren't going to shake with the same vigor you did with a large (muscular) guy.

It's something done automatic, your mind makes the split second decision, as your hand is going in for the handshake, judging by the person's outward appearance, how you are going to shake their hand.

Is Kissing Sensual Only Because We Make It So?

2005-12-16T00:07:00.000-05:00

I was thinking, kissing,is a sensual act one does to indicate their love for someone else, whether it be a family member, lover, or pet. But what made kissing be that sensual? I guess since humans are very much into touching one another in order to display feelings, it is natural kissing would follow. But how did kissing come about?

Was it because when two people are making love (traditional style, mind you) that it is something to do to avoid talking, or just because it is convenient. I mean, it (kissing) only feels good because in society today that's what we are told and that's what we know. Why isn't licking someone's chin the same as kissing, because of society? Maybe. Sure you can argue that it is fun and feels good, but there was definite societal influence.

If you were to take 2 children, and never have them exposed to society, put on an island and were brought up, by seperate 'parents', and manage to have them develop feelings for each other, all the while, never teaching them about intimacies as we know, would they instinctually kiss? Or could you 'train' them that licking a chin is a sensual sign of affection?

I think it's possible, but I also feel like thousands of years of human evolution has somehow ingrained 'kissing' into humans, so that it happens naturally.

Nooo! Oh the tragedy!

2005-12-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching the last 3 episodes of Chrono Crusade (see previous blog for more info). And the ending! AH!!! It's not fair! Why does it have to be that way. They could have lived, God could have intervened and let them survive. It pains my heart everytime I remember it. It's probably one of the saddest moments, in anime, that I've experienced. Oh the heartbreak!

I won't explain in more detail, if you are interested in more, you can talk to me, I just needed to write it out.

Anime - Sandglass of Summer Colors

2005-11-27T10:01:00.000-05:00

Throw in a love story with futuristic elements and you get a very touching anime.

Sandglass of Summer Colors (Natsuiro no Sunadokei) is just like this.

At the end of the school year, Makimura Kotaru decides to confess his feelings to Serizawa Kaho. Kaho-chan is considered to be a school idol, and Kotaru gets made fun of, by his friends, telling him he has no chance. But his resolve is set, and Kotaru is determined to reveal his true feelings to the girl he likes.

Kotaru

Afer deciding to write his confession in his letter, he walks home with his childhood friend Senou Ai, who has agreed to give Kaho, a friend of Ai, the letter.

Kaho

After dropping Ai off at her house, Kotaru observes a suspicous figure and goes to ask this person if they were stalking Ai. Afer wrestling the suspicious person's coat off, it turns out the person's a girl, and Kotaru had accidentally grabbed her chest, during the attempt to wrestle the coat off. She slaps him and breaks an hour glass, sprinkling dust over Kotaru. The girl then runs away.

Feeling ill, Kotaru goes to bed, and wakes up to find that it was somehow the end of summer break, and school was starting again. Confused, he goes to school and finds everyone at the gymnasium. The director was giving a speech about the death of a classmate, Kaho. Kotaru is confused. He finds out that they had been going out all summer too. Kaho had been in a tragic car accident. And he finds out, she was on his way to see him. He faints, and is carried back in time a few times, experiencing his confession to Kaho, and a date they had. Eventually he gets back to his own time, to find this suspicious person from before, standing over him. Her name is Ligene, and is a Time Patroller. Her job is to correct irregularities in time. And she is here to correct time, so that Kaho does not die. It turns out that the dust that Kotaru had been exposed to, gave him the ability to exist out of the framework of time, which would allow him to affect the future.

Ligene

Ligene tells Kotaru what he must do to prevent the death of his girlfriend. He agrees to do this, because he cannot stand idle. So while going out with Kaho, Kotaru also gives it his all to prevent her death.

Throughout the summer Kaho and Kotaru spend more and more time together. Their bond gets stronger and stronger, and Kotaru is more determined to save Kaho.

Kotaru also discovers that Kaho cares for him very much, and could not bear to be apart from him.

As the fateful day of Kaho's death arrives, everything starts to spiral out of control, and Kotaru finds out he has very little time to save Kaho, if at all. What would he do without his beloved Kaho?

This was a great OVA (non-series) and I recommend anyone, who is a romantic too, to watch this. It's a story that would warm your heart.

Teacher Responsibility

2005-11-23T08:25:00.000-05:00

Today in Psychology, the professor had trouble getting the overhead projector to start, so while help was coming, he opened up the floor to questions. Someone asked if he would be giving back the old exams, and he said he couldn't, but you could come in to his office to look at it.

Not being a forward person, I usually don't speak up, but I had a question that I thought required an answer. I asked if he could post the previous exams and the solutions on Blackboard. He told me that it would take too much time. That was a bit odd to me, because he posts Powerpoint presentations for the lecture notes. Thinking that he meant posting individual exams, I pressed the issue, asking why he couldn't post just general solutions. In the back of my head, I knew he knew what I meant initially, but dodged the question. For some reason some of the students thought that the question had been answered and when I continued asking questions they actually laughed.

My professor never answered my question, because he used the arrival of the UCiT help to ignore me.

As an Engineer, I am not used to having previous exams to study off of, our professors do not hold on to the exams, and they usually post solutions to the exams, because Engineering students usually use previous exams to study for a final so that they know what they did wrong and also use it to get a feel for the questions the professor may ask.

Awkwardness

2005-11-21T07:46:00.000-05:00

I was watching this anime called Suzuka yesterday, and two characters who had been going out, broke up. A short summary of it:

Yamato and Honoka have been going out for a little while now, but initially Yamato had only eyes for this girl Suzuka, but after being turned down and snubbed many times, he learned that this girl, Honoka liked him, one thing lead to another and they end up dating. But Yamato is inexperienced with relationships, so he makes many mistakes. Honoka puts up with it pretty well, partly because she really likes Yamato, and also because she is inexperienced as well. The breaking point was when Yamato goes shopping, for Honoka's birthday present, with Suzuka and Honoka finds out about this, but she plays it off as nothing significant. She was ready to accept Yamato's birthday present, but then he starts going on and on about Suzuka, how she helped him, and how annoying she was sometimes. Honoka doesn't want to hear this and gets really mad at Yamato and refuses to accept the present. They eventually agree that breaking up would be the best idea, but Honoka chooses to keep the birthday present, because she still harbors feelings for Yamato. Their first initial meeting after the break-up is right outside their class, and it is extremely awkward.

Is this really the case for relationships? When two people break-up, but still are contact with each other, is it really awkward, and weird afterwards? Sometimes there is hardly a days difference, between the break-up and seeing the person again. One day you are holding hands, laughing together and being a couple, and the next it's like you are meeting a new person. I can understand more weirdness if you were a lot more intimate, but if you had just been kissing, then what makes it so weird to see the person again? I think that the awkwardness is only there because the couple still harbor feelings for one another (or it could be one sided), but even if it is a mutual break-up there can be some tension (which there usually is) between the two people.

Drivers Who Should Not Be Drivers

2005-11-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

I drive a lot, as I live a considerable distance from the city. So I am familiar with people driving. But there are some people who should not be driving, or at least have a big sign on their car that indicates their lack of driving skills.

Yesterday was a good example of why some drivers need remedial driving courses. Driving home, I take a two lane highway most of the way, and once out of the city the legal speed limit is 65 MPH. Though as any highway, the usual speed in the left lane is 75 - 80 MPH. Courteous drivers will let the faster (more impatient) drivers pass, if it doesn't slow the courteous driver down too much. Sometimes a driver going 70 - 75 MPH is just trying to pass a truck or another slow moving car, and a car going 76 MPH will still ride the bumper of the slower driver. Road rage and impatience makes driving very trying.

But often there are those drivers who drive in the left (highspeed) lane because it's less congested, or they will eventually need to be in that lane to take an exit, and those drivers are more annoying than those impatient, 81 MPH, drivers.
That was the case yesterday. I admit, I drive in the left lane, between 75 and 80 MPH, when I can, and since that is the general accepted speed, that's what mostly everyone else drives, in that lane. There is a big hill during my stretch home, and the people tend to slow down a little, and I was behind a car that had slowed down to about 70 MPH, and I just drove behind that car, hoping, at the top of the hill, that they'd speed up or move over. But the car didn't, even when the right lane was clear enough to change lanes, with room to spare. Sure, I could have passed the car on the right, but I try to give slower cars a chance to move to the right, since it is technically illegal to pass on the right.

After about a minute, there was a decent line of cars behind me, waiting for the car in front of me to speed up. Finally I decided to pass on the right. Driving past the slow car I got a chance to see who was driving, as most are interested to see what driver is causing the congestion in the highspeed lane. I usually assume an older person. But what I saw, was worse than a slow moving old person. A blond, female college student, who could barely see over her dashboard, talking on her cellphone. I don't normally stereotype, but this made me think of her as a stupid, ditzy blonde, who believes the world revolves around her. I am sure other people who passed her, probably thought similar things when they saw who was driving.

You shouldn't be on your cell phone while driving, it splits your attention, so you drive by instinct rather than full focus. Germany has a laws for using a cell pohone while driving. It is required to have a hands-free handset if they must absolutely talk on the phone. Even that is highly discouraged. I think some cities in the US also have laws about this too. But the least a driver needs to do, while using a cellphone on the highway, is to move to the right lane, and slow down. Most will slow down subconsciously, but these people also sit in the left (high-speed lane).

If people were more courteous on the highways, everyone would be happier.

Chrono Crusade

2005-11-13T19:49:00.000-05:00

Recently I subscribed two free weeks of Netflix, the online rental place. Depending on your account type, you can rent one to three animes at a time and return them whenever (as long as you pay the subscription fee). I did this to watch some licensed anime, that I prefer to watch legally. I've always wanted to watch an anime series called Chrono Crusade, and with Netflix I was given that option. I watched the first four episodes this weekend and I really enjoyed it.

A note, this series follows religion, dealing with God, Satanism, devils, and other holy and unholy dealings. If you would be offended by such an 'incorrect' view of religion, you might want to abstain from reading.

Chrono Crusade

The setting of this anime series is America, specially New York City, during the 1920's. It's a time of change, and the elite are bored. So they turn to Satanism to get their thrills. The Order of Magdalene stops these people who are bent on destruction.

The Order of Magdalene use weapons imbued with holy power to stop them. The Sacred is a bullet that has small amounts of holy oil in it, which gives the bullets power to stop the devils, where normal bullets would not affect them. There is also the Gospel, which is more powerful bullet because it has holy scriptures written on the bullet itself. With these types of weapons, the devils are exorcised.

However the major plotline revolves around a greater evil power and the seven Apostles. The seven Apostles were born with from God, who gave them the power to perform miracles. However the devils are trying to ge the seven Apostles because they can use the power in the Apostles to become more powerful themselves. And the two main characters are Rosette and Chrono.

Rosette and Chrono

Rosette is a Sister of the Order of Magdalene, who has a reputation for being very destructive during her missions. It's no fault of her own though, they just turn out that way. But she is very good at Exorcising the demons. Her main reason for becoming an Exorcist, or part of the Order, was to get revenge on the devils that took her brother, Joshua, away from her when they were kids.

Her partner is Chrono, who is a devil. Chrono has been stripped of his power and his title, for he was one of the most powerful devils before that. Rosette and Chrono are more connected than most realize. Chrono's true form is kept hidden, and Rosette is the reason for this.

Rosette is Chrono's Contractor, meaning that Chrono hides his true form and draws nourishment through Rosette lifeforce, her soul. The emblem she keeps around her neck, seals his true form. But when the seal is released, he is able to transform in his true form.

But when he transforms, he draws on more of Rosette's lifeforce. And this shortens her life. By becoming Chrono's Contractor she will probably not live past the age of 30. But together with Chrono, she can stop the evil power that is lurking in the shadows and take revenge on the evil that took her brother away from her.

This Weekend Anime 11/05

2005-11-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

Much of my weekend was made up of studying for exams on Monday and Tuesday, but I did have a chance to watch a few episodes of anime. One new one in particular caught my attention, because of its uniqueness. Jigoku Shoujo; in this anime there is a rumor that a website exists, called Hell's Correspondence, only accessible at midnight, where you can write in the name of a person you want to take revenge against, and that wish will be granted, and the person will be taken straight to hell.

(Click on the images for a larger picture.)

The first episode is about a girl, Mayumi, who gets chosen to watch after some money her class had raised for charity. But the money gets stolen from her back, where she had kept it for safe keeping. As fate has it, an answer comes in the form of another one of her classmates, Kuroda, who offers her to give her the money, if she pays her pack. However, Kuroda is a bully, and will not let Mayumi go, even after Mayumi returns all the money. Kuroda has some perverse pleasure in making Mayumi do things for Kuroda and her posse.

Mayumi had heard about this site, Hell's Correspondence, and was almost on the verge of putting the name in, until she got a call from Kuroda.

Being forced to do unbearable tasks, Mayumi enters Kuroda's name on the website, at midnight. And she gets a text message, saying her reqest was received. But a day goes by without anything happening. And after Kuroda takes Mayumi to a shady part of town, making her talk to perverts who would take advantage of her. Not being able to do such a task, she runs away, but Kuroda took a picture with her phone and threatened to email it to the headmaster at school if she does not obey her. That's when Mayumi's will breaks.

Not being able to take any more shame, and not being able to tell her parents, Mayumi decides to commit suicide by jumping off a building. Before she hits the ground, she is taken somewhere, by a girl.

This girl, is from Hell's Correspondence, Enma Ai.

Ai tells Mayumi that if Mayumi wishes it, Ai would take revenge on Kuroda and take her to hell. However the deal comes with a price, if Mayumi decides to take revenge, her soul is forfeit, and her soul would not go to heaven, but to hell, when she died. Ai gives her a voodoo doll with a red ribbon around it, and if Mayumi pulls the ribbon off then she would make the covenant with Ai, and Ai would take Kuroda to hell.

The next day Mayumi is called to the headmaster's office, who got an email of the picture of Mayumi with a shady guy, the same guy who Mayumi ran away from when she was with Kuroda. Kuroda had sent the picture. Not being able to explain herself, and with her future slipping away, Mayumi pulls the ribbon off the doll, and she hears a whisper in the wind telling her revenge will be taken.

Kuroda gets a call from "Mayumi" to meet her at school to receive more money. However, when Kuroda goes to school she sees "Mayumi" go inside the school, and when Kuroda enters, she is bombarded with images that freak her out. Her classmates look weird, a volleyball turns into a skull, her posse friends get sucked into a wall and she is confronted with a replay image of her stealing the moeny from Mayumi's bag. Ai appears with a few of her friends, upon which they ask Kuroda to repent her sins, but she denies it still, and that's when Ai takes her to hell.

The next day shows Mayumi at school cheerful and happy again. Though when she is shown walking to a club meeting she stops infront of mirror and unbuttons part of her uniform shirt to reveal a mark on her chest.

The mark is the sign of her covenant with Ai. When she dies her soul will go to Hell. But until then she can live her life, free of the bully who was ruining her life.

...

That was the first episode, and I did watch a second episode that had been subbed. The mood is rather dark, as it has to do with revenge, and cohorting with Hell. Though the struggles of the victim are done very well. It's not your normal anime, but it is interesting to watch.

Romance On Screen And In Real Life

2005-11-04T07:38:00.000-05:00

Watching the O.C. you see relationships constantly fading in and out of harmony. The particular couple right now is Ryan and Marissa. It seems like every episode there is something that gets between them. The most recent episode has Ryan's decision about his education get between Marissa and himself. I'll recap so you understand:

Ryan and Marissa were kicked out of their plush and exclusive highschool, by the Dean of Discipline (a.k.a. 'the bad guy'). Marissa chooses to go to another, local, less glamaorous, highschool. And Ryan goes the homeschooling route. With the Dean of Discipline bent on ruining Ryan's future, Ryan decides not even to try for the future, and cancels his homeschooling. Upset by this decision Marissa tells a new guy friend about Ryan's decision, and this friend talks to Ryan and offers to put in a word for him with his uncle's fishing business. Taking this oppurtunity, Ryan gets hired as one of the crew on this fishing boat, meaning, he'd be at sea for three weeks at a time. Marissa is very upset about this and doesn't allow Ryan to talk to her. Skipping drama, in the end Ryan decides to stay with Marissa, saying something along the lines of, that his future is with Marissa, whatever it is. Marissa is happy and everything is once again koscher in Orange County. Next week we see one of Marissa's new guy friends get closer to her, and this makes Ryan jealous.

So as you can see, the relationship gets a lot of stress. And it's the same with other couples in T.V. series, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Bones, etc... all have couples that are in a constant state of flux.

Now, I know that this is T.V. and they have to do this to keep the show interesting. It would get boring if T.V. couples were in relationship bliss continually, so the producers have to do this, trying to cause viewers to relate emotionally to the T.V. show.

But does this relationship flux happen in real life too? Do couples have disagreements where one or both are too stubborn to even talk and try to resolve their issues. Does one guy friend cause insane jealousy in a boyfriend if his girlfriend and this new friend spend a lot of time together?

I find it hard to believe that this is really the case. Could it be that these television relationships are overexaggerated? Being a frequenter on a few forums, I've seen people post their issues in their love life. Break-ups, betrayals, marriages, etc... I've read a lot, and I know some of it is out there. But the intricate details, like the way I described about the couple from the O.C., are never posted on a forum. Does it happen, in real life? I wonder.

Continuing along this vein, I'd like to mention an intracy of relationships that I've pondered.

I am lucky to be in a wonderful relationship, but I know that isn't always the case with others. The city I live in has been called one of the most undatable cities (cities, not small towns) in the nation, that there is virtually no dating scene. When couples hook up, especially couples in their early to late 20's, they tend to stay together. Other cities, hook-ups and break-ups are common place, nobody raises an eyebrow. Just look at Hollywood, couples exchange partners as freqeuntly as couples exchange partners in square dancing. So it is hard for me to conceive why people are constantly getting together with people and then breaking up again.

For me, I've come to, occasionally, associate this break-up/hook-up process with something else. When you get a new toy, a new gadget, or a new lipgloss, you use it frequently. More frequently than you normally do. When a kid gets a new video game, he is able to play it days even weeks on end, not getting tired of it. When you hear a new song you like on a CD you bought, you can listen to the song again and again, not ever getting enough of it. But all of sudden, one day, the kid stops playing the game because he simply doesn't have interest in playing it, or you stop listening to the song that you've listened to constantly for the past month, or the new gadget you have just becomes used by any other gadget you have.

Can this be related to relationships? Is it an accurate analogy for explaining why guys and girls are constantly hooking-up/breaking-up? When a guy meets a beautiful girl at a bar or café, and they hook-up, then three weeks later they cannot stand the sight of each other. Is this because they just got tired of each other, they became overhead songs or an overused gadget to each other? This can be called burnout, but even couples who have spent a month, two months, or more, together, just break-up, for no reason except that there is no interest anymore, no spark. Like a toy that has lost its appeal? Possibly. It seems like an analogy that is accurate to me. People would probably disagree with me, offering up any number of reasons why couples break up.

In any case, it's just one view.

Ciao for now.

Cows Are Loose

2005-11-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

And addendum to yesterday's post about love. The "Love you." can also sound like slang. "Love you, bye!" was originally, "I love you, bye!", but the 'I' is slurred until it goes from "I love you." to "Love you." to "Love ya.". Each digression loses more of the original meaning. "Love ya." holds only a fraction of the meaning of what it used to be. When you whisper "I love you." into your lover's ear, you wouldn't even think about saying "Love ya." because it hardly holds the meaning that you are trying to convey. But "Love ya." originally was "I love you."

Back on topic...

Yesterday, early in the morning a tractor trailer carrying 39 cows was barreling down Interstate 74, the conditions were less than optimal. A dense fog had a choke hold on the area surrounding the Harrison township. The fog is always densest around Mt. Plateau-74, the highest part of the interstate in the area. The tractor trailer was heading near Mt. Plateau-74 cuttin through the fog, like a bullet cuts through jello. There is a reason why trucks drive slower, because their ungainly cargo inhibits maneuverability. Compared to boats, a car is like a speed boat as a tractor trailer is like a cruise liner. If this tractor trailer had been equipped with a radar, he would have seen an ominous dot ahead of him. This dot was the beginning of the tractor trailer's demise, a slow moving car. Without radar, the tractor trailer did not see the car until it was right in front of him. With less than lightning quick reflexes the truck driver swerved to avoid the slow car.

Obeying the laws of physics the trailer behind the truck could not compensate for the sudden movement; the truck went one way the trailer, a different direction. Losing control the tractor trailer tipped over, sliding across the pavement and freeing the cows inside. Half the cows got loose, frightened and dumb, they scattered to the four winds.

A truck driver carrying cattle, is by law, made to carry a rope with him in case some cattle get loose. One rope does not do the poor driver justice, especially since 20 cattle were loose. He needed a tranquilizer gun. But without immediate aid, and due to the dense fog, the cattle roamed the area.

Law enforcement closed both directions of the interstate and got a team of volunteers and police together to attempt to wrangle the cattle. The task was harder than it appeared, with the fog, visibility was reduced to less than 100 feet, and in the woods, finding the cattle was a very trying task. A few pictures below show what happened. The interstate was closed for almost 12 hours.

The tractor trailer overturned.

Dense fog.

The wreckage.

Cattle round-up.

Roam free! Head for the border!

Can't catch me! Moo!

There were some cattle casualties, the most interesting was the cow found dead in the front lawn of Harrison yard. Unfortunately the police found the carcass before the residents of the house could recover their dinner.

I Love You, Love You, Love

2005-10-31T22:42:00.000-05:00

I apologize in advance if some of what I say you may not find particularly true, or if you cannot relate with what I am going to say. This is just some random observations that formed a semi-coherent thought. And that thought is actually continued in this blog post.

I am in a relationship, and I am bold enough to say, as a couple we've told each other our feelings, with this sacred, and sometimes harrowful words, "I love you.". Movies and books have revolved around those three simple words, none of which extend beyond on syllable, but mean SO much... depending.

Three phrases, each phrase containing the word love in it, "I love you.", "Love you.", and "Love". And each of those phrases can have very different meanings.

I'll start with the longest (3 words) phrase, "I love you.". "I love you.", such an easy phrase to say out loud, by yourself. Try it now, say those three words in succession with each other to form a sentence. It's not tough by any means, but guys (and girls) choke up, feel sick, or are rendered speechless when they hear those words or when they are trying to say them. That's how much that one single phrase impacts us. It's a big step forward in a relationship, usually an affirmation of feelings but also sometimes said in hope that a relationship will last longer. A desperate measure, used sometimes by men to try to hold onto a relationship. But the latter part is not what I am focusing on, just indicating the impact it can potentially have. They can be said anywhere; shouted out from the top of a cliff, or whispered softly into the ear of the one you love. Either way, it's a show of emotion.

You knock off the word "I", and you are down to "Love you.". This phrase is used often when you are simply reminding someone that you love them. This happens a lot in relationships that have been going on for some time (a year or two) and couples say it so frequent that it has gone from a term of endearment, to a everyday, couple-y thing to say to your beau or lover.

"-Love you! Bye!" *click*

Such a common phrase, if you didn't recognize it, it was the end of a phone conversation. Said often to friends and family, where an "I love you." is hardly ever appropriate, unless something tragic or emotional has happened, and the "I" is added to the phrase. But normally it is used to indicate your feeling to a friend or family. In the friend or family case, the significant of the phrase doesn't change drastically and is a common and easy thing to say. In a relationship it signifies the comfort level of the couple, among other things.

Then you have "Love". You mostly see this in emails and letters, as a farewell at the end of the message.

"Love, Noelle."

This phrase is often used as an indicant of the level of friendship between two friends. The "love" means "we're tight" or "we've been through a lot together". In a relationship, it shows that you care about that person. If he/she were to sign their name without the love, it doesn't mean much, but if they do sign with "love" I am sure you feel a lot warmer inside by reading it. They love you.

It's interesting to see how such small phrases can have such a different impact on peoples' lives. If I were to sign this blog with "Love, Kevin", the guys might think I was gay, and the girls might think it's a cute gesture. It's not 100% the case, but there is truth in the previous sentence. And it was just one word.

Do you have to say "love you" everytime you leave the arms of the one you love? No. "See you soon.", if said correctly, can have close to the same meaning as "Love you".

These phrases can be overused. Try not saying them for a while, or as often, and then when you finally do decide to say "I love you.", "Love you.", or "Love" you might find that the words have more meaning.

Ciao for now.

Happy Halloween

2005-10-31T07:42:00.000-05:00

Yes! An excuse to eat candy to excess and scare little kids. What better holiday can there be? I've already dipped into the candy that is meant for the trick-or-treaters. Why shouldn't I? There are wonderful bags of chocolate, and there is no reason for me to eat some of it. I don't get to go trick-or-treating anymore, no longer can I go days without regular food, by eating all the candy I got, so I must gorge, I mean, satisfy my sugar needs by pilfering the hordes of candy that would normally get wasted on the kiddies. Plus, where I live, there won't be too many kids, except for kiddie train that comes by with 20 kids or so.

I won't be handing out candy this year, I did it last year, and all the kids at once is just too overwhelming... I can see it now... death by cuteness. An awful way to go.

I saw a movie or two this weekend...

Hitch - Funny romantic comedy, it got a little boring towards the end, as the plot had to be resolved. Watch it, you should like it.

On to some anime, I have to talk about it a little.

Wolf's Rain - I finally finished the series. I am a little disappointed, the ending isn't what I expected. It was no happy ending, but that is how a lot of anime is. This one was particularly depressing though. No spoilers, even though most of you will not watch it.

Suzuka - A good episode. Jpop star, Nana, who is a friend of Honoka, meets Yamato, and turns his relationship into swiss cheese, poking holes into a solid relationship he thought he had. Doubts are starting to arise in Yamato. We all know that he is meant for Suzuka, but how will he pull it off so that he doesn't look like a jerk, by breaking up with Honoka? And how will Suzuka deal with her feelings for Yamato and not look like some girl who is trying to steal a guy away? Mmm, Drama.

Look Both Ways

2005-10-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

Most kids you know, were probably brought up to "look both ways before crossing the street". I know I was. You first look left, then right, then left again in case a car pulled out of a driveway or was going really fast. Then you crossed the street. This was done so that you did not get hit by oncoming traffic.

It was brought to my attention a day ago, that one of our fellow engineers was involved in a car accident. He got hit by a car. No names will be given, as there is no particular functionality to know the name. But for the sake of the story we'll call him Zak. Zak was a friendly guy, amiable, and always glad to be chatting with his engineering buddies. Everyone knew him. One day Zak had to go meet his Little somewhere. He ran out of the house and as he was in a rush, Zak did not bother to go to a crosswalk on a four lane road (with enough room for parking on both sides). In fact, Zak b-lined across the road, and being in a rush, he forgot his childhood lessons of 'looking both ways before crossing the street'.

Now, normally, if you forget to look, it's not a big deal, either cars will break to a screeching halt and the driver will start making obscene gestures and say other things to imply his obvious displeasure for you being a wreckless pedestrian, or you would get lucky and you'd play a successful game of Frogger and avoid getting hit, while maintaining forward motion, maybe getting some honks from cars. In either case, there is no lasting (physical) damage on both sides. Emotional damage is another story or if you have a heart condition you might not fare so well either...

However, in Zak's story, he was not so lucky. Either he did not remember how to play Frogger or he just simply had a bad roll of dice, but in either case, a car and Zak tried to be at the same spot at the same time. Zak is no Superman, so the car did not bend and crumple around his body. The roles were reversed, his body bent and crumpled to the shape of the car, effectively shattering a leg and providing a head injury from the impact on the windshield.

Considering the circumstances, he could have fared much worse... both legs broken, broken ribs, internal bleeding, coma, even death.

Physical recovery will take a lengthy amount of time, however emotional recovery will take longer, it might even become an emotional scar. Why? Because after getting hit by a car, you don't expect to get a fine. But Zak did get a visit from the men in blue, who gave him a $104 ticket, for jay-walking.

Moral of the story? Even if you are in a hurry, cars don't care, especially if you run in front of one.

Watching People

2005-10-26T08:03:00.000-05:00

Have you ever taken the time to just watch people, observe their actions, just to see what they do?

Every once and a while I like to observe people. Please note, that it's different from being nosy, because I really have no interest in what they are doing, I just want to see what's happening.

Psychology lecture is a great time to do that. It's a good sized, auditorium style, lecture hall. Not as big as Zimmer Auditorium, maybe a third to a fourth of the size. But, sitting in the back you can watch people, unobtrusively. It's a little early, about quarter till eight, when class starts, and most people come in around five till. But even now there is action.

College doesn't have a seating chart, people are not assigned seats, but people tend to sit in the same seat after a few classes, so if you pay attention you can recognize faces, just by their location. For instance, five rows down from me, there is always a group of people, one guy and four or five girls who sit together. They are by far, the loudest of the students of the class. You can listen to an entire conversation, especially if the guy is talking. They must be freshmen, because they have that aura about them, plus they talk about Chemistry and English 101 very often. But I believe the girls have a slight crush on this guy, or he just one of those guys who get along/flirt well with groups of girls, a player perhaps.

Moving down a row or two, you get to the next group. They don't sit together, a few sit in the same row, but apart by a seat, and some sit down a row or even across the aisle. They talk together before class. I'll call them dorm buddies because of their proximity, because if I were to have class with my friend Richard, Dustin, or Mike, I'd sit next to them. But these girls do not sit together, so they probably know each other from living near each other and happen to recognize each other in class.

The next group is the classmate group. Looking around before class you can see people, groups of two or three of people who are talking together. They don't sit next to each other, they sort of have that same dispersal as the previous group I talked about. Across an aisle, a row down, but not together. They probably have a few classes together, maybe an art class or something where they recognize each other in a smaller class size. They are suprised, initially when they recognize someone they have another class with, sitting close by. They don't realize it, but they are pulled together, almost by a magnetic attraction through their familiarity.

Then you have the loners, like me, who are just single individuals who are taking this class as a needed BoK (supplementary class) or just wanted to take it early to get it out of the way. Even these people tend to sit in the same spots. In the three days that I have sat in this seat, the same girl has sat in front of me, and in front of her a guy with a laptop has been sitting. He is always checking out clothes online, but he has a word document open that he uses as a front; an excuse to have his laptop open. These people don't have a particular time when they come in, but more often than not, they are there earlier than the other students.

Of course, there are the students that come in late, they are even more random than than all the other groups, but even they have patterns. These people never take an empty aisle seat because it leaves them too exposed. And they rarely go down past the first ten rows since they don't want to be too obvious about being late. Though, you do have some people who do go down to the half closer to the professor, either because they don't care or because they see someone they know, and prefer the comfort of these people rather than sitting by themselves.

So, the next time you have an auditorium type class, sit in the back to watch people and how they group together, it's pretty interesting. This is done best in the morning when you have some time to watch people rather than coming in with a few minutes to spare.

New Music Channels

2005-10-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

Over the last week or so, I noticed some of the streaming channels I listen to did not connect anymore. Namley the New Age and Trance channels. Normally I listen to Vocal Trance or Hardcore, but sometimes I do get weary of them and listen to some other channels I have as backup. So I went to check out my source, at Digitally Imported, to discover that there were SEVEN new channels to listen to! I'll list some of the ones I listen to:

Current
Vocal Trance - A fusion of trance, dance, and chilling vocals.
European Hard Trance - Like Vocal, more bass and less vocal.
New Age - Soothing Sounds of New Age and World Music.
Deep House - Silky, sexy, deep house music.

New
Ambient - A blend of ambient, downtempo, and chillout.
Lounge - Sit back and enjoy the lounge grooves.
Roots Reggae - The best of classic and modern Roots Reggae.

While I was typing part of this blog I was listening to the New Age channel, and these two songs played:

Yanni - You Only Live Once
Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard - Now We Are Free

Yanni is a very well known/famous piano player and the other song is the song played in the movie Gladiator with Russel Crowe, when his character is dying at the end of movie, where flower petals are falling all around him, and in his last breaths he sees himself walking down a path, among waves of grain to meet his wife and son who had died. Well "Now We Are Free" is that song, it's a very touching piece of music. I am sure many girl's (and guy's) hearts wrench up when they hear the song, after seeing Gladiator.

Weekend Anime

2005-10-25T08:12:00.000-05:00

Along with watching Stealth and Unleashed this weekend, I also saw some pretty good anime.

Suzuka is easily becoming one of those series that I eagerly look forward to the next episode. It's a pretty common story line; guy meets girl, falls in love with girl, but girl does not share his feelings. The guy does everything to try to win her over, joins the track team with her, cares for her, and just flat out asking her out. The girl easily falls into the cold and detached category, unable to express her feelings. The last few episodes (13-16) has been about the guy starting to go out with another girl, and the dynamics between those three characters (guy, girl, and other girl) is really fascinating. I could use their names Yamato (guy), Suzuka (girl), Hotona (other girl). There is no one particular defining thing about this anime that makes it good, it's a little bit of everything.

Bleach, well it's always been a very fun anime to watch, it's probaby the most popular series that's being watched currently. This series falls more along the lines of fighting and drama, compared to Suzuka, which was more romance and drama. There are a lot of personal struggles with the characters and of course their is the awesome animation especially during some of the fight scenes, which can be very creative. The next couple of episodes should be great. The last episode, 54, I've watched at least three or four times because it was so good. The one thing everyone (who hasn't read the manga) is looking forward to is how Ichigo's Bankai state will look like. For those who aren't familiar with Bleach, I'll run down a few basics. The world of death is governed by Death God's, who either send someone to Soul Society or Hell once they die. Ichigo, a human with great spiritual powers becomes a Death God, through his friend Rukia. Rukia breaks the law by doing this, and gets taken back to Soul Society to be executed. Ichigo goes after her to save her, but he has to get stronger to do so. As a Death God, there are levels of power that can be unleashed through training. The two that I am familiar with are Shikai and Bankai, Shikai being below Bankai's level. Shikai is attained when a Death God has great resolve and Bankai is the manifistation of this resolve. Since only the strongest of the Death Gods can attain Bankai, each form is unique, and that's why everyone is looking forward to Ichigo's Bankai. I am sure if you are at this point, you found this very entertaining /sarcasm.

Mai Otome is another cool anime, but I won't get into it this time around.

Ciao for now.

The Little Things

2005-10-24T08:09:00.000-05:00

Walking back from Psychology this morning, I was making my way across McMicken Commons near TUC and saw a couple together talking. The girl was zipping the guy's coat up. It was kind of cute, because in the ten seconds it took for me to go by them, she was still attempting to zip up the zipper, even though the guy could have done it in less time. I thought it was kind of cute, such a sign for affection (I guess).

Call me sentimental, but I smiled when I saw it.

Friends Who Will Remain Friends

2005-10-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

The other day, a friend asked me to take a survey for his leadership class he is taking. The questions were all about him, personal questions, asking things such as "Do you find the person trustful?" and "Does the person easily lose focus?" etc... personal sort of questions. I took the survey, answering the questions the best I could, 1 being the Diasgree and 5 being Agree. I marked down an answer for each question, 1 - 5. Now these answers, I didn't think would be taken seriously, so maybe I didn't answer them completely seriously.

A day or two later a person close to my friend asked about some of the answers I gave, one of them about the trust issue, which I put down as 3, I think. The person told me that my friend (who gave the survey) had been bothered by the answer I gave, wondering why I put down three and not five... was I not his friend? That sort of surprised me, and then when I thought about it, it sort of made sense... *start tangent*

This person I would call a very good friend. When you are in college or highschool, you meet a lot of people, and you get to know their names and maybe even learn a little about them as you progress through classes with them. But there are some people who you won't remain in contact with after you leave the institution you are at, whether high-school or college. Yes, you may have worked together, and laughed about the same jokes, and hung out, while at school, but beyond that, nothing. Then there are those friends who will still remain your friends after you leave. You may not see them all the time, but you'll stay in contact via phone, email, or what-have-you. Those are your friends, the difference between calling someone your classmate and your friend.

When I left highschool, I had maybe a handful of friends who I have stayed in contact with, one of which I had had a crush on for a couple years during highschool and who turned out to become my girlfriend who I care very deeply for... anyways... enough of the melodrama... of the 30-40 odd acquaintances I had at high-school, my classmates, there are less then five I probably stay in regular contact with and call my friend. The same will happen in college, of the 30 college friends/classmates I have, only a few of them I will have a close enough friendship with to stay in contact with. What, you don't believe me? How many people on Facebook do you call your 'friend', and of those, how many do you stay in regular email or phone contact? How many people signed your yearbook from high-school and you still stay in touch with? Probably not as many as you thought. *end tangent*

...getting back on track about my friend and the survey, that friend will surely be a friend who I will stay in contact with after college. I'll quote one of my favorite authors who said, in a book, "Mind what people do, not only what they say...". What I mean is that, such surveys should not be taken to heart. Could have I given the highest marks possible, on that survey? Yeah, sure, my friend sure qualified for them all, but then what kind of friend would I be if made him look good? Hehe. It would not be any fun that way.

Ciao for now.

Stealth

2005-10-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

Spoiler Warning - If you have any intention on seeing this movie and don't want any spoilers, don't read this post.

Tonight I watched Stealh, an action movie, about three pilots, who lead up an elite fighter pilot taskforce, along with a very unique fighter plane, Eddie, who is an unmanned fighter jet, guided by an AI.

I am not going to right some fancy review, because that's not what it is about. Just a few points on my likes and dislikes and general connections concerning the movie and the trailers.

I'll start with the trailers; when I saw the trailers for the movie it gave a completely different feel for the movie. The trailers made it seem like that it was about how this AI plane, Eddie, goes crazy after it is struck by lightning, who then goes and targets a major American city with a nuclear bomb.

The movie was not about that, it did not even come close. The AI plane does go out of whack, developing more of a conscious and personality as the movie progresses. There are nuclear warheads destroyed, but the closest the movie came to America was landing at an airfield in Alaska. Hardly a major American city. The movie was more about the AI plane and how rules and protocols were being ignored in order to push this new technology.

The three main pilots were played by Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx, and Jessica Biel. Now, most of you are probably familiar with the names Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel. Jamie Foxx is known for his comedy (Jamie Foxx show and stand up comedy), and for his roles in Ray and Collateral. Jessican Biel is mostly known as one of the Camdens in 7th Heaven, but also in movies such as Saw and Blade Trinity. Josh Lucas is the not so common name who you've seen in Sweet Home Alabama (as Jake) and possibly Secondhand Lions. What's the point of this? Well the previews also made some indication that Jamie Foxx was the squadron leader. But in the movie he isn't, he actually is probably the least signficant of three, considering he died half-way through the movie. Josh Lucas was the witty squandron leader, and the best flier.

Trailers often have a tendancy to be very misleading. The fourth Harry Potter movie to debut this November has a trailer or two that shows clips spanning the ENTIRE movie, including the end battle. If you read the book and seen the trailer, you know what I mean. To those who have not read the book, then the clips have no particular meaning or significance. But getting back on track, Stealth's trailers gave an entire different view of the movie, which I thought was kind of silly. Whoever edited the trailers either didn't know what the movie was about or was using old clips that were no longer part of the movie.

If I had seen the trailers they way they should have been shown, I probably would have seen the movie before today.

All in all, I liked the movie, it was a good popcorn-action movie, that had a pretty thin plot holding the whole movie together, which also included some cliche parts too. But you don't win awards from these type of movies, and those sort of standards should not be applied to them either. For fans of Jessica Biel, you'll see hardly any skin in this movie, since she is in a flight suit most of the time. There is the token "bathing suit" scene, where she shows off her body. Girls, that same scene also includes Josh Lucas taking his shirt off and flexing his muscles. That scene could have been left out, but it was supposed to help show the chemistry between the two, since the developing romance factored into the last quarter of the movie. And if you expect a big kissing scene at the end, where the lead characters fall into each others' arms and lock lips as if they were fighting the urge to snog the whole movie, then you'll be disappointed again. All you get is a scene where Biel and Lucas are on deck and she says someting along the lines of, "Just tell me you love me, pansy.".

In conclusion, if you want to watch a decent action movie, with some pretty realistic/cool special effects, then be sure to check this movie out.

What You Do Not Know

2005-10-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

You know? I was going to post something about my Christmas Card Exchange cards, but since I know some forum peeps read this blog, I best not write anything conerning it. If you are from Fantasy Essentials, and you are on the X-mas Card Exchange list, then you'll find out in the next couple of months... if you are not on the list, I might discuss it after the holidays. I've only got two other cohorts who are aware of the *ahem* details.

It's only October, so I have some time.

"See" the passion

2005-10-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

Today in psychology I was sitting in the back, with my laptop open, doing some editing, because the professor does not require 100% of my attention, only about half of it. Anyways, we are doing a chapter on perception/sensory type stuff and we were talking about the eye and our professor gave us an interesting fact. If you are on a date, you can tell how much the person likes you by the dialation of their eyes. The more dialated, the more they like you, and the less dialated, well, you better wrap things up pretty quick. So, if you are on a date, you can look deeply in your date's eyes and see if you are making the right moves.

Perfect Pirate Costume

2005-10-19T18:51:00.000-05:00

As I was browsing through the top 100 pictures at a digital art website, I came upon this picture,

and thought, "Wow, that pirate costume the middle person is wearing is pretty cool." There is no peg leg, no parrot, but the oil-skin jacket, with the white, open collar, blouse, the headband, and the pants, just gave off the aura of "pirate" without even needing a pirates hat or parrot. The patch is not necessary as I did not see it at my initial reaction, but it could add more to the pirate aura or just clarify for those who may be confused. If I could get together these items I think I'd have a pretty awesome costume, not necessarily for this year, but eventually. I could definately see myself saying "Avast!", "Arrr!", and "Walk the plank!".

-K

Oh Why?

2005-10-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

Wednesday... oh Wednesday... I will be at school all day. That's bad. Why, do you ask?

Because three new anime subs were releaesed. And the school likes to block torrent downloads, whether legal or not.

Yesterday, I saw a thread online, asking for medical advice, based off a description provided. I find it hard to believe that someone would base their decision on going to a doctor off of some advice provided by random people whose age may range from 12 - 40, and who have no knowledge in the medical field (i.e. nurse, PhD, etc...). I would never let my general health be gambled on, by advice from some random forum people.

Paradise Kiss

2005-10-18T20:04:00.000-05:00

Warning: The title concerns anime. Just so you know.

A new anime series that came out this fall, for which a sub* was released today. After initial doubts, I downloaded it (it's free, so why not?) and viewed it. It was totally different, compared to other series I have watched so far. The animation is different, and it has a more mellow feel to it. I'll quote from AniDB.net, a bit of the show description:

"Yukari is a typical high-school student who listens to her parents and attends school everyday. As she starts to question her way of life, she encounters a group of fashion design students who has a clothing label known as "Paradise Kiss". The group needs to find a model to showcase their designs in an up-coming fashion show and decides to pick Yukari instead..."

I browsed an anime forum to check out the general comments on the series and there was a submission that had particular interst:

"The show is running a contest for fans' fashion designs, with the prizes being to have your design appear in later episodes of the show, in a magazine and on the Web, to take part in a ParaKiss fashion show, and to have your design in a ParaKiss shop. The website says: "ParaKiss will help you take the first step toward your dreams (of becoming a fashion designer)."

It's open only to amateurs. The judges will be Japanese fashion designers. The deadline is very soon: received by October 20."

Kind of cool, neh?

Also, the ending song is not a typical J-pop song, it's from a British pop band Franz Ferdinand. It's rather catchy.

*sub (n.) - An anime episode, that was translated by a group of individuals who added a translation on the bottom of the episode, so that the rest of us need not learn Japanese to understand the show.

The Aftermath

2005-10-18T11:42:00.000-05:00

Today was the big day, the EM Fields exam. Tensions were running high, brains were hurting, and general nervous was going around. I woke up this morning, and the very first thought, even before my eyes were even open was, "EM Fields", yeah, that's how much it has haunted me over the last few days. Talking to some people before the exam also mentioned having dreams about EM Fields this past night. Scary huh? That a class like this could pervade all our thoughts, is pretty disturbing.

But, it is over, it was a lot easier than what has previously been discussed, but that doesn't mean it was hard. It was just not the impossible and insane task that we had thought was going to be put in front of us.

Next up - Psychology. This shouldn't be as bad as EM Fields, I hope.

Supernatural is on tonight, but it's just a clone episode, looks pretty boring. So that means more study time, or does it. I wish I could veg out, but not until this weekend, maybe. It depends on what happens over the next few days.

I borrowed my friend's computer to write this, and he is eyeing it anxiously, ready to be reunited with his laptop again. I better not delay the reunion.

Ciao for now.

Happy Birthday

2005-10-17T18:59:00.000-05:00

Today is my older sister's birthday. She'll be 23 I believe. Currently she is overseas doing a study abroad to fulfill her student teaching requirement. So she is away from most of her family and friends on this special day. If she reads this blog, may all her birthday wishes come true.

I think I blog too much, or maybe it's because it's a new fangled discovery. At any rate, this will be my last one for today. I've just come off of a studying stint, my brain overflowing with formulas, just hoping a few will stick. I was checking away messages, and saw a fellow student that had a very fitting away message, in regard to EM Fields:

"I don't know which is going to be worse, taking the test tomorrow or studying for it all day today knowing the whole time my efforts are futile."

I will be glad when this exam is over, which starts the downhill path for the rest of the week that includes homework assignments, and labs, and another exam, that will surely pale in comparison to the carnage our professor will wreak on us tomorrow.

Hopefully I will blog something more cheerful tomorrow.

Delaying the Inevitable

2005-10-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

Here I am again, sitting at my desk, typing away on this current blog, delaying the inevitable; studying for the EM Fields exam. After talking and listening to many people today, the general consensus is that we have no chance in passing this exam with a decent grade, as the amount of material, to learn, is overwhelming. Could we ever be prepared for this exam? Probably not, since there are just too many formulas to remember.

Some of you, who read this may sympathize, and nod in agreement, others may scoff at my remarks and tell me that if I studied enough, that I could have no problem acing the exam. To the latter half, I will say this; wallow in your ignorance because you cannot comprehend the difficulty of such a task. If I were to show you this material we have to learn, you may simply wave me off, stating that you were not familiar with the material, and if you were familiar, there'd be no problem in learning it. But there is a reason why the number of sections (containing 30 students each) has been halved, because it's hard. The proof is in the numbers.

This is me, signing off, to memorize some equations.

Beautiful Monday

2005-10-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

Monday's can always be a drag, but what makes them more of a drag, is when the weather is nice. Monday mornings should be cloudy, to reflect the dreariness that is reflected in the faces of so many students and workers.

But alas, on this Monday, the sun is shining, there is a slight chill in the air, that foretells a nice fall day. I however will be looking out through a window on this day, because of a wonderful exam that I have tomorrow morning. I will be sorting through my notes to try to memorize seemingly countless equations riddled with psi's, theta's, ro's, and other various greek letters and normal letters with bars, karats, and subscripts peppered across key symbols. Oh how I am not looking forward to this exam, I have even dreamed about it (*gasp*), that's how much it plagues my mind.

I am sure tomorrow, at noon there will be sense of relief, mixed somewhere among the feeling of dread that seems so probable. But I will only have a brief reprieve, as a Psychology exam occurs the next day. So as I close the notes of one class, I will be opening the notes to another to try to remember the difference between a dendrite, occipital lobe, and who encouraged marijuana for every illness.

As I look outside at the sparkling dew in the grass, I silently think, "Oh the irony.".

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Looking Outside

2005-10-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

So I was sitting at my desk, where I am sitting most of the time, when I am in my room. The sun was beginning to set and I had I realized how much I touch the world from the very room I am sitting in.

Some of you that know me, know that I post in a few forums, for the last few years, and I've come to know quite a few people who would be deemed as an "internet friend". These friends are from around the world; Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa, not to mention those from North America. I realize that when I am giving advice, helping with a technical question, or just general posting, that I touch the lives of people across the globe. And all this is done from my computer.

You've probably heard the phrase (or some variation of), "My monitor is a window to the world.". Some don't realize how true that really is.

My Blog

2005-10-16T19:46:00.000-05:00

I've tried journal type places before, such as Live Journal, but I don't think I liked doing that, or maybe I wasn't into it.

I saw someone's blog earlier today, and thought to myself, "Hmm, it would be interesting to have my own blog, even if it's just to type out some thoughts."

So here we are, I've created a blog. I am not very familiar with the set-up, so I will be doing a bit of tinkering.

Happy reading!