Saturday, April 16, 2005
Feelin' Slick
I came home so late last night I forgot to tell you what I did. I had a bit of a dilemma yesterday but I (rather smoothly) got myself out.
There's a play on campus right now which I have to see for my Acting class. Planning ahead, I bought a ticket for Friday night before I realized that would conflict with my AGA meeting. Indeed, the play and the meeting both started at 8:00 and all ticket sales are final. I showed up Friday evening asked them nicely to exchange them and, just as I expected, they said "Sorry, no." Typical automaton behavior, but I was ready. I stood outside the theater and waited for people to approach. Within five minutes I found two people looking for tickets. I offered my ticket at a bargain ($5 when I had paid $8) but I didn't have any change for a ten. Surprisingly, the customer told me to keep the change. It seems one of them was not a student and was expecting to pay $12, so a $10 ticket was still a bonus for him. But it was a far bigger bonus for me, since I made $2!
I went to AGA meeting and we were cut short because of some kind of mix-up in the quad office, as usual. Thankfully we still got two hours but we normally meet for 3+, hanging out and playing games. Since we broke early I actually went with a couple people back to their room and we played those games ourselves. The most challenging one by far was Dance Dance Revolution. Mikhail (the club president) owned the game and had two dance pads. He obviously plays it a lot and he plays on the "Heavy" level. I stuck to "Light" which was more than enough of a challenge for someone as woefully out of shape such as myself. We also played a really tricky music game called Gitaroo Man. The controls are pretty complicated as you have to follow a line with the analog stick while pressing and releasing a button to follow the rhythm, sometimes abandoning the stick and just pressing four different buttons in time with the music. Again, Mikhail had been playing it a lot and thoroughly defeated me each time.
I didn't get home until after one. The bus was full of drunken revelers who were keen on singing lame tunes very loudly. They kind of made me wish I had been drinking while playing DDR. That sounds like a party.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
There's a play on campus right now which I have to see for my Acting class. Planning ahead, I bought a ticket for Friday night before I realized that would conflict with my AGA meeting. Indeed, the play and the meeting both started at 8:00 and all ticket sales are final. I showed up Friday evening asked them nicely to exchange them and, just as I expected, they said "Sorry, no." Typical automaton behavior, but I was ready. I stood outside the theater and waited for people to approach. Within five minutes I found two people looking for tickets. I offered my ticket at a bargain ($5 when I had paid $8) but I didn't have any change for a ten. Surprisingly, the customer told me to keep the change. It seems one of them was not a student and was expecting to pay $12, so a $10 ticket was still a bonus for him. But it was a far bigger bonus for me, since I made $2!
I went to AGA meeting and we were cut short because of some kind of mix-up in the quad office, as usual. Thankfully we still got two hours but we normally meet for 3+, hanging out and playing games. Since we broke early I actually went with a couple people back to their room and we played those games ourselves. The most challenging one by far was Dance Dance Revolution. Mikhail (the club president) owned the game and had two dance pads. He obviously plays it a lot and he plays on the "Heavy" level. I stuck to "Light" which was more than enough of a challenge for someone as woefully out of shape such as myself. We also played a really tricky music game called Gitaroo Man. The controls are pretty complicated as you have to follow a line with the analog stick while pressing and releasing a button to follow the rhythm, sometimes abandoning the stick and just pressing four different buttons in time with the music. Again, Mikhail had been playing it a lot and thoroughly defeated me each time.
I didn't get home until after one. The bus was full of drunken revelers who were keen on singing lame tunes very loudly. They kind of made me wish I had been drinking while playing DDR. That sounds like a party.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Friday, April 15, 2005
STRESS'D still
Today was supposed to be the deadline for hearing news from Kansai Gaidai. I didn't hear anything, so I decided to send them an e-mail looking for answers. Don't worry, I was polite, but for some reason I have my doubts that I'll hear anything. I just wish someone at the Study Abroad office would help me. I've also been dealing with the stress of a furuncle. It doesn't hurt and I've been to the doctor, but it's there and it's not going away anytime soon.
This was a very rough week even without the worrying. I had four and a half tests to complete. I feel pretty good about how they went, and the good news is that about does it for exams until May (not counting the little weekly quizzes we have in Japanese class). I think I can safely say I've reached a point where I feel tired a lot and I'm actually looking forward to summer.
Surprise of the week: my post about shenanigans at last year's RNC was quoted by another blog. Her blog looks a lot more serious than mine, so score for me. I'm not a fan of the context she put it in, but a quote's a quote!
つづく... (Click here to read more)
This was a very rough week even without the worrying. I had four and a half tests to complete. I feel pretty good about how they went, and the good news is that about does it for exams until May (not counting the little weekly quizzes we have in Japanese class). I think I can safely say I've reached a point where I feel tired a lot and I'm actually looking forward to summer.
Surprise of the week: my post about shenanigans at last year's RNC was quoted by another blog. Her blog looks a lot more serious than mine, so score for me. I'm not a fan of the context she put it in, but a quote's a quote!
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Uncomfortable
I woke up way too early this morning and I couldn't fall back asleep. It may have had something to do with this awkward dream I had featuring this girl I used to know. I don't remember when I saw her last, five years ago maybe? The details of the dream are incomprehensible, but I clearly remember her laughing at me. It just made me feel so terrible, I couldn't stand it. My dreams always suck. At best, they're full of great feelings which disappoints me when I wake up and realize it was a dream. At worst, I have horrible nightmares. I'd pay decent money to never remember another dream.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Suprised? Not Me.
An article in today's NY Times reveals that more than 90% of those arrested during anti-Republican demonstrations at last year's Republican National Convention have either been acquitted in court or had the charges dropped. Some of these were a result of videotape evidence that directly contradicted the testimony of the arresting officer, who wasn't necessarily the same officer shown arresting the suspect on the tape!
Why am I not surprised that the NYPD would be overly aggressive in wrangling protesters? Especially considering it was the Republican convention and Mayor Bloomberg happens to be a Republican and was eager to host the convention?
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Why am I not surprised that the NYPD would be overly aggressive in wrangling protesters? Especially considering it was the Republican convention and Mayor Bloomberg happens to be a Republican and was eager to host the convention?
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Monday, April 11, 2005
Just A Peek
Ever wondered what kind of music the president enjoys? No? Never? Well the NY Times offers a glimpse. It's as I expected: lame country tunes with some classic rock thrown in. I think it's hysterical that a child of privilege like W might be singing along to "Fortunate Son," especially the chorus.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
つづく... (Click here to read more)
Sunday, April 10, 2005
THAW'D
Yes, it is full-on Springtime here in Albany. I've seen my last snowflake for a long time. How long? Well, that all depends on whether or not I go to Japan. No, still no news in that department. One way or the other I plan on knowing something by the end of the week though.
The last two (postless) days have been unremarkable. Friday I was kinda busy, I got invited to a "curry party" held by some of the Japanese students whom I know. There are pictures at Nao's blog and Momo's blog. I couldn't stay very long because I was going to my AGA meeting so I'm not in any of the photos. I did eat some of the curry though, which was delicious. Very different than Indian curry though.
At the AGA meeting we watched a very serious film, 火垂るの墓 (a.k.a. Grave of the Fireflies). It's a very sad story about two children starving to death during World War II. It falls into that category of films that I recognize as "good" but I can't say I "enjoyed" it because the subject matter is so miserable.
After the sadness we all needed to get our game on to lift our spirits. We played a little Capcom Fighting Evolution. It's a "new" 2D fighting game featuring characters from various older titles. The results were very interesting. For "older" gamers like myself or Mikhail (the president of the club) we had little trouble remembering the older characters and got right into it. Most of the other members, however, were only familiar with 3D fighters like Soul Caliber. They were just as confused by the control system as I was when I first tried Soul Caliber II in February. In some ways, I felt the experience verified my suspicions that 2D and 3D fighting games are totally different and it is very hard to make a transition from one to the other. On the other hand, I was disappointed that the "legacy" of the 2D fighters I grew up playing seems to be lost on most younger gamers, even though these 3D games wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the 2D games that preceded them. It's like finding out no one remembers Orwell's 1984 yet they all love Equilibrium.
Hmmm...it's probably time to lose the iceberg at the top of the page.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
The last two (postless) days have been unremarkable. Friday I was kinda busy, I got invited to a "curry party" held by some of the Japanese students whom I know. There are pictures at Nao's blog and Momo's blog. I couldn't stay very long because I was going to my AGA meeting so I'm not in any of the photos. I did eat some of the curry though, which was delicious. Very different than Indian curry though.
At the AGA meeting we watched a very serious film, 火垂るの墓 (a.k.a. Grave of the Fireflies). It's a very sad story about two children starving to death during World War II. It falls into that category of films that I recognize as "good" but I can't say I "enjoyed" it because the subject matter is so miserable.
After the sadness we all needed to get our game on to lift our spirits. We played a little Capcom Fighting Evolution. It's a "new" 2D fighting game featuring characters from various older titles. The results were very interesting. For "older" gamers like myself or Mikhail (the president of the club) we had little trouble remembering the older characters and got right into it. Most of the other members, however, were only familiar with 3D fighters like Soul Caliber. They were just as confused by the control system as I was when I first tried Soul Caliber II in February. In some ways, I felt the experience verified my suspicions that 2D and 3D fighting games are totally different and it is very hard to make a transition from one to the other. On the other hand, I was disappointed that the "legacy" of the 2D fighters I grew up playing seems to be lost on most younger gamers, even though these 3D games wouldn't even exist if it weren't for the 2D games that preceded them. It's like finding out no one remembers Orwell's 1984 yet they all love Equilibrium.
Hmmm...it's probably time to lose the iceberg at the top of the page.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
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