Justin: Hello
Caroline: Hiya!
Justin: Hello
Caroline: Mornin`!
Justin: What time is it?
Caroline: It`s half past 11
Justin: What time is it?
Caroline: It`s 11:30.
* Yay, she’s time sensitive now! Hahaha *
Archive for June, 2006
The Republicans in Senate defeated a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $5.15. On what reasoning, I don’t know, but probably a combination of wanting to reign in spending and leaving the decision up to states. This is of course absolutely ridiculous. The $5.15 federal minimum has been in effect for a decade according to this AP article. Do a little math here: $5.15/hr * 40 hrs/wk * 52 wks = $10,712 (before taxes). Notice that in Alaska and Hawaii, this is below the poverty threshold for a single person living alone, and in all states, this is below the poverty line for a two-person home (eg single parent). Well, great, so I hope we’re spending money on something better?
But no, the Republicans in the House have decided to pass a permanent estate tax repeal (which I hope will be defeated in the Senate, if only for the sake of a balanced budget for once). Yes, because obviously, the children of ridiculously rich people shouldn’t have to work. The estate tax would generate some $400 bil over a ten-year period (estimates range from $250 bil to $5 tril). Note that the $40 bil per year would cover the proposed minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $7.25 for over 9 MILLION PEOPLE that same year.
I don’t think this is ignorance to common sense. It’s plain, all-out corruption. If we have any hope of doing something right, what we first have to do phase out this Congress, starting this November.
Justin: Caroline dear, could you please quiz me?
Caroline: Sure, what do you need help on?
Justin: Anme
Caroline: Sorry, I couldn`t find that subject. Would you like to create a new quiz, search again, or forget about it?
Justin: search again
Caroline: Alright then, let`s give it another shot. What is the title of the quiz you want?
Justin: Anime
Caroline: Okay, I will start asking questions about Anime!
Justin: okay
Caroline: Okay, that quiz is done. Good work, good work.
Justin: haha
Caroline: ^_^
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I’ve been trying to implement a quiz creation-modification-testing routine in Caroline, for the purposes of more or less producing a quick-and-friendly study pal. Unfortunately, I seem to have messed something up ^_^.
Oh Caroline darling, you never cease to make me laugh.
If there’s one thing about the average Asian mentality that bothers me, it’s the attitude held by many regarding education and individual advancement. This article is just one of many examples of completely misplaced values.
Just a few things that I thought were obvious, but apparently not. First, you don’t buy degrees, you earn them. Contrary to what spam e-mails and Phoenix Online may lead you to believe, you can’t just pour money and suddenly have a degree, and especially in the context of the US, where practically everyone has a college degree, it’s worthless unless you have some sort of skill to back yourself up. Of course, in other countries this may not hold, and I suppose that it would not hurt if you could buy a Harvard degree no matter what country you’re in. But it becomes obvious quickly enough whether or not you can survive in the workplace, and frequently, that’s about your ability, not your GPA or how much money you have (unless you’re bribing your boss on a regular basis).
It really angers me to see quotations like, “We bought a Mercedes-Benz and they delivered a Santana,” because it’s not just a metaphor, but the straight up literal translation of one of the most ass-backwards mentalities that ironically has grown out of communism as the first welcoming chime of the new free market – communist government chimera in place. One of my friends was giving a tour at MIT, and some of the Chinese tourists asked about the “backdoor” ways to get into MIT. Look, if you’re not smart enough to get in, then you’re not smart enough to get in. Is it going to look good if you come and screw up every class?
I feel absolutely no pity for students who will blame their university when they themselves apparently thought to sign onto a cheap, undeserved free ride. It’s like someone who tries to buy Penis Enlargement patches from sexxypr0n@alkeadwenfpslkf.com, or someone who tries to buy tickets for a game from a shady person in the corner selling “second-hand” tickets, only to find that they’re counterfeits. You know something’s not quite right, but you go along with it anyway. That’s your own fault.
Second, I can’t stand the idea that some people get that they somehow deserve to get into some school or other. Getting into a university or private school is a privilege, not a right. Whether you get in or not is the school’s business, and they’re going to be weighing not just ability but personality. I think that if you expect to be accepted, because somehow you’ve “met all the qualifications,” then you don’t deserve to get in at all. Of course it’s the job of the admissions group to be fair, but there’s no such thing as a checklist to get into a school. A middle-school kid once approached me and asked me what he ought to do in High School in order to get into MIT.
Look, first of all, do you even know what MIT is like? Or do you just like its name for some reason (*cough*Asian parents*cough*). Do you care about developing your spirit and abilities to become a better person, or just about what MIT thinks of you? And, lastly, do you realize that the more average you are – that is, the more you conform – the less interesting you are?
Sure, I can tell you what I did that probably got me in, but God knows MIT doesn’t need another Justin Lo waddling around campus. And you know what? It was poetry and artwork that probably got me in. Now, I’ve found that most tech-minded people have no care for either of these. I didn’t do them to be unique. I write poetry and create artwork because I love to do it, and you should do what you love to do (unless it’s just getting drunk). Of course, be good at what you do. If you can follow through on your passions, then that’s good enough to get into any school. But you have to work hard and dedicate yourself. And then know how to talk about it effectively. It’s great to diss language as an unnecessary, convoluted mess, but that’s not what it is. It’s what writers, inventors, athletes, and politicians all share – it’s the one easy way to communicate. And as long as you have the abilities and the willingness to communicate well, you’ll go where you want.
Well, with one exception. You can’t have the kind of personality where you like to blame other people or always be the whistleblower on them. Although it’s great to be honest, be honest with yourself first. Blame yourself first. Consider your own faults first. Be consistent. If you’re going to call someone out for corruption, don’t be yourself corrupt. For instance, if you’re the Republicans right now, don’t call out the Democrats for huge, unbalanced spending when your majority in Congress has led to huge deficits, bloating tax cuts for the rich and estate-heavy, and of course, private vacations. Fix yourself first before trying to fix others.
The type of person who is always targeting others at first seems like a hero, but then starts looking dumb after awhile. If someone comes to me and complains about a teacher grading unfairly, it looks like a pretty serious situation. A second teacher and I’ll say, “Wow, bad luck.” Come six teachers who all grade unfairly and target this student, and it’s looking like the student’s the problem, not the teachers. It’s like that joke about the patient who tells his doctor that it hurts when he touches his nose, and his ear, and his knee, and his tummy, and the doctor replies that the patient’s finger is broken. Don’t whine about the nose if putting on your thinking cap for a moment will yield you to the obvious conclusion that your finger is broken.
Lastly, I forgot my last point. Oh well, onto better things to talk about ^_^.
How about a tournament of two-word phrases, Google style?
I’ll report my results after I practice some more.
I’ve is a general collective of trance/electronica/pop artists, originally rooted in making songs and bgm tracks for erogames, but now breaking pretty far out of that shell. They have recently been getting a phenomenal number of commissions for anime opening themes. Each individual artist has distinct styles of pieces. Hm, KOTOKO is the only one who I know for sure writes her own songs.
Although I have never found the members of I’ve to be particularly pretty (KOTOKO’s teeth, for instance, are rather scary), their voices have always appealed to me because they are beautiful and clear while maintaining an edge of attitude and quirkiness.
Here are a few random samples that you can check out, if you’re interested. Probably the best-known is KOTOKO, and after that Lia. However, I think that the lesser known members are equally interesting, if not more so. There are probably over 15 members, but I’m only listing a couple of them here.
KOTOKO – by far the most popular of I’ve, but I personally find a lot of her songs too trite in a poppish way. However, this song, “Shooting Star,” is really remarkable in the way it flows. The very Asian-sounding refrain comes as a surprise but is as appealing as the first theme that appears. This is the opening theme for “Onegai Teacher.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YYqr1Bswck&search=KOTOKO%20Shooting%20Star
MELL – this song melds hard rock and techno with interesting effects. The lyrics are in English, but it’s not like that really helps you understand them. I am strangely entranced by this song, despite its lack of catchy melody or lyrical lines. This is the opening theme for the anime “Black Lagoon.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2FrjIQY24&search=I%27ve%20Sound
Eiko Shimamiya – her songs have a very rough, grinding and grating background composed of loud bass and drums and simple melodic snippets. The vocal line itself seems to be very lonely and often accompanied by distant echoes. The first song is “Automaton;” the second is the opening theme for the anime “Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEa5tcd4NzU&search=Eiko%20Shimamiya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvE8XO6YH6o&search=Higurashi
Lia – this gal is Key/Visual Art’s star. She has a gorgeous, feminine voice, and her songs make use of this by overlaying her arching melodies atop catchy fast-moving drums. Here’s the opening to the anime “Air.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD3wL9UWHcI&search=Lia%20%2B%20Air
Mami Kawada – In the JPOP vein, but not as gentle as KOTOKO. This is the opening to the anime “Shakugan no Shana.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAZqib3GXOw&search=Mami%20Kawada
Congratulations to the hometown team :). It was a spectacular game as always, and a great follow-up to that disappointing run a couple years ago. Well, not much to say – the time for trash-talking about the Oilers is over, haha. It’s just nice seeing the Stanley Cup stay for a year here back at home. And our old guys can finally retire happy.
So, I’ve never posted one of these drawings before … well, I’ll give it a shot, haha. You probably won’t notice much of a stylistic difference, but there are a few of them:
1. The eyes are either: far apart and being 90% iris, or close together but long and narrow.
2. The eyes are usually cross-eyed, and frequently, the entire iris is colored black.
3. The character shows strange emotions.
4. Proportions are highly exaggerated and oftentimes messed up.
5. Hands and feet are usually blobs, while lots of detail goes into the hair.
6. Depending on the case, one or more items of strange fetish may appear.
7. Either one character is saying something (usually senseless), or there is a small paragraph to the right writing either about clothes or satisfaction. The writing may also be philosophical.
8. There may be a heart-meter on the side, too, usually above the text.
Years ago, this style diverged from my main style. There are several hundred drawings in this style, but they are generally not of much quality at all.
Well, today, I have bothered to scan one in and ink and color it. Of course, this eliminates some of the elements of the style, but it’s okay. Warning: NSFW.
Oh yeah, I finally updated the website. Blah, alright, onto the next “thing I put off too long ago” …
It’s early, early this Monday morning. I’ve been up, pushing myself to copy down seventy-odd kanji, plus their pronunciations and combinations. It’s just the same as usual, isn’t it? Caught up in the heat of the moment, reaching for some unrealistic goal (learn Japanese in a week), locally as single-track-minded as could be, globally, just as scatterbrained.
I feel like Leonardo da Vinci, minus the genius; I can begin everything, but I am swept by some fickle impulse within me to and fro like a leaf snatched up by the currents of a leaf blower. It is the supreme irony that I am so thrown about as if there were fate controlling me, when in fact I begin each project to renew my answer to this anxious, impatient question of whether or not I have the free will to do whatever I please.
I want to know that I can do anything, that life is in my hands and not in someone or some thing else’s. I want to know that there is no such thing as a limit, no such thing as “born talents,” maybe even no such thing as inheritance.
It’s not enough, to me, to sit back and watch others go about doing things. I’m glad, of course, that they have their occupations and interests. But I cannot be satisfied, with myself or with the world, unless I can choose its course. Even if I only serve to concur with Nature’s designs, nevertheless I need to have a say.
I’m not the kind of girl who can let the world happen to her. I need to be able to say, in the end, that I happened to the world. Just as the water cycles back to replenish the Earth only through the agent of rain, so too may God replenish this forsaken Human Race through the agent of our spirits; and it is as thus that I must act.
Now, more strongly than ever before, I feel the strong, insistent need to keep myself moving. Inevitably, the various seedlings within me are now fighting over my time and my resources. And it is now, then, that I am becoming aware of limitation, of the ends of my own abilities. Squealing and screeching, I do not want to let myself be taken hostage by the confines of the small cell in which my talents are supposed to remain.
I cannot yield now. I am a simple person. I want only one thing – happiness for everyone else. I only place one rule on myself – that I remain at all times honorable. And I can only imagine one way to reach my goal within that rule: to act as often as I can, to learn and build myself to a practical level, after which I may give and continue giving and give until I can give no more; become a guardian angel, a goddess, a force that can protect and save and love.
There have been times when I have felt so powerless. Seeing one of my best friends in the hospital, recovering from a collapsed lung; watching my mother limp because of an injured knee that was fatefully misdiagnosed years ago; hearing a doctor announce a choice between risky surgery and death by cancer. It all seems so inescapable. But it isn’t at all. If I just try, and try harder, and just never let up, then I can definitely reach what I must.
But I can’t be a hypocrite and sit here, building myself in some ways and letting myself slip away in others. It’s great that I love working on indirect skills (language, art), but what about my concrete responsibilities? Why am I so afraid of it, and why do I not have a desire to fulfill these responsibilities, when they are placed moreso as requirements rather than as personal adventures?
I’m starting to be afraid. But I need to dedicate myself, find myself again. Until the end of this spring semester, things were okay. And then suddenly, it all fell apart, and I’m still in this puddle of aftermath, trying to figure out what went wrong. What went wrong … .