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A brief pause
2.19.2010 7:05 AM \| Link 0 comments	I hate to even mention the tragic event that happened in Austin yesterday, but I feel like it would be insensitive to post a review of some dumb DVD without saying a word about it. The building was just across the street from my old condo, so it's pretty shocking when something like this hits close to home (even if it's a former home). I only watched the news over lunch yesterday, but that was enough to depress me for the rest of the day, simply because I love life and I'm saddened by anything that is "anti-life". My prayers are with everyone affected by this event, but I'm emotionally moving on today, since ultimately my responsibility comes down to living the best life I can regardless of tragedy in this world. I'm going to get through my company's chaotic office move today and enjoy this weekend! Tomorrow WEBmikey will be back to the usual geek/Jpop/Disney/goofy subject matter! Labels: life
Latest morning routine
2.10.2010 6:50 AM \| Link 0 comments	The morning is my favorite time of day, so I love making the most of it. I like the morning so much that on the weekends I get a little bummed after lunch since I feel like the day is over! I've written about my morning routine several times in the past, but since it's constantly changing (in fact, I recently adjusted it about a week ago!), I think it's fun to record it here. My new wake up time is 5:00 AM (that may sound crazy, but it's easy to do once your internal clock is trained), and the first thing I do is write my "one sentence journal" for the day. This is one of my 2010 goals, which I use to reflect on the previous day (and I've only missed one day so far, while I was in Los Angeles). Next is Japanese study on the web, which is a little more intense since I'm gearing up for the JLPT. I'm using two different sites to work on kanji (using different methods that help me from two angles), as well as standard vocabulary/sentence practice. After exercising my brain, my body is next with 15 songs on Dance Dance Revolution (since I've been re-enjoying all my old PS2 mixes). After the workout, I've started writing my WEBmikey post for the day (which is the step I'm on now). I used to do this later in the day, but sometimes it was getting too easy to blow it off, so I moved it into the premium morning time and shuffled a couple activities (which are easier and less likely to be procrastinated) to later in the day. Finally I get dressed, do a little more exercise (like sit-ups and light dumbbell lifts), then take my vitamins and eat breakfast while I read some manga or a couple chapters in whatever book I'm working on. At lunchtime I work in a couple more activities, which are checking my Jpop video downloads and importing/tagging another batch of images into iPhoto (I'm finally up to 2008, by the way!). During the day I make an effort to get in a couple walks (1.5 miles each), and if I have any spare moments (including potty time), I study a few more kanji using some fantastic iPhone apps I've bought recently with some birthday gift cards! Labels: ddr, japanese, life
Entering the world of Blu-ray
2.06.2010 7:26 AM \| Link 2 comments	I've really been enjoying my new LG BD390 Blu-ray player that Mom & Dad got me for my birthday! Although I've only scratched the surface of Blu-ray coolness, there are still tons of little features that I love. When I first hooked it up, I had some trouble getting it on my wireless network - it just couldn't see my Airport Extreme router at all. I read that this model has a fairly weak Wi-Fi antenna, so I decided not to worry about it and just order an Airport Express to extend my network (and actually connect the player with an ethernet cable). But then a couple days later I decided to check again, and suddenly it could see my network and connected easily! I have no clue why it started working (possibly from upgrading and then downgrading my router firmware), but I was thrilled to check out the online features like Netflix and YouTube! I can already do this with my TiVo (and I can watch YouTube on my Apple TV, meaning I now have three ways to check out YouTube on my TV!), but the LG interface is really cool and works well. I had so much fun watching my first Blu-ray disc, the new release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - even the trailers that I always skip were magnificent! What really impresses me is getting close to the TV and realizing the pixelation I'm used to seeing with standard DVD is almost non-existent! I also love how menus can be much more advanced and animated now. After my network connection started working, I had a blast checking out BD Live, which let me stream some Disney trailers right there on my player, and I was really blown away by the interaction that's possible now that the player is totally a computer. I loved it when the Magic Mirror said, "Good morning, Master. The winter cold has come to chill your bones. Shall I throw a log on the fire?", all because it could get time and weather information from the internet behind the scenes! I'm even enjoying some added convenience when watching standard DVDs. They definitely load much faster and menu transitions are much smoother, but the best feature of all is that this player detects when to switch aspect ratios automatically! I watch a lot of cartoons on DVD, which are usually 4:3 but often have 16:9 menus and features. With my old DVD player I had to pick one ratio and suffer (or keep switching myself), but the LG does the right thing for me. I still have to keep my old Philips around to watch Japanese DVDs, but 90% of the time I'll be using my new LG and loving it! Labels: life
Another birthday, another sappy post
1.30.2010 2:24 PM \| Link 2 comments	There's no need to be clever or sly about it. Today I'm a 43 year old guy! I've already received some wonderful gifts and wishes, but since my celebrating is continuing all weekend, I'll write about all that after it's over. Today I just want to get reflective, so bear with me! Birthdays are a lot like New Years for me, since they always make me want to think about life. Right now when I look at what I've got, I'm incredibly thankful for my family, my friends, my job, and all the things in this world that have been put here for me to enjoy! I really don't mind getting older (except for the wear and tear on this body I'm living in), since it's taken me all of these years to realize who I am. I may not be totally content with everything I see, but when I step outside of myself I kind of understand what it takes to keep me going, what will bring me joy, and what kinds of mistakes I'm going to make, so I can try to steer myself on the best path (when I follow my own advice). In the past, I spent a lot of time worrying that I didn't have a huge, world-changing purpose in life, but I've come to believe that my reason for being here is to live peacefully and happily, with the hope that people who know me will find a way to do the same. If I can cause one friend to smile for just a moment, I think I've fulfilled my "mission". All of the things I've been doing with myself lately (getting healthy, focusing on my state of mind) will selfishly keep me around to enjoy this world a little longer, but that also gives me more time to help others enjoy life. Wow, that was a little loftier than I intended, but I guess that's what happens when you turn 43! Labels: life
Keeping my mind happy
1.27.2010 11:57 AM \| Link 0 comments	Lately I've been thinking about the importance of mental focus, and how it relates to the principle of being "in the moment" (meaning the present, not thinking about the past or future). My mind likes to wander and think about other things rather than what I'm actually doing, and there are certain activities that make this obvious. When I play Dance Dance Revolution, obviously I have to give my full attention to the step patterns, how to shift my weight, and so on, and after years of practice I can generally get through anything the game can throw at me. But if my mind wanders to thinking about what I'm going to have for breakfast (for example), I will definitely miss a step. It's amazing, since DDR becomes a kind of instant feedback - I know immediately when my mind is focused on the present moment and when it's not! This also happens with simple things like flossing. When my brain wanders off I can't remember if I have done the bottom or top teeth yet, so I have to do them again! On the other hand, when I'm taking a walk I love to think about other things. Sometimes I try "walking meditation" (where I only focus on the walk and try to empty my mind), but usually when I walk my mind opens up and suddenly remembers all kinds of things and gets lots of great ideas (this happens in the shower, too)! In this case, the challenge is to remember these thoughts until the walk is over and I can write them down! I usually have to come up with a silly mnemonic so I don't forget. In general, I truly cherish the luxury of mental focus, which is one of the reasons I love my alone time where I can shut out all external influences if I want. Giving my mind room to breathe helps keep me sane and relaxed! Labels: life
Looking forward to 2010
1.01.2010 7:04 AM \| Link 0 comments	Happy New Year, everyone! Nearly every holiday season has the same pattern for me: get excited about Christmas, have a spectacular Christmas, feel sad that Christmas is over, become contemplative about the past year and the year to come, and finally turn my mood around by settling on some goals for the new year. Some people might dread and avoid making resolutions (I used to be that way, too), but it really gets me excited about life. Here's what I'm going to focus on in 2010! Reduce: I want to continue to change my attitude about possessions and keep striving to live a simple, frugal and minimalist life. I've made huge progress in this area over the past few years, but I can keep going in lots of different ways. I want to keep reducing clothes, books, media, and even collectibles (in some cases) until I'm left with essential and useful things that bring me happiness. I really believe that "outer order contributes to inner calm", and I'm going to live that way. Don't worry, I'm more interested in the look of a minimalist home than the famous photo of Steve Jobs in his empty house, although that image is inspiring! Learn: For the past year I've been taking a break from "formal" Japanese study with a tutor, but I've been really diligent about spending an hour a day using some excellent websites to keep studying on my own. In 2010 the Japanese Language Proficiency Test is being restructured to include a new level (N3) that is a perfect progression from my previous tests, so I'm going to spend the year preparing for the JLPT and pass it in December! Create: I've decided to keep a personal "one sentence journal" this year, just to record things for myself that I wouldn't write on WEBmikey. I also want to give my creative projects from 2009 another shot, so I'll use my video editing skills and even get a simple (free) app out for the iPhone. Improve: I couldn't think of a one word verb to say "be healthy", so this means I want to continue improving my health by eating right and enjoying life, and maybe lose a little more weight. Upgrade: This is just one of those "reminder" categories to make sure I finally buy a Blu-ray player this year, as well as migrate from my Apple TV to a Mac Mini as my "Jpop media center". Labels: decluttering, life
Looking back at 2009
12.31.2009 4:06 PM \| Link 0 comments	2009 was an incredible year for me, filled with significant and miraculous (in my opinion) events! It's time to take a look at what my goals were for the year and see how I did. For the past few years, I've structured my New Years resolutions as general areas to improve, so here's what I focused on last year. Healthy Life: My biggest accomplishment in 2009 was finally making this happen, after a few years of failure. I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time, and seeing its immense size suddenly made the challenges in my life seem very small. When I got home from that trip in May, I knew I could change my body. I lost 35 pounds and really shifted the way I eat and how I think about food. I have to keep at it every day (for the rest of my life), but now I know I can actually lose weight if I ever have to face this again (or to lose a few Christmas pounds!). I love using my Wii for fitness and taking long walks (often quite meditative), and my grocery list couldn't be simpler. Frugal Life: I think I did a good job of adding to my savings and stopping to think twice about purchases, with the only exceptions being new acquisitions for my Toy Museum! I love using PaperBack Swap to avoid buying books when I can, I've done some DVD and game pruning, and I feel like I'm on top of my finances more then ever before. Simple Life: My thought here was to create blocks of unstructured time, so I got rid of some activities and commitments that were wearing me down. I think I went a little far by cutting too many at once (I was left with a "what do I do now?" feeling), but things that I really enjoy (like Japanese) found their way back into my daily routine naturally. I'm so glad I made this goal though, because it made me examine what I really like but needed more time to do (like reading). Creative Life: I guess I would say I failed at what I was thinking about for this goal (doing video projects, composing music), but I definitely succeeded to some extent. I've been blogging more regularly than ever before (which is therapeutic and fun for me, regardless of how the world feels about my drivel), and I met several learning goals by doing lessons in Final Cut Express, basic piano, and even iPhone development. Of course, I also kept playing with my bands and took part in a theater production as well. Home Life: This goal actually means that I needed to buy some furniture, which I would put off forever if I didn't make it a requirement! I've finally replaced almost all my inexpensive furniture with new pieces that make me happy, and of course I've continued to declutter all year long. 2009 was also a year of wonderful experiences that I will never forget! No matter how silly it sounds, being able to meet Morning Musume was really emotional for me, not only because I admire their hard work, but because it was a real "dream come true" experience, since I truly thought it could never happen. I was able to enjoy some fantastic vacations in Arizona, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, as well as one of the most tip-top perfect Walt Disney World trips in history. I owe all of these memories to my family and friends, and I'm looking forward to more wonderful times in 2010! Labels: life
Walking and observing
10.16.2009 12:28 PM \| Link 0 comments	I've been walking twice a day for several weeks now, and I've pretty much settled on the same 1.5 (almost) mile route in the neighborhood behind my office, so I see a lot of the same thing day after day. I have a lot of time to think and look around during these walks, and it's interesting to me the things I notice if I just take the time to observe (and I definitely have time during my walk!). When I first began, it seemed like every house was getting a new roof (thanks to a big Austin hailstorm a while back), so I got to watch them all going up, as well as observe which crews seemed to be doing a great job and which ones were sloppy. Two houses I pass have been getting some kind of fancy garage floor coating, so I get to see the same truck everyday with a guy whose job is just to sit there watching big fans dry the coating while he smokes. I seem to have the same schedule as the mailman for this neighborhood, so I've discovered that he's always puffing on a pipe while he works, which is kind of cool (and smells great)! I know that some kid on the block just turned eighteen, thanks to a yard full of streamers and all kinds of slogans written on their car. Just being observant also plants lots of details in my head, too! I realized that I pass three different houses with the same address number as my parents and I even know which houses have little barking dogs in them. A couple of times I have gotten some waves, probably because people are used to seeing me walking down their street at the same time every day. I'm really thankful for my walking time, not only because it's helped me lose weight, but because it helps me to relax and take notice of the little details of the world! Labels: life
Routine Mikey
10.07.2009 12:01 PM \| Link 0 comments	I’ve always been the kind of person that enjoys a routine, especially in the morning. It’s funny how I settle into something, which will last quite a while, then it will slowly morph into a different routine (I’m sure if you dig around on WEBmikey you’ll find several mentions of past routines!). Lately I’ve been pretty focused on a fairly extensive set of activities, and it always makes me feel great when I do them all! Of course, sometimes I leave things out, but here’s what a “perfect” day looks like for me. I wake up at 5:30 AM (I’ve always loved getting up early, and it’s been so easy since I started using my soothing iPhone alarm instead of my awful alarm clock!), and sit down at my iMac. One of my current projects is moving my entire photo collection to iPhoto (which includes tagging faces), so I do a few sets of pictures (it will take me months to finish it all, but doing a little every day is the way to go). Next I usually upload one of my latest toy macro photos to Flickr. I take these ahead of time, which is sometimes the next activity. I shoot a few photos of whatever new toys I’ve added my collection, and these transfer to my iMac automatically via my EyeFi card (once again, doing just a few shots each morning is much easier for me than doing a ton all at once, since I will just keep putting that off). Now I’m ready to go downstairs, take my vitamins, and start studying Japanese. I do three lessons on Smart.fm, then at least 100 words on LearnTheKanji.com. After that I turn on some classical music and read a chapter or two of whatever book or manga I’m working on. Finally, I have a quick breakfast (oatmeal or yogurt) while watching a few minutes of whatever Jpop TV shows I have ready on my Apple TV. After all of this, it’s finally time to get dressed for work! My weekday routine (aside from actual work in the office) starts during my lunch break. I almost always go home for lunch, and the first thing I do is fire up the Wii and play Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout before I eat, and usually post something on WEBmikey after I eat. Back at work, I’m in the habit of taking walks around 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM (a little under 1.5 miles each), which breaks up the day nicely. When I go home, I like to immediately work a little on whatever project I’m into, which currently is learning Final Cut Express, so I do a lesson from a book I’m working through. If I don't have band rehearsal or something going on with my pals, then most nights I watch a movie, and I even have kind of a schedule for that, somewhat rotating through purchased DVDs, Netflix rented DVDs, or Netflix Watch Instantly options. On the weekends, I still do my usual morning routine, then on Saturdays I talk to my parents on the phone, and right after that I go to the Domain or the Arboretum for a long walk. Sundays are almost the same, except I go to church before the walk. Some of this rigidity (or monotonous repetition) sounds a little crazy even to me, but somehow I really like it. I always enjoy blowing everything off once in a while, but most of the time I’m just happy living the same day over and over! Labels: japanese, life, mac
Mikey-lite strikes back
9.03.2009 11:46 AM \| Link 2 comments	Back in 2005, I lost 25 pounds and was really proud of myself. I had always wanted to drop five more, but slowly I let the weight creep back on and basically never recovered from an especially gluttonous Christmas! Since that time, I half-heartedly struggled with losing a little and gaining a little, and eating way too many pizzas and milkshakes, and basically just accepting being overweight. Then in May I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time with my pal Ryan, and while I was there, the thought kept occurring to me that I really could lose weight again. Somehow the Grand Canyon was so unreal and incredible to me that it inspired me to do something “unreal”, too. It was like flipping a switch, because when I got back to Austin, my cravings and temptations were basically gone. Well not really, but I had no doubts that I could overcome them! I didn’t do any research or anything – I just knew I wanted to eat fresh food (no more TV dinners), as close to natural as my lazy no-cooking lifestyle would allow. So, I quickly settled on a small set of foods, and ate nothing else: Lettuce, canned tuna, canned salmon, black beans, eggs, chicken breast, fruit cups, raisins, almonds, carrots, yogurt, oatmeal, frozen vegetables, blueberries, grapes, fruit juice, green tea, water, lite beer I was so strict with these foods at first that I even went to friends’ BBQs and dinner parties without eating a bite. On vacations I still ate whatever I wanted, but the setbacks were pretty small, and I got back on track right away! At the same time, I started walking almost everyday. During the workday I take two walks just under 1.5 miles each, and on the weekends I try to do a two mile walk. I started loving the crazy 100-degree Austin heat and enjoying sweating! I’ve also been hitting the Wii pretty regularly, too (though I only started that about a month ago). Back when I was struggling and not getting anywhere, my pals gave me a Japanese daruma for my birthday. You are supposed to draw the pupil of one eye while making a wish, and then draw in the second pupil when the wish comes true. Back then I decided I wanted to lose 30 pounds (more than I lost in 2005), and today I reached my goal. My daruma finally has depth perception! It may have taken me a few years to get my butt in gear, but I finally lost the weight! It’s been fun wearing shirts that I never wore because they were too tight, and wearing the smaller-sized pants that I saved from 2005! Now that I’ve hit my target weight, I’m going to change absolutely nothing. I’m going to eat the same foods and do the same amount of exercise, except I'll allow myself to indulge every now and then, mainly with friends when the opportunity arises. I’m also going to keep a short leash on my maximum weight, and if it hits a certain number then I’m switching back into strict mode for a while. Even though maintenance seems a little scary (since I didn’t do well before), right now I’m just happy and excited with what I've been able to accomplish, and I’m going to use that excitement to keep myself fit in the future! Labels: life
Stupid driver rant
4.23.2009 8:20 PM \| Link 2 comments	I rarely write about irritating things or pet peeves, since I generally don't let things get to me, but depending on my mood, there are a couple things I encounter on the road all the freakin' time that drive me crazy! Around Austin there are several two lane left turns (at least on the routes I drive often), which obviously means that the lane you start the turn in should be the same lane you end the turn in. However, I can't even begin to count the number of mentally-challenged drivers who start the turn in the left-most lane and think they can end up in the right-most lane (which is usually the lane I'm in), meaning I have to slow down or speed up to get the heck out of their way. This happens to me at least once a week, and every time I'm just astounded that someone could be so dumb or oblivious that they think this is OK! If didn't drive extra defensively in these intersections, I would easily be bumped by these morons. The next peeve has to do with making a turn into a business from a fast-moving (40-50 MPH) street. In order to keep traffic flowing, I think you should make these turns as quickly (but safely) as possible, and I always make an effort so the car behind me doesn't have to slow down too much. But everyday there is someone turning into the post office or something who demands to come to nearly a full stop on the main road, then creep into the parking lot at two miles an hour, while I have to break and come to a near stop while they take their sweet time. What the heck is wrong with these people? Slow turners are the worst! Labels: life
OCD volume
3.02.2009 10:12 PM \| Link 4 comments	It doesn't surprise me that I have a few OCD tendencies, since I've become super fastidious after years of living alone. I like all my things "just so" and if something is out of place I have to fix it right away (in fact, after my cleaning service comes by, I have to go around the whole condo straightening up my knick-knacks)! I think one of my weirdest things has to do with the TV volume, which apparently developed soon after I got my HDTV, since when I adjust the volume I can see it displayed on-screen. For whatever reason, I have decided one certain numbers that are "OK" and the rest are "not OK" (it sounds just as funny to me as it does to you!). Numbers that end with 0, 2, 5, and 8 are allowed. I guess I basically like even numbers, but I also like 5 because it seems like a symmetric middle, and then I throw out 4 and 6 because they are too close to 5. Sometimes when a show is too soft on something like volume 22, but a little too loud on 25, I'll just make myself listen to it on 22 or 25 because I just don't like it to be on 23 or 24! Maybe this is the weirdest thing about me, or maybe it's the first in a new career of OCD weirdness. I can't wait to find out! Excuse me, I have to go make sure my refrigerator magnets are pointing the right direction. Labels: life
I'm outta here
2.20.2009 8:15 PM \| Link 1 comments	Tomorrow I'm flying to Los Angeles for my first mini-vacation of 2009! I'll be hanging out with my pals Dae and Ernesto, and the first place we'll be visiting is Vasquez Rocks, where tons of movies and TV shows were filmed, including several episodes of the original Star Trek (which is why I want to go there!). I'll be spending a day at Disneyland (of course), and I'm excited about seeing three new things: the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through, Pixie Hollow, and the new characters in It's a Small World (so I can form my own opinion about this controversial update). It's going to be a great trip! I'm going to try to keep Twittering from my iPhone, so keep checking! Labels: life
TV console with modifications
2.04.2009 12:14 PM \| Link 0 comments	One goal I'm always working towards is replacing my furniture with nice stuff (I like to call it "big boy furniture"), and I'm now enjoying my first piece of the year - a new TV console to hold my HDTV and other goodies. It took some time to find what I needed, since I wanted something fairly simple without glass doors, and I had to make sure it was narrow enough to fit in a wall alcove, but I finally found one I liked. Even though it was more expensive than I had hoped, I saved a little by bringing in a printed web page that still showed an older price! The console came in this weekend, and thanks to my pal Chris and his Honda Element, we were able to pick it up ourselves and save the stupid $100 delivery fee. When I inspected the piece, I noticed a little ding on the front edge, but there was no way I could wait a full month for a replacement, so they offered me a $100 price adjustment (more savings!). Setting everything up should have been easy, but I ran into a problem caused either by insane design or ignorant assembly. The middle shelf had no access to wire holes in the back, and the shelf was screwed in flush against the back, meaning it was totally cut off from other available holes (a little hard to explain here, but something had to be done!). The quickest solution for me was to make my own hole, so I ended up drilling a line of small holes and cutting through them with a kitchen knife (I hate handyman stuff, so I have no tools - luckily I had the drill from hanging PEZ shelves!). Now everything is A-OK and looks great! It's certainly much better than the old coffee table that was using, and it's so nice watching the HDTV at an appropriate height. Check out my low-res photo on Flickr to see where everything goes! Labels: life
I've been busy aging
2.01.2009 2:52 PM \| Link 0 comments	Another birthday has come and gone, and suddenly I'm 42, which strangely doesn't seem as old as 41 did (maybe I just can't handle odd numbers). Unfortunately, I've been fighting a cold for the past several days (which is why I haven't felt like blogging), but that didn't stop me from having a great birthday celebration! Thanks to all of my amazing friends, I had two birthday dinners and received lots of nice gifts, cards, emails and text messages, which all made me feel fantastic and lucky. I have a tradition of always taking the day off on my birthday, so I spent Friday building LEGO and relaxing, and then played a gig that night with the Greatest American Heroes. We hadn't played in a couple months, so it was great to play to a packed Carousel Lounge and get some of our best tips ever! Yesterday I picked up my new TV stand and spent the day hooking up my TV and components, then managed to enjoy the opera in spite of my runny nose, but today I'm totally relaxing (or you could say napping) so I can finally beat this cold (chicken noodle soup and old episodes of The Office seem to be a winning combination). Hopefully I'll be back to my regularly scheduled blogging this week! Labels: life
Entertainment overload
1.20.2009 12:39 PM \| Link 0 comments	Recently I've been kind of overwhelmed with all the things that are available for me to watch. Normally I think I do an OK job of balancing my activities so I don't spend too many hours in front of the TV, but it seems like there are so many sources screaming at me for attention lately! If you add in the fact that I have an addiction to finishing things (so I often force myself to watch a series to completion even if I don't like it that much), then it becomes pretty tricky. First, there are regular TV shows that I record on TiVo, but this isn't too bad since I only care about a few current prime-time shows and some cartoons. Next, there's Apple TV, which I use to keep up with several fun video podcasts, as well as tons of Japanese TV shows and music videos that I download. I can also use Boxee on Apple TV to watch lots of great shows on Hulu. On top of that, I'm excited about the DVD sets I got for Christmas, and when I start watching one I can't wait to see it all so I can start the next one! Finally, I like to watch a Netflix DVD fairly regularly to keep my queue flowing. But the last straw that's breaking the TV camel's back is Netflix's Watch Instantly on TiVo, because not only am I enjoying series that I missed when they were broadcast, but I feel compelled to watch even semi-crappy movies just because they are available! Last Saturday I watched so much TV all day that I felt like a blob, so the next day I stayed away from it most of the day and caught up on some reading. The world is definitely changing so just about anything you want to watch is ready to see with no waiting, but now I'm going to have to change with the world - just because it's all available "right now" doesn't mean I have to watch it "right now"! Labels: life
Value of the mundane
1.11.2009 8:50 AM \| Link 1 comments	I'm only a casual fan of Jpop artist Shoko Nakagawa (or Shokotan to her fans), but I still have lots of her songs in my library, and I like to watch her music videos (I saw her Shiny Gate video many times since the "idol olympics" premise was genius!). Shokotan is kind of a hero to the otaku world since she's open about how much she loves anime, manga, video games, and all kinds of geeky stuff, and I think that's pretty cool. This week I read an article about her and her lifestyle that's been getting attention on several websites, and it ends with a fantastic quote that's surprisingly meaningful: We only have a limited life. You don't know how many more pictures you can draw. You don't know how many more songs you can sing. You don't know how many more times you can play with your cat. You don't know how many video games you can complete while you're alive. Lots of people (myself included) sometimes feel guilty for enjoying "mundane" things, since they think they should always be trying to fulfill some lofty cause. But I think you can also have a full life just by finding things that make you happy and diving into them! Most of WEBmikey is just ramblings about all the media I consume, but I'm not ashamed of it - I love all the things I write about, and experiencing these things makes me happy (and since I think happiness can affect others around you, there's even a kind of purpose to it). For me, if I'm really enjoying something, there's no such thing as wasting time, so I'm going to continue to be like Shokotan and fill my life with things I enjoy! Labels: jpop, life
Bye bye blahs
1.04.2009 11:07 AM \| Link 0 comments	Each year at the beginning of January I seem to get a little case of post-holiday blahs, and it takes me a while to get fully adjusted to regular life again. This year was kind of strange with New Year's Day being on Thursday, which made Friday seem like a one-day work week, and since all of my free time has been spent in holiday-ish leisure (watching Looney Tunes and eating Christmas candy!), so far reality doesn't feel real. I guess I just like holding on to the holidays, when I know I need to squarely face the new year. Going to church today helped, and I've had a nice weekend of LEGO building which was lots of fun. But speaking of holidays, I should mention the great gifts I received from my pals! Dae and Ernesto created an amazing CD of original tunes and standards that I've been listening to a lot, and my pal Melinda gave me a cool personalized Mickey Mouse watch and a new shirt. Matt & Kumiko treated me to a gourmet feast event at the Alamo Drafthouse on New Year's Eve, Ryan sent me a nice Arizona Highways calendar to hang in my office, and Chris & Eliza gave me Wii pajamas (hilarious and awesome)! I'm so thankful for all my pals and the years of friendship they've given me. I'm sure by the end of this weekend these blahs will be long gone! Labels: life, pals
Another yearly reflection
1.01.2009 8:06 AM \| Link 0 comments	When I wake up on January 1st each year, I immediately want to spend some time thinking about whatever I was thinking about this day of the previous year! So just like I did last year, it's time for me to take a look at how I did with my resolutions and goals during 2008. Last January I thought about five goal areas to focus on, and in each of them I had successes and failures. I think I will remember 2008 as the year when I truly embraced the idea of a Simple/Frugal life, and I totally kicked butt with this goal! I did every decluttering project I could dream up, both physical and digital, and even learned to detach from owning things to the point where I could sell some Disney merchandise on eBay. I took every step I could to reduce bills (including ditching my land line phone and getting new insurance), and dramatically shrunk my media purchasing by catching up on the unwatched/unread items I own. The "think twice before buying" motto has helped me all year! For most of the year I didn't make any real progress in the Health/Fitness area, since my body is pretty much the same as it has been all year long. However, for the last couple months of the year I have finally had a huge breakthrough in avoiding evening pig-out foods (thanks to help from my parents), which will really help me keep this goal going in 2009. That's something to feel great about! In the area of Creativity/Arts, I managed to see many more symphonies this year, but I wish I had gone to even more events (and I only darkened a museum door once!). At the end of year I made some nice progress in editing old family video footage, but I completely ignored my goal of improving my video skills with new software - maybe I can hit that one in 2009! One of my goal areas for the past several years has been Japanese Study, and in 2008 I spent most of the year going to tutoring lessons, and finishing up other study methods like Rosetta Stone and several books. It was definitely a good year, but recently I re-prioritized my life and decided to take a Japanese break. However, now I'm excited about light studying with iKnow, so Japanese is (and always will be) a fun obsession for me. Finally, I'm so lazy about buying large Home Purchases that I have to make it a goal to force me to do it! In 2008 I finally made the switch to HDTV, re-designed my computer workspace with simple tables, and rewarded my rear with a new rocking recliner and comfy couch. I'm always positive about facing a new year, and I think I can work towards my goals with even more energy in 2009! Of course, I'm going to focus on many of these same areas with only a little tweaking here and there, so please check back one year from today to see how it went! Labels: decluttering, life
Benkou yasumi
10.13.2008 8:59 PM \| Link 0 comments	A couple weeks ago I started re-evaluating how I spend my non-work time, and I made the big decision to stop studying Japanese. I've been studying for about seven years, taking two courses at Austin Community College, going to lots of lessons with three tutors, reading tons of books, listening to podcasts, studying with software, scouring websites, and everything else! I've passed two levels of the JLPT, and I like the fact that I can understand so many words when I watch Japanese TV shows (although I still need subtitles). But for quite a while now my study habits have been declining, and I've been spending more time trying to force myself to study than the actual study itself. So, I'm going to take a long break, which means I don't plan on studying again until I really get the urge. Even though I'll enjoy the freedom from making myself feel guilty after not studying, it still feels really weird, since studying Japanese has been my main hobby for so long. Making this decision has started an avalanche of thoughts about why I do the things I do, and I want to stop doing things just because I feel I "have to". I don't really know what that means completely, but if I feel like I'm forcing myself to do something, then I'm going to stop. This weekend I decided I'm not going to do a Christmas project this year, after spending a lot of time trying to come up with ideas that just didn't come together. So, maybe this is another way of decluttering, or maybe it's a mid-life crisis! Whatever it is, I'm going to start experiencing free time without responsibility for a while, and then I'm going to have to figure out what I'm interested in all over again. Ultimately all that matters is discovering new ways to enjoy life, and I definitely plan on it! Labels: japanese, life
Studio time, selling DVDs
10.02.2008 7:15 AM \| Link 0 comments	Last week was pretty much devoted to music, since I had a couple band rehearsals, played a gig, and then spent a whole day in the recording studio with Casa del Swanko! We've been putting a little money aside from each gig just for this purpose, so it was cool to be able to pay for the studio time without any additional investment, which was actually pretty easy since Brain Machine's rate is fantastic. I enjoyed playing their heavy duty drum kit with lots more toms than I normally use, which brought out a few weird fills I didn't know I had in me! The whole experience was really nice, and we were able to lay down six songs, which will be mixed this coming weekend. Since I don't have much clutter left in my life, I'm always looking for anything that I can turn into a project! The other day I realized that I would probably never re-watch some of the Disney DVD sequels that were filling up my shelf - I used to buy them all the time, but since so many of them were disappointing, I just rent them now. So, I decided to make some "just in case" copies and sell a big stack of these to Planet Replay, who paid me $80 bucks in no time flat (I'm definitely a Planet Replay fan!). Of course, I kept the good sequels like Bambi II and Return to Never Land, but it was nice to free some space on my shelf by selling those bad cheapquels! Labels: decluttering, disney, life
Review mania
9.21.2008 3:12 PM \| Link 0 comments	Somehow I've been watching and reading a lot more stuff lately, and getting further and further behind on writing reviews for WEBmikey! I mainly write them for myself - it gives me a weird sense of accomplishment to know that I've absorbed so much entertainment, and I really do refer to them years later to see what I thought about something. Anyway, I was getting sick of being behind, so for the past couple days I got up early and cranked out about 13 reviews (I scribble a few notes when I'm watching something for exactly this reason)! It feels great to be caught up, and I'll be posting these over the next several days. I've almost decided to give up reviewing things several times, but it's fun remembering my feelings and thoughts about things - I guess they are remembrances more than reviews, really. So, I'm sticking with it, and I'm going to try to do my writing as soon as possible after watching or reading from now on! Labels: life
Rain-less Follies
9.14.2008 9:36 AM \| Link 0 comments	Hurricane Ike didn't bring a single drop of rain to Austin, but my parents' flight from Oklahoma City was still cancelled, since Southwest Airlines decided to stop all their service in Dallas yesterday. Luckily I was able to change their flight to Sunday, so they will be arriving later today, but it's going to be a really short two-night visit for them. We're still going to have a lot of fun and make the most of it, though! I had already bought tickets for Esther's Follies for my parents, but of course they weren't here to use them, so I took Matt & Kumiko instead - it was the first time for both of them! I had seen the show several years ago, but I had forgotten how absolutely hilarious it is! The performers and the music are fantastic and so clever, and the magic acts were pretty astounding, too. We had great seats up front and laughed our heads off non-stop! I've definitely got to get back to Esther's Follies more often. Labels: life
Three-day sick weekend
9.01.2008 12:38 PM \| Link 0 comments	On Friday, I started getting a sore throat, and by the evening, I knew I was actually sick with some kind of cold. Thanks to perfect timing, I knew I had a three-day weekend to recover, but also thanks to perfect timing, I had to play two gigs while I was sick! It was strange to realize how "off" I could be - I haven't made that many mistakes during a gig in a long time! Late Saturday night was the worst, since I had a little fever, so I decided I was going to totally rest on Sunday. I had to cancel plans with my pals, but the rest was worth it, since I feel about 90% better today! It was kind of nice to have a do-nothing day, because most of the time it's actually hard for me to do nothing - I'm always thinking about stuff on my To Do list! But yesterday whenever I had the urge to study or organize something, I just blew it off. I spent almost the entire day watching DVDs, which is something I don't recommend on a regular basis, but I really enjoyed it. I got to finish a Japanese drama (that was about 8 hours of watching right there!), watch another Godzilla movie, and even catch up on Jpop videos! My usual "sick ritual" is to eat applesauce and watch Mary Poppins, but I guess applesauce and Godzilla will work, too. Speaking of eating, I made an emergency trip to the grocery store for "sick supplies", but I ended up craving kiddie food, so I ate Kraft macaroni and cheese and Spaghettios yesterday! Today I'm having chicken noodle soup, which is essential for me when I'm sick, as well as constantly drinking hot tea. I like all kinds of tea, but the best sore throat tea is Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger! Labels: life
Texas Rollergirls championship
8.06.2008 7:25 AM \| Link 0 comments	Since my first flat-track roller derby experience was so much fun, last Sunday I went to see the Texas Rollergirls championship with my pals Matt & Kumiko! The place was completely packed (so much that they actually ran out of Lone Star beer!), but we still had a great view by standing on the ledges around the walls. The first bout was for third place, which was easily won by the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers - the score was so huge that it was embarrassing. But the big match for first place was a real nail-biter! The Hotrod Honeys (my favorite team) have made it to second place for the past four years, so they had to beat the Hell Marys this time to finally take the championship! The score was really close in the first half, and in the second half things started getting crazy with spills and wipe-outs all over the place (no medics required, thankfully!). In the end, the Honeys pulled ahead and won the bout and the first place title! We all had a great time screaming and enjoying the action, and it's always cool to see your team win. It was even more fun this time since I completely understood the game, and I was able to appreciate the strategy and the awesome moves by players like Lucille Brawl and Rice Rocket, who is by far the ultimate jammer (I think she must be a superhero!). I'm definitely looking forward to going back for more next season! Labels: life, pals
Simple days
7.20.2008 7:22 AM \| Link 0 comments	Sometimes when I hear about what my pals did on a Saturday, I start to think that my day has been a little boring. But truthfully, often those simple days are the best of all, since they make me feel so relaxed, peaceful, and positive about life! Yesterday was one of those days - in the morning, I finished some laundry, downloaded a batch of Jpop videos, and converted them to Apple TV format (since I have an Apple TV on the way!). I had my usual fun weekly phone call with my parents, then did a cool Japanese lesson. After that I enjoyed a long, sweaty walk around the Arboretum, which felt so great - I was completely in the moment, loving the sunshine and the good music playing on my iPhone. The heat was so nice that I decided to stay outside on my patio when I got home, so I had a beer and finished a fantastic book I've been reading, which always makes me feel good. Also during the day I caught up on several reviews for WEBmikey and read a couple volumes of manga! In the evening, I burned a ton of CDs (with Japanese Pod 101 lessons to listen to in the car) and thoroughly enjoyed an art book that I bought ages ago, reading about Pollock and Rothko, then I topped off the night watching DVDs. All during the day I felt really nice - I caught myself smiling and laughing, proof that I just felt wonderful. It might not have been a day that other people would call special, but simple days will always be special to me! Labels: life
Roller-rama
7.10.2008 7:18 AM \| Link 0 comments	On Sunday, my pals Matt & Kumiko decided they wanted to go see the Texas Rollergirls for the first time, so I went along just to see what it was like. It turned out to be an action-packed evening of screaming and fun! The Texas Rollergirls are a group of several Texas teams who are members of the Women's Flat-Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which was only formed a few years ago to establish roller derby played in a regular skating rink (flat-track instead of banked). So, the local Austin matches are held in a regular skate center, but with the entire place filled with excited fans, it becomes an entirely new experience. First, we had to learn the rules, which were explained in the program, and once we figured out who the jammers were and how they had to break through the pack to score, we really got into it! Part of the fun is the hilarious team and player names - we saw the Hell Marys and the Hotrod Honeys both win. The competition gets pretty fierce (we saw some bad falls and minor injuries), but these girls are serious athletes! It was amazing to watch them skate full-speed around corners and sometimes jump and fake to get through the pack. It was also fun to drink Lone Star, listen to the half-time band, and scream my head off, too! The bouts we saw determined who will play in the championship next month, and I'm rooting for the Hotrod Honeys, since they have some really cool players! Labels: life, pals
Searching for Mickey
7.07.2008 11:47 PM \| Link 0 comments	I always get a laugh by checking out some of the searches that bring people to WEBmikey, and since I've written a lot of Disney posts, many of those searches are for Disney topics. But the Disney search that I see the most is pretty hilarious, because it's totally based on a misspelling! Nearly everyday I see a search for "Mikey Mouse", because apparently there are lots of people who don't know how to spell "Mickey". (Of course, if you are one of these people, you may be reading this and feeling embarrassed right now!) The funny thing to me is that every Disney fan knows the words to the Mickey Mouse March, which spells M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E over and over again. I'm always glad to get more hits on my website, but if you're looking for more general Mickey Mouse info, take a moment to sing before you type! Labels: disney, life
Screenfuls of fun
6.24.2008 5:43 PM \| Link 0 comments	I've really been enjoying my new HDTV, now that I've got everything setup (at least temporarily)! I haven't been shopping for a new TV stand yet, so I'm using my old coffee table to hold my TV, with the rest of my components on the floor. The TV is a little low, but it doesn't look that bad. I finally got a cable card installed in my TiVo HD, and it's so nice to get rid of the separate cable box. The new TiVo is working great, but I'm even more excited about my upscaling DVD player (which I bought quite some time ago). Since most DVDs are presented in 16:9 (even if it's letterboxed), when the DVD player upscales them it fills the entire HD screen in the correct ratio! This also works great for the Japanese TV shows I download, which are mostly in HD. Of course, it's nothing like Blu-ray, but just seeing widescreen shows on an actual widescreen is amazing to me! (And yes, that's the adorable Michishige Sayumi on my TV, via an upscaled Morning Musume concert DVD.) My Nintendo Wii is hooked up via component cables (so it's 16:9 as well), and my old PS2 is connected via standard AV hookups (I have to keep it around for DDR emergencies). Right now my TV itself has everything hooked up to it, so I have no need for an AV receiver - eventually I will upgrade to a better sound solution, but for now the TV speakers are doing a fine job. I'm really happy with my purchase, and it's definitely improved my butt-numbing sessions! Labels: life
Selling, sweating, sleeping
6.17.2008 6:51 AM \| Link 0 comments	I think I'm ready to get back in the swing of posting again after some crazy days recently! I lowered my prices for the items that I had on Craigslist, and I finally got some emails about my old TV. After answering several questions, I sold it to a guy and his family on Saturday, so I've completed my first successful Craigslist sale. I didn't hear a thing about my entertainment center, though, but I discovered that one of my work pals was interested, so he came over on Saturday also, and now both of the huge items in my garage are gone! I sold both items for a steal, but I don't mind at all - it's just nice to park my car in the garage again. On the same day, though, I discovered my condo air conditioner was acting up, and the timing is terrible since we've been having 100 degree days! I thought it was the ant problem again, but yesterday I found out that I need a new fan motor, which I have to wait on. Right now when it kicks on it may or may not work - last night it decided to not work, but this morning I got it going again. Anyway, I hope I get the new motor really soon! On Sunday, I had a cable appointment to install cable cards in my TiVo HD, but I was so tired from the baseball game that I took a nap after going to church and making my Father's Day phone call, and I ended up completely sleeping through my appointment! Of course, I forgot that I had the ringer off on my iPhone and that was the number they called, so I missed it. Now I have to wait another full week for the next appointment. Oh well, I'm still enjoying my HDTV anyway, especially watching upscaled DVDs! Labels: decluttering, life
Good yet exhausting weekend
6.09.2008 7:07 AM \| Link 0 comments	This weekend was pretty crazy for me, so I haven't had the mental energy to write anything for WEBmikey for the past few days! On Friday I played a gig with Casa del Swanko, which was fun, but afterwards I was tired and fell asleep on the couch, so when I woke up at 5:00 AM, I just stayed up since I was wired for my HDTV delivery. So, I spent the morning getting my usual weekend chores done, and then started attacking the entertainment center. I unplugged all of my various components until my floor was a sea of cables, and then I moved what I could into the garage. The delivery guys were right on time, and the HDTV was in perfect condition, so I spent the rest of the day hooking up things. I don't have HDMI cables yet (since I ordered them and they are arriving soon), so it was kind of a bummer to hook up things analog, which means I couldn't fully enjoy the HD beauty yet, but it still looks great! After all of that, I took my pal Melinda to the opera, which was fun, but I was so tired after I got home again. On Sunday morning I was in a daze of fatigue, but then I discovered that my programmable thermostat touch screen was broken! There was no way to adjust it, and it was getting hot, so I had no choice but to go to Home Creepo (which I hate to do) and buy a new one. The installation wasn't too bad, and I think this new thermostat is better anyway. By now the mess in my condo and my garage was starting to drive me nuts, so I had to move all the other stuff into the garage and organize everything, which meant making a Goodwill run, too. By then I was feeling a little better, but my mind was drained and I couldn't even do my Japanese homework. Hopefully I can get back to feeling normal this week - it's amazing how changes, even positive ones like this, affect my mental peace. I still think there's lots to do, but at least I can relax a little now! Labels: life
Spending frenzy
6.01.2008 12:18 PM \| Link 0 comments	One of the positive side-effects of all my decluttering efforts has been a change in my purchasing habits. I used to view buying things as one of my hobbies, but lately I've been much more frugal, trying to buy fewer DVDs and books, for example. I've also been saving more and monitoring my savings closely. So, feeling weird about spending a lot of money is a relatively new feeling for me! Last month I had a lot of expenses converge so it felt like I was bleeding cash. I had to pay for the rest of my Las Vegas vacation, buy a new suit for a wedding, and my car needed some semi-major maintenance, all at the same time. I could afford all these things, but I was only able to save half of what I usually do - no big deal, but I decided I would take a break from buying anything for this month. However, this morning I did the exact opposite - I just ordered an HDTV! And now you get to hear me justify my huge purchase! Switching to HDTV was actually one of my goals for this year, along with replacing other furniture like my computer workspace and my rocking chair. So, I was already committed to getting one sometime this year. Last Christmas I got to setup and experience my dad's new HDTV, which has been fueling my desire for months! The only thing holding me back was the amount of change involved, since I'll have lots of things to get rid off (my old incredibly heavy TV, my old AV receiver, my entertainment center) and I also knew I would need a new TiVo for HD recordings. Well, that's what pushed me over the edge - Amazon is having a special right now (for about a week) on Samsung HDTVs (which I had already chosen as the brand I wanted) with a completely free TiVo HD box! Since I'm a TiVo addict, there was no question that I needed the box, and now I'm getting it free and saving around $225! The model I ordered is the Samsung LNT4071F, which is similar to my dad's, but a little newer with a higher contrast ratio. In a way, all of this is becoming a decluttering project, too, because with the new TiVo I can get rid of my cable box (along with my receiver and speakers I already mentioned), so eventually my AV world is going to be nice and tidy. Of course, I have no idea how I will begin the transformation once the new HDTV arrives, but I'm sure it will be a fun adventure! Labels: decluttering, life, tivo
Catching up
5.18.2008 7:51 PM \| Link 0 comments	The past four days have been jam-packed with friend-filled fun, centered around the joyous wedding of Jonathan & Anne-Marie! It's been wall-to-wall celebration with my pals, including Dae and Ernesto visiting from Los Angeles, and so many nights of staying up until 3:00 AM that it's been hard to figure out the difference between intoxication and fatigue! Needless to say, there's been no time for WEBmikey posting, so it's time to play catch up, especially since I'm leaving for Phoenix in a few days to visit my pal Ryan. Of course, I need to get some photos posted from the weekend and wedding, but I also want to write several reviews so I can feel on top of my blogging backlog. So, hopefully the next few days will have multiple posts - say tuned! Labels: life
Amazon tweaking habit
5.14.2008 10:22 PM \| Link 0 comments	Lately my main time-wasting addiction has become adjusting my Amazon Wish Lists and recommendations. I have several lists going, including one I use for things that I want to buy really soon, so I'm constantly looking over my items and figuring what to move around. For example, when I finish a manga volume, I probably already have the next volume of the series on my Manga list, so I find it and move it to my Order Soon list. I also like looking over some of my long lists and deleting things that I've decided not to buy - it's nice to keep something on a list for a while, rather than make an impulse purchase, and then later realize that I really don't want it so much. But besides list management, I absolutely love digging through Amazon recommendations, since I can mark things as "not interested" or rate items I already own. I have discovered so many new books and DVDs before their release date that way, since Amazon does a good job of recommending what I like (thanks to their huge customer base and collaborative filtering). Sometimes I go crazy and even look as far as 500 items of recommendations, and things get pretty silly at that point, but it's still fun. I guess it's just a way to curb my shopping cravings without spending money all the time! Labels: life
Triple event weekend
5.03.2008 9:23 PM \| Link 0 comments	This has been a jam-packed weekend so far, and tons of fun! Friday night there was a bachelor dinner in honor of Jonathan's wedding (coming up in a couple weeks!), so all of gathered for a long meal at the Clay Pit with plenty of drinking, story telling, and lots of laughter. After dinner we decided to walk to the Cloak Room, which is one of Jonathan's secret late-night haunts. Most of us had never been there before, and it was cool to discover this tiny, dark bar that's famous for being filled with Texas legislators (since it's right at the foot of the Capitol). It was a really fun evening! Today I got up early to get my weekend chores done so I could head out to enjoy Free Comic Book Day! Matt decided he wanted to check it out also, so we went to Capstone Comics (a really nice place that I'll definitely revisit) and ran into George and his grandson Devin, which was nice since I love seeing kids getting excited about free comics. The store really went all out for the event with raffle drawings, guests artists signing things, and even guys in authentic Star Wars costumes! Next, after an hour or so of rest, the Greatest American Heroes drove to Temple to play a benefit for the American Cancer Society. We played in a high school football stadium, right on the 50-yard line, and although we were missing Chris on guitar and had a guest bassist, we had a great time and seemed to be well received. It was so refreshing to play outside in the beautiful weather, and then have an awesome meal together at a 50s themed diner. Now I'm finally home, a little sunburnt, and a lot tired, but I've enjoyed every minute of this crazy weekend! I'm definitely going to kick back tomorrow! View photos: Jonathan's Bachelor Dinner View photos: Comics & Heroes Labels: bands, life, pals, photos
Glen is Billy
4.30.2008 12:13 PM \| Link 0 comments	When I was growing up, I would always read the newspaper comics with my mom at breakfast, so of course I've read hundreds of goofy Family Circus panels by cartoonist Bil Keane. Recently I found out that Glen Keane, one of Disney's most talented animators and one of my heroes, is Bil Keane's son (and even appears in Family Circus as Billy)! I feel like I'm the last person to find this out (I'm sure all the other animation fans already knew this), but I thought it was pretty interesting! It's amazing that the lead animator for Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, and Tarzan was right there in front of me while I was eating cereal! Labels: disney, life
Watching a novel
11:56 AM \| Link 0 comments	While I was reading Douglas Coupland's novel JPod, I was surprised to find out it had been turned into a TV series in Canada! Thanks to the good ol' web, I was able to watch all 13 episodes of the show, which has unfortunately already been cancelled (and even caused a fan uproar). The show was really well-produced with great casting, and it was so funny to see many of the quirky scenes from the book adapted for the series. Actually, the episodes managed to cover most of the complete novel, so if it had continued to another season, there would have been new stories created for the characters! Anyway, this is the kind of show that people will either love or be bored with - if the outlandish lives of a group of video game developers sounds cool to you, I'll bet you'll like the show (and you can watch it on the CBC's site). I definitely enjoyed seeing a novel I never dreamed would be adapted brought to life for a while! Labels: life
The bonus cup
4.04.2008 10:55 AM \| Link 0 comments	Since I'm a minor coffee snob, I have my own little coffee maker in my office so I don't have to drink the generic Folgers that we have at work. I grind some beans at home every few days and bring them in, so the first thing I do everyday is make my own little pot of caffeine, which I love sipping to wake up while I'm getting settled in. I like small mugs better than huge ones, since a smaller mug means less coffee to get cold, so I've been using a cool Kogepan mug that my pal Barron bought me in Japan everyday for the past several years! I usually have two of those mugs full right away, but then I try to save the rest of my pot for the afternoon. Around 3:00 PM my brain starts shutting down, so it's nice to have an extra sip of coffee without making a new pot (I just nuke the dregs for half a minute!). Lately I've been calling this the "bonus cup" in my own internal monologue. I love seeing that magic hour come along and thinking to my myself, "Time for the bonus cup!" Of course, sometimes I can't resist and I drink it all in the morning, and then I have to suffer in the afternoon. Poor me! Labels: life
DVD triumph
3.31.2008 8:51 PM \| Link 0 comments	I'd like to formally announce that I've finally finished watching all of the DVDs that super-generous Santa gave me for Christmas this year! I'm also proud to say that I stayed true to my new frugal goal, and I haven't bought a single new DVD this year, since I already had so many good ones waiting to watch. This is a big deal for me, since I used to buy new DVDs all the time and stay perpetually behind in watching them! Of course, now I'm free to think about buying some that I've had my eye on, but I'm going to try to stick to getting one (or two, tops!) at a time and enjoying Netflix in between. Speaking of DVDs, I had been wondering for some time if Disney was ever going to release Zorro on DVD, since I used to like watching the old episodes on the Disney Channel before they changed their format. Well, I recently discovered they already have it on DVD, but it's only available as an exclusive Disney Movie Club selection! There's no way I'm joining, since I already own 95% of their entire catalog, so that's a really bummer. But there's still a chance I can get Zorro, since I also found out you can earn it as a prize for Disney Movie Rewards points! These points come with most Disney DVDs, and I have quite a few saved up, so I hope it works out that I can earn enough to get it before Disney changes their mind or sells out. Labels: disney, life
WEBmikey on the web
3.29.2008 6:27 AM \| Link 0 comments	I've been expressing myself digitally a little more often recently, so here's an update on WEBmikey stuff. First, I finally caved-in and started using Twitter, which is one of those super-popular sites that millions of people are addicted to, and now I'm hooked, too! Twitter is really hard to explain (and people have written essays and even made films trying to get the idea across), but the best explanation I have heard is that it's a way to record and tell the world and your friends what you're doing or thinking when you don't have time to write an official blog post. It's fun to check it, since some of my friends are using it, so it's also a little like instant messaging, too. Anyway, I enjoy it, and it's fun to update it from both my MacBook and my iPhone! Next, I discovered a cool site called Profilactic that combines your online presence into one neat page. The new buzzword for this is "lifestreaming", and I think it's pretty cool. It's fun to see all of my WEBmikey posts, Flickr photos, Twitter posts, Delicious bookmarks, and even songs I'm listening to (since I use Last.fm to record what iTunes is playing) all in one chronological list! Finally, I've been working towards adding labels to all my prior WEBmikey posts, so things like my old poetry posts are getting collected together now (lots of ancient stuff out there!). I've also resurrected my Japanese practice blog, since my tutor Kumiko is giving me some great writing assignments for homework! After we correct them together, it's fun to have a record of what I'm learning online, so I'm sure this collection will keep growing! I'm also finally starting to take some macro toy photos again, which you may have noticed popping up in my Flickr photostream. Labels: life, sites
Green, orange, red, yellow
3.28.2008 5:17 AM \| Link 0 comments	Even though I enjoy using Lean Cuisine and 100-calorie snacks to help me control my diet, recently I was feeling like everything I ate was tasting the same. Nothing was fresh, and everything was so salty! I can pretty much accept this situation since I really have no interest in cooking, but I figured I could at least try eating more fresh food. Even though I like veggies and especially fruit of almost any kind, I almost never buy them because I can never eat them before they go bad, but I decided to just buy less and go to the grocery store more often if needed. So, I got some salad, broccoli, carrots, apples and bananas, and I went a whole day eating nothing but fresh stuff, and it felt great! I also dropped a few stubborn pounds, too. Of course, I'm still going to supplement with a Lean Cuisine every now and then, but I'm cutting out the salty snacks for the most part and eating like a bunny instead! Labels: life
Peaceful Easter weekend
3.23.2008 2:41 PM \| Link 0 comments	Today's special Easter service at Gateway was fantastic! It was a full musical production, with sets, costumes, lighting and other multimedia, telling a modern version of the parable of the prodigal son (or daughter, in this case), using the songs of U2. I know, it sounds pretty unusual, but it was totally amazing, and really had a wonderful message filled with Easter spirit! It was a nice addition to the great weekend I've been having, which included lunch at the lake, scanning some old childhood memories, doing Japanese homework, and going out for beer with Matt & Kumiko. Of course, all of this is combined with quality "chair time" - reading manga, watching Disney and Jpop DVDs, and enjoying my first awesome naps in my new leather lounger. Labels: easter, life
A comfy butt is a happy butt
3.20.2008 5:36 PM \| Link 0 comments	One of my goals this year is to finally replace some old furniture from my early Austin days (and even the old Tulsa days), and I'm happy to say that I'm writing this from the comfort of my new La-Z-Boy! Whether I like to admit it or not, I spend a lot of hours on my rear end watching DVDs, reading, or surfing the web, and for more than 10 years I've been doing that in a wooden rocking chair. It wasn't so bad really, but I was sick of that all too familiar sore feeling, so I decided to get something nice. I really wanted something like a club chair, but since Mom & Dad trained me from infancy to be always rocking, I had to go for a rocker/recliner. I picked the smallest one I could find (since I don't like the overstuffed look), with simple lines and a fairly modern style, and it was finally delivered today! I'm already happy with it, and I was impressed that the back is completely removable to make moving it easier. Now I have to decide what DVD to watch to break it in! Labels: life
Welcome to post 3000!
3.16.2008 10:18 AM \| Link 0 comments	Today marks the 3000th post on WEBmikey, and I'm just as shocked as you are! If someone forced me to sit down and write about 3000 different things, I don't think I could do it, and yet somehow that's just what I've done. So, here's a brief site history and some comments about what it means to me. This site started in early 2000 (before blogs really existed) as something to do for fun - I remember I was even a little embarrassed to tell my friends about it! Here's a small image of my original pre-blog header (so nostalgic!). At the time, personal websites were called "vanity sites", and I thought they were kind of silly, but eventually I caved in and wanted to make my own (hence the old tag line "The impossible vanity site"). The name was kind of an accident - when I tried to register a domain name, of course "mikey.com" was taken, but it offered the suggestion "webmikey". I thought it had a nice ring to it, and got the idea of making things look like fake HTML tags (which is the reason for the weird capitalization). I decided that I wanted to boil my life down to series of lists (which was pretty fun), so everything was organized into four broad sections: Last 5 (which was the start of my mini-reviews), Today (which was the start of a blog about current life), Yesterday (which was all of my life lists), and Creativity (which contained poetry and other writings). When Blogger hit the web, I realized it would be so much easier to use than doing everything by hand, so I originally created a separate blog for each of these areas. Later, I got tired of that, and switched everything to a single giant blog, which is how it stands today. The best thing about WEBmikey for me is being able to step back and observe myself. When I browse my old posts, I can watch my writing style evolve and my attitudes change! I also use the site (along with Google search) as a reference into my own opinions - I can't tell you how many times I've wondered what I thought of some movie way back when, and it's always fun to read my old review. Speaking of reviews, 1440 of these 3000 posts are my mini-reviews of DVDs, movies, books, CDs, and various other things! Since I have links to all my Flickr photos here as well, lots of my pals use WEBmikey to find photos I've taken, and I'm proud of that! I've also run into some old friends and reconnected sets of people who happened to find WEBmikey through searches, which is pretty nice. The only thing I'd like to change here (besides eventually changing this stale site design!) is to finally start making shorter posts more often - I'd like to record more spontaneous thoughts here, but I have a phobia of two sentence posts that I need to get over! So, thanks to anyone who has read even one of these 3000 posts! I'm pretty confident that I'll keep writing, since WEBmikey has not only become a record of who I was, but also helps define who I am today. See you at post 4000! Labels: life
Lazy-itis
2.26.2008 10:10 PM \| Link 0 comments	I don't have a good excuse for the lack of fresh WEBmikey, except to say that I've been super lazy lately! (It's true - I'm not always productive!) For some reason, I snapped on Sunday and did nothing but drink coffee all day and watch DVDs (before watching the semi-boring Academy Awards with Matt & Kumiko), and that started a trend of just goofing off this week. The only news I have to report is my DVD player finally broke (it had been making funny noises for several weeks), but my trusty PS2 came to the rescue so I've still been absorbing DVDs. I already have a new Philips player on the way (I like Philips since they are so easy to region-hack so I can play all my Japanese DVDs), and this one will do HD up-converting so I'll be ready whenever I get around to replacing my TV! I am now eight reviews behind, so I better get my WEBmikey butt in gear pretty soon (but tonight turned out to be another anime-fest instead)! Labels: life
Cereal with beans
2.23.2008 1:29 PM \| Link 0 comments	Since childhood, I've always been a cereal fiend. It doesn't matter what kind of cereal - from the super sweet Cap'n Crunch to healthy stuff like Grape Nuts, I love it all. Of course I ate it all the time as a kid, but I kept on eating it (for breakfast, snacks, and even dinner) into adulthood, until a few years ago when I suddenly discovered I had become lactose intolerant (yuck). I tried special milk like Lactaid, but it still affected me the same way. So, I sadly gave up my cereal habit, only breaking the rules every now and then (and facing the consequences on the toilet). Sometimes I would eat cereal dry, or sometimes with just a light mist of milk, and in recent years I've been using yogurt as a milk-replacement (pretty goopy, but good). I always thought soy milk was gross, so I never gave it a try, but recently I happened to see a commercial for Silk, which stirred up my cereal cravings. So, I bought some, wondering what that brownish weird stuff would taste like, and on cereal, I have to say that it's delicious! Actually, I can' even remember what real milk tastes like now, so Silk tastes like the real thing to me. I tried it on some Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch, which was ultra-yummy, and with regular Grape Nuts, and it was so good that I ate cereal for all three meals that day (which I don't recommend, since I was so full)! So, I think cereal is back in my diet, as long as I can keep it under control. Today I bought some Raisin Bran (on Mom's suggestion), and it was fantastic for lunch! I'm so happy I can enjoy cereal with milk again! Labels: life
Garage lessons
2.17.2008 12:19 PM \| Link 0 comments	There are lots of inspiring things being written about decluttering these days, but I enjoy adding my own words at times, especially when I face up to a particular experience myself. Lately I've been working on a second round of garage decluttering, since when I did it the first time I managed to get everything in nice, neat storage containers, but I still kept a lot of things that I really didn't need. This time around I decided to go through my paper containers (where I actually had every last note I took during college) and my souvenir/memory boxes. It was kind of fun to actually see all these items again, but ultimately a little melancholy since I knew there was absolutely no need for me to keep most of them. I would never again be looking at these Large Scale Scientific Computing matrix equations, if it wasn't for the fact that I was going through them to throw them out! It's been good for me to reassess the value of "things", since I often equate the physical thing to a memory. I had to remind myself that my memories are never going to change if I don't have this Shakespeare exam buried in a box in my garage - I will still remember the class fondly! So, I was able to reduce three giant boxes of paper down to one giant box - I had to keep just a few favorite projects and all of my journal notebooks (since I may read them when I'm 75 or something!). I went through the same emotions with my other old items, and even old clothes. It may be difficult, but I found it really liberating to "detach" from things, and now I've reduced my box of "treasures" by 50%, too. I'm sure someday even the items I'm keeping now will mean much less to me than the memories I have of them - and the memories can be stored in zero physical space! Now I can say my garage is totally complete! After round two and a trip to Goodwill, I can fit everything I need on my shelves without having other storage containers lining the walls, and it feels great! Labels: decluttering, life
Tons of birthday fun
2.03.2008 8:05 AM \| Link 0 comments	I've really had a great birthday this year, with plenty of surprise gifts and fun with friends! My pal Melinda bought me dinner (plus a birthday cake), and then gave me a cool Star Wars LEGO set, as well as a fantastic Mickey Mouse figurine with small snowglobes that re-creates a scene from the 1932 Disney short Mickey's Nightmare! I found the original short on my Disney Treasures DVDs so we were able to watch it right away, too (it's nice to have all those Disney DVDs in my library!). (By the way, this image is the original movie poster, and I just realized that the figurine is an exact replica of this illustration!) On Friday, Chris & Eliza hosted a little combined birthday get-together (it was Eliza's birthday recently, too), and along with a "Happy Birthday Old People" cake, there were more presents! Tom gave me a huge bottle of Grey Goose vodka, Shawn & Bernadette gave me some vintage Disney comic books, and Matt & Kumiko gave me one of the new Indiana Jones LEGO sets (I have some fun building ahead of me!). Chris & Barron went together to get me Guitar Hero for the Wii, and I had a blast playing it yesterday (the wireless guitar controller is so nice)! I'm so amazed at how incredible all of my friends are, and how lucky I am to have them. It definitely makes it easier to be a child trapped in an old man's body! It's been a busy weekend, so I haven't had time to take photos of my awesome presents, but don't worry, you can be sure I'll get around to snapping some pictures eventually! Labels: disney, life, pals
Birthday bliss
1.30.2008 3:39 PM \| Link 0 comments	Happy birthday to me! What do you know, I turned eight years old again! Actually, if I had to pick an age, I'd go with 27 - you're old enough to do anything you want, but young enough that everyone says "Man, you're so young!" For the past few years, I've been spending my birthday in total zero responsibility mode, so I took the day off work, and I've been relaxing at home watching Animaniacs cartoons and Jpop videos, reading manga and drinking coffee. I also recently discovered that I had an old Droid Developer Kit LEGO set from 1999 that I had never even opened, so I just finished building R2-D2! It even has a motor so it can roll around - as usual, I'm completely in awe of LEGO engineering. It definitely makes me want to build more and more Star Wars LEGO sets! Tonight I'm having a birthday dinner with my pal Melinda, and I've been getting some nice birthday emails today, too. As you know, Mom & Dad bought my iPhone super-early for my birthday gift, but they still sent me some surprise cash anyway (because they are such amazing parents)! As I get older, each year seems a little shorter, but I also feel a little more peaceful and content with my life each day, which makes every birthday a happy one! Labels: lego, life, star wars
Wide open spaces
1.26.2008 1:25 PM \| Link 0 comments	I'm happy to say I just finished Operation Loft! Today I built my new Elfa tables (which was pretty easy even though you have to use a drill), and then I unplugged all of my equipment to get ready for the swap. Next I took apart (demolished) my old computer table, and got it out of there along with the old broken filing cabinet, and then I set up all of my things again, doing my best to keep the cables fairly neat. Now I have a ton of wide open space, since I was able to put some items that I used to keep in my desk inside the extra drawers of the new filing cabinet! I also have room under the table for my new shredder - I kind of went a little overboard buying a new one (this thing will even chomp up a CD!), but at least I'm pretty sure it will last longer than the last one. Some day I'm going to replace my Power Mac with an iMac, not only because I want all my Macs to be Intel, but also because it will open up more floor space and reduce even more cable clutter. I'm really happy with today's accomplishment - this marks the end of a big series of tasks for my loft, and now it serves as my library (books, manga, DVDs) and workspace. Take a look! Labels: decluttering, life
One thing is all it takes
1.25.2008 7:19 PM \| Link 0 comments	I'm addicted to list making, which can be a great thing (since I don't often forget to do things I need to do), but can also be a bad thing. For me, the dark side of list making shows itself when I try to cram too many tasks into a single day, and at the end of the day when I look at my half-finished list, I feel like I've failed. I've decided that self-induced guilt is generally terrible and a waste of time, so lately I've been trying a new "get one thing done" method. Each morning I look at my general big list of stuff and pick one thing that I will definitely do today, and when I get that finished, my day is a success! Usually I feel so great about it that I'll end up doing more things, all because I haven't made myself feel like I "must" do them. I know, it's just a Jedi mind trick, but it's been working for me! Here's some examples of recent "get one thing done" goals. Earlier this week I had to get my driver's license renewed - Texas has a new requirement where they need proof of your SSN and even fingerprints on file, so I had to wait two hours at the DMV to get my new license (next time I'll be able to renew online)! I did that in the morning, so the rest of the day I felt happy and free, and still got other things done. Yesterday my goal was to sell my latest batch of books and DVDs at Half Price Books. So, I hauled everything to the store, walked out with $45 bucks, and felt successful again. I usually have the most trouble on the weekends, since I feel like I should be able to do a million things, but I'm going to stick with one goal tomorrow, too - and I'll bet I get it done! Labels: life
Prerequisite decluttering
1.20.2008 7:27 AM \| Link 0 comments	Yesterday was a great weekend day, because I finally got started on my last decluttering project for my loft, which is setting up a new computer work area! One thing I've learned about projects like this is that one task always has some sort of prerequisite task, so sometimes it's a puzzle to figure out how to begin. For example, I knew I wanted two simple Elfa tables (no need for a complicated desk for me) with one supported by a new filing cabinet (since my old filing cabinet is ugly, ancient, and broken!). So, first I had to declutter my old files (which I did last week, burning out my old cheap shredder in the process, so a new one is on the way!), and then figure out what to do with an old set of drawers that I used to store VHS tapes in (the tapes are all gone from last year's decluttering, but I was still using it as a table). Thankfully, my boss George can use the drawers, so I moved them downstairs for him to pick up next week. Next, I needed to empty out one of three DVD racks to make room for the new tables, so that meant it was DVD decluttering time! Actually, I had quite a few I could part with, mainly because Disney keeps re-releasing movies as Platinum Editions (which I buy, of course!), so there's no need for me to keep the old releases of the same movies. But I still had a way to go to free up that rack, so I decided to move a row or two of DVDs to my bookcases, which meant (you guessed it) decluttering my books again! I severely pruned my books last year, but it was surprisingly easy to do it again - there were still a few college books that I know I would never touch, as well as some novels that I can't imagine re-reading, so out they went. To top off the day, I did actually make it to The Container Store to buy my tables (which were part of the Elfa sale!) and filing cabinet, so soon I'll get to build them and actually enjoy the results of my labor. I intended to use this situation as an introduction to mentioning my use of "minimum space" to help control what I buy, but it took so long that I'll have to save it for another post! Labels: decluttering, life
Less really is more
1.16.2008 9:26 PM \| Link 0 comments	Lately I've been more and more convinced that decluttering, in all shapes and forms, is a good thing for me, and finding ways to simplify my life continues to be one of the areas I want to focus on this year. I did a great job last year, and during that time did a lot of reading about the idea that "external" clutter definitely has an effect on "internal" clutter, meaning that too much stuff in my world does the same thing to my mind. It's true that removing things I don't need gives me a huge sense of relief, which makes my thoughts clearer, which helps me enjoy life more. Lately I've been struggling with trying to do too much, which only makes me disappointed when I don't meet all my expectations, so I've been thinking a lot about decluttering again, which includes simplifying what I do with my time. For example, since I'm kind of a media addict, I've been trying to keep up with way too many websites, RSS feeds, podcasts, and even shows on TiVo, so today I just decided to cut way back, and now I won't be concerned about all of it piling up. I even did a little tidying up at my office today, which seemed to help me think straight, too. Anyway, I'm mentioning all of this because I'm going to try to change how I write on WEBmikey to make blogging more fun and less of a chore. I still want to keep writing reviews, but since I'll never be a true critic, I'm going to write more personally and just enjoy sharing my thoughts about something. I'm also hoping to let myself write shorter posts off the top of my head, just to have fun! I think by doing less, I'm actually going to end up doing more, because I'm going to be doing things less out of self-imposed obligation, and more out of simple joy. Labels: decluttering, life
Fun with cedar
1.14.2008 10:13 PM \| Link 0 comments	The joyous Austin cedar allergy season is definitely here, and on Sunday it hit me like a ton of bricks! My nose was running like a faucet, so I practically had all my trash cans filled with Kleenex by noon! Thanks to my trusty Benedryl (Claritin does nothing for me), I got some relief in the afternoon, just in time for a quick visit from Matt & Kumiko and their friends Yosuke & Aya, visiting from Japan. Yosuke is a big Disney fan (they visit Tokyo Disneyland about five times a year and have even been to Hong Kong Disneyland!), so Kumiko wanted to be sure they saw my home full of Disney collectibles. I had fun showing them around, and I loved Yosuke's true fan reactions to my stuff (I heard lots of Kore hoshii, or "I want this")! After they left, the Benedryl knocked me out for four hours, after which I just curled up with a box of Kleenex and watched episode after episode of The Muppet Show, which was fun even though my nose was raw. Miraculously, today I feel just fine and I've barely even had the sniffles today! Labels: life, pals
Productive distraction
1.10.2008 9:28 PM \| Link 0 comments	Sometimes I have to deal with a big internal conflict involving my free time, which is balancing the things I've planned to do with what I actually want to do at the moment. It's really silly, since everything amounts to stuff that I actually desire to accomplish, but at times I get obsessed with something, which throws out all of of my carefully time-distributed plans! I love having the discipline to say I'll do a set of tasks each day (such as Japanese study, writing WEBmikey, and so on), leaving the rest of my time for other things I like to do. But sometimes (like recently!) something I get started on takes over, and I have to admit it's fun being obsessed, since I like the energy! The other day I got started reading Revolution in the Valley (which I'll review soon), and I absolutely could not stop reading it - I've been stealing every free moment in the morning, during lunch, and evenings, too. Tonight I decided I had to get it out of my system, so I just read for four hours straight (something I almost never do!) and finished it! I'm also getting a new burst of decluttering energy, since I spent some time recently to go through my filing cabinet to get rid of old documents. While I was doing it I got thinking about even more decluttering, such as going through my books and clothes again, and now I have more projects flying around in my head! So, you could say I've been undisciplined in my usual schedule lately, but I don't really mind, since my time is still getting filled with worthwhile efforts. Labels: decluttering, life
Resolution report
1.01.2008 8:28 AM \| Link 0 comments	Happy New Year, everyone! For the past few years I've really been into thinking hard about New Year's resolutions, and I took some time over the weekend to look back on 2007 and look forward to 2008. Since I keep my thoughts written down, I really enjoy reading what I was thinking on this day last year and seeing how I did. Last year my main goal was decluttering, and I have to give myself an A+ on that one! Getting rid of all kinds of stuff and organizing everything has brought me tons of enjoyment and peace of mind, and really changed the way I think about buying new things. My next goal was to get new furniture, which I only half-finished - I bought things to help with my decluttering, but not important items like a new couch! My next goal was my biggest failure - I made almost no progress on health and fitness in 2007. I was really happy with myself in 2005, but it's been downhill since then, so that resolution really tanked! But I did much better on my next goal, which was to go to church regularly again. I had a time of church burn-out in 2006, but now I really look forward to going to Gateway each week and I've been much more spiritually-minded, and I feel great about it! Finally, my last goal was to experience more art and culture, but after a great start last year, I kind of fizzled out. Overall, I had a great year, and I'm proud of my successful goals, and not too discouraged by the ones I missed! Of course, I have another list of goals for 2008, but I'll write about those next year. Actually, they are quite similar to last year (maybe a little more defined), and I'm filled with confidence that I can make them happen! While I'm on the topic of the New Year, my pal Kumiko gave me a special set of Disney New Year postcards from Japan. This is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac, so Mickey Mouse is the perfect symbol for 2008! Labels: decluttering, disney, life
Tadaima!
12.04.2007 12:56 PM \| Link 0 comments	I'm back from Los Angeles and the JLPT Level 3 test is over! Overall the exam was difficult, but I feel like I did well. I think the best thing about the experience was it clearly showed me how to re-focus my studies. For example, I think I spent too much time on grammar and not enough time on vocabulary. Even though I drilled myself on the 700 Level 3 vocabulary words several times, I didn't really learn them all, and of course they chose to use a few words that I didn't remember (but now I will never forget them!). I'm glad I went over the tests for the previous three years, though, because I was able to recognize how certain questions were structured, especially in the Reading Comprehension section. Listen Comprehension was crazy (as expected), but I'm hoping I made some good guesses! When I get my test results at the end of February, I'll be sure to post them here. Of course, after the exam, my mind was racing with all the things that confused me, but now I actually feel more energetic about studying, and I'm ready to really gain some ground in 2008! Labels: jlpt, life