It's official. Obama is a secret NINJA! :O

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/31394958#31394958

I'm so proud of my cousin Ed!

He did a reading recently of his two novels "Waylaid" and "This is a Bust", along with a new piece I've never heard before about "Lunar New Year".

He focuses on the Asian-American experience, especially on NYC/NJ, in the 1970's and 80's. If you like what you hear, definitely check out his books. I found them to be really funny and a pretty accurate depiction of Asian life (and full of cultural/daily life references that perhaps only those of us who've been through it will recognize).

Go check it out!

I just watched the most eloquent plea for understanding from the straight, Christian, what-have-you segment of the Yes on Prop 8 segment of society from the usually angry, ranting Keith Olbermann, and upon reading the comments to it, I'm finding it almost insane how many people seriously still think gay people CHOOSE to be gay.

Seriously. WTF

Yes, gay people choose at the tender age of 12 (or earlier) to live a psychologically suffocating, painful lifestyle so that they can get their rocks off. Yes, they choose to live in fear that should their family and friends find out, that they might be cut off from the very family unit that is supposed to love them unconditionally as representative of "God's love". Yes, they choose to live in a way that is just screaming "discriminate against me!!" since in many parts of the country, and for someone like me in Japan, anti-discrimination and hate crime laws do not include "sexual orientation" as a no-no criteria.

Yes, gay people are all about the sex. Screw having a life full of love and someone to travel the long road of life with. Screw the pain we may cause family members with our "choice". Screw it all because screwing is all we care about.

And the fact that someone could read what I just wrote as honest opinion instead of sarcasm fills me with pity for them.

As for those people who don't understand why the word "marriage" is so important, I believe it's important for the simple reason that because it has so much weight attached to it, any other word pales in comparison. It's a shame that the government uses the word "marriage" instead of "union" for all marriages, hetero or homo, but since it is used, and if heterosexuals want to retain that word, then to create a different word is truly "separate but equal" in action. It's simple human psychology. "Marriage" means you're special because it itself has a special meaning attached. What weight does a "civil union" have? None. People hear "My partner and I got a civil union (union-ified?? unionized?? wtf do you call it?)," and they think, "Oh, your "partner". How quaint. *yawn*" and brush it off at best, and more hate at worst.

Perhaps subconsciously this "special" status is what heteros who are against gay marriage are trying to "protect", but that makes it even more obvious that it's not something we should embrace as a society. Did not the founders state that our country should allow the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for all? That all men are created equal? How can we expect to present ourselves as a model country when we can't even give all of our citizens the ability to live in dignity as equals, and instead create a new second class?

While this election has been two steps forward in one respect, we've taken another giant step back. Every election these last few years have only been steps backward as states one after another have systematically written discrimination against gays into their constitutions. How long will it be before the only places gays can truly pursue their happiness are Massachusetts and Connecticut?

I hope that day will never come to pass.

LOL Palin is an idiot XD

Someone tell me why she is still being taken seriously by a double-digit percentage of the electorate >_<;

I'm feeling rather accomplished right now. I finally got through DMC4 (Devil Hunter mode), which makes the total number of currently open games go down by 1. Now if I can get the rest of them off of there, I might be able to let myself start a new game.

...On the other hand, I could just be my usual self and start a new game anyway.

Hmm, hmm, hmm.

But work calls out to me and says I should be good tomorrow and do it. Sadly, I see myself goofing off :3

Yeah, I'm behind on the news, but I just recently found out that X-Japan is back.

This makes me one very happy person :)

( I.V. )

As a side note, Furukawa-san lent me a really amusing manga the other day entitled 「聖☆おにいさん」 (Saint Young Men) ←no, don't ask me why the official English translation is "Saint Young Men" XD. It's the story of Buddha and Jesus Christ bumming out in Tokyo on holiday after Armageddon is over. Yes, it is as cracked as it sounds, and definitely not for those who are easily offended.

Anyway, off to bed I go.



did anyone notice how "Korean Drama Boy" Toshi looks in that video? XD It cracks me up that he looks nothing like a "rocker" these days XD

I have finished.

Read almost non-stop with a small break in the afternoon for a power nap.

Whew.

Yay for being able to be back on the internets~

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885030452/ref=pe_pe_5050_6038510_pe_snp_452

Congrats to my cousin Ed whose second book is in pre-order at Amazon.com!

*only found out because amazon sent me an email... need to send Ed an email... i suck at staying in touch with people... >_<

Someone stop Colbert.

...No wait, don't.

Ah, I can't believe he picked up on the jury system thing XD

Beer for dogs.
the site has an animated version @@;

As if anyone needed further proof that Japan is waaaay too into alcohol...

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=88618

omg, as if i don't have enough reasons to love this show!

nice jab at Japan's population problem XD

I was talking with Gian the other night, and all weekend, I kept feeling like I had failed to fundamentally grasp what it was I was trying to say, and because of that, I think I failed to get my point across to him in our discussion.

The whole thing started when we started to talk about gender and whether I was hiding/suppressing my feminine side because of my disdain for lecherous remarks made by ignorant men who put too much weight in looks. I kept trying to explain with little success that I don't view myself as feminine or masculine. That I really am in the middle somewhere with maybe a slight leaning towards the masculine. In my head too, I don't classify my behaviours as one or the other. I simply live as me. My "masculine" and "feminine" behaviours as society labels them, are all a part of me.

The word I failed to come up with was "androgynous". and yet i profess to write great text... >_<

But now I have a new set of ponderings.

Since all things in society are classified as either "masculine" or "feminine", and gender-neutrality is apparently just a myth, then do I seem to be more "masculine" because I don't conform to what women are supposed to be or look like? Because I don't wear the frilly clothes or show off my boobs, does that make me "not woman" and therefore a "man"?

And is there a point for an androgynous person like me who doesn't consciously consider any of my actions to be either/or (I consider myself a "person", to be honest) to be more feminine for the sake of potential happiness?

I suppose in the end, it depends on how much that happiness is worth compared to the change I would have to go through to consciously be more feminine. But there are so many uncertainties that I'm not sure it's worth the effort. My thought right now is to experiment, and give it a try. After all, the worst thing to regret in life is not trying something when you had the chance.

...Right?

I guess because everyone's doing it...

( I probably deserve lumps of coal for my lack of entries this year... )

http://gaygamer.net/index.php?id=2149

This is the best description I've seen of this product.

Oh Capcom. Why must you be so silly?

...with my Wii.

I am one of the first in all of Japan to have a Japanese Wii.

And I didn't have to fight the cold and crowds of people. Good luck smiled on me and Enric when we both won Wiis through random lottery.

I'm still in shock.

IGN: Why hasn't Mega Man learned to duck in the last 20 years?

Horinouchi: That's TOP SECRET.

from IGN

Music Animation Machine

This page has a wonderful MIDI player that actually visualizes and animates your MIDI music. It is insanely wonderful. Mind you, part of that is you have to have good music for this to be interesting, but most classical music when you see it visualized like this just make you go wow. It's one thing to hear it, it's another to see the complexity of the music.

Bach had some great tunes, and visually, they're awe inspiring. This reminds me yet again why music reigns supreme!

So this is meant as a test... and more or less as me goofing off because I found another really stupid thing in Gyakuten Saiban 3 I laughed a whole lot at because I couldn't believe something this insane would happen... although by now, you'd think I /would/ expect just such a thing...

So here we go. LJ cut for those who don't want to have this moment spoiled, because if you know it's coming, then it's not quite so WTF.

( Gyakuten fun )

Yes... Oh, and chikori, here's a bonus for you... because more can never be bad...

( More Gyakuten Fun~ )


Alright, back to work. Must stop goofing off... >_>;

I woke up this morning and said, "Fuck the ass-crack heat, I'm going to wear a tank top and a skirt today!" Lo and behold, the one day I dress like a woman, I get a lewd comment on the way to work. Well, fuck you, old man. If I had been wearing my jeans instead of my skirt, I'm sure I would've been masculine enough to avoid the crap, but no. I've never gotten a lewd comment before and this has just confirmed to me that me dressing like a guy is the only way to go. Fuck femininity. Fuck looking nice.

Some days, I hate men, I hate the mentality that women are things to look at and fuck, and I hate Japanese society for saying it's OK.

Fuck you.

This line made my day. After a shitty day, it's good to know Gyakuten can make me laugh. Oh, Takumi. You have brought this person a little bit of joy ^_^

(For non-Japanese readers, the joke goes like this:

動機ですよ、動機。
....ムウビング・マシイン....

動機 is pronounced "douki" and means "motive" (as in "motive for murder") in English. What the character, Aiga, does is he literally translates each kanji into English so he says,

Douki desu yo, douki. <-- (Motive, my friend. Motive.)
....Moving Machine....

Which is why I laughed so hard... It was so totally unexpected XD )