Oh oh, there goes a bandwagon! Quick, pop in the Kriss Kross tape!

The whole Japanese baseball players playing in the US is of course huge and has been huge since Hideo Nomo came in. It's weird though. Ichiro's still huge, and of course Matsui, the latest import is all the buzz. Sasaki, makes news... although not too recently because of his injuries, and Hasegawa's like the guy everybody's rooting for. The other players... well, they get no play. Actually Shinjo gets a 10 second blurb in the news, but well, with him it's kinda different. The energy reserved for Ichiro, Matsui, Sasaki, and Hasegawa drops significantly when Shinjo highlights are shown. And it's not just due to the fact that he's stinking it up... as Ben Tao would say when he's "Shinjotastic." I talked with some people about it, and they actually said that they don't like Shinjo and that they're rooting against him. But, I remember when Shinjo first came with the New York Mets he did pretty well platooning in the outfield... and I heard reports from Japan that the Japanese people were really pulling for him because in their eyes he was an average Japanese player making an impact in MLB. I guess when that impact isn't there anymore, people everywhere around the world jumps off the bandwagon... and jumps off quick. Well, everyone except for Jeff "I don't care if I win or lose, I just gotta have all the active Asian players in MLB on my fantasy squad" Tang. He is one loyal fan.

Which reminds me, Hideo Nomo is like a forgotten man in Japan. He had all the hype when he first came and stole the NL Rookie of the Year award from Chipper Jones. But then, when he started to struggle 2 years after his rookie campaign, nobody really followed him... and it continues to stay that way even though he's been good again the past 2 1/2 years. Guess bandwagon jumpers are wary of jumping on an old bandwagon.

Go Warriors. And daddy mack will make ya Jump, Jump.

Just now I realized that girls' blogs get way more traffic than guys' blogs do. Way more. A few weeks ago, my blog counter passed up my webpage counter. (Right now, my webpage counter was reset cuz I had to completely redo the homepage because geocities lost it somewhere. Add them to my growing list of web services I'd like to virtua-egg.) I was pretty happy when my blog counter passed the webpage counter at somewhere around 2700. It's now at 2800. And I'm still happy... or was, until I visited a girls' blog, saw the counter, and got greatly humbled. I mean in half the time it took for my blog to get to 2800, they've got somewhere around 5000, or even 10000. Way more.

Is it cuz their blogs are more interesting? Is it cuz they have way more friends than I do? Is it cuz the female gender is superior in the art of blogging? I hope not, but for the sake of saving my ego, I'll quote Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone in saying, "I DON'T THINK SO." Ok, I'm done. I'm gonna go to my blog and hit the refresh button several dozen times now.

Coming back to the topic of worship, here's what I thought was a great article. Much thanks to Seri for introducing the online magazine website to me through another great article on the same topic. It seems like the American church right now is at a point of re-evaluation, and I'm loving it. For so long, we've been "satisfied" with a worship band, a worship leader, guitars, a piano, and if possible a bass and a drum set. I think we've finally gotten to point where we're seriously pondering the words of the Matt Redman song "The Heart of Worship." What does it mean to have a heart of worship... especially after the music fades? How do we have that heart of worship when we're not singing?

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about you Jesus
King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

Isaiah 66:1-2

Today as I was rearranging my room, I thought about my computer. I got it last year during the summer when my mom, brother, and sister came to visit. They hand delivered it from home. Took about 2-3 weeks for delivery, but hey, the delivery service was free... for me. But 2-3 weeks delivery for me, is 2-3 weeks to play around with the computer for my brother. So what does he do? He loads up my hard drive with MP3s.

He was nice about it though and sorted em out into categories... rock, hip-hop, r&b, etc.. But he had this one category, oldies. I was horrified by the list of songs in "oldies." Songs like Salt 'n Pepa's Shoop, Queen Latifah's UNITY, Shai's Come With Me, to name a few. Dude, when did these songs become classified as "oldies"? I don't think 2 years of being away from the States justifies this. For you NorCal folks out there, I doubt KFRC is playing those songs (speaking of which I had a friend in junior high school whose dad worked there).

Oh, oh... I just remembered something else in the music theme. One time during a biology lab in college, there was this guy who was whistling Eve's Gotta Man. So I smirked at him and said "Gotta man huh?" Apparently, he didn't realize what he was whistling because he looked at me kinda dazed and just said, "Uhh, you know... just uhh."

So anyway, I remember someone telling me in high school that you know you're old when you've got a radio station playing nothing but songs from your junior high school days. At that time, I think KOIT was playing songs from Chicago, the Police, and Atlantic Starr... so "old" had to have been early 30s. Then again, when I was in junior high school, I thought you turn "old" when you graduated from college. As long as you were in school you were with Peter Pan in Never Never Land. All I know is that KOIT, KFRC, whoever better keep their hands away from Ditty, Jump, Informer, Motownphilly, and Hip Hop Hooray. By the way, it's "Hey Ho" not "Kool-Aid." And if you don't know, now you know. OH YEAH.

For all you blogging people out there...

Have you ever thought "Hey, that's a good idea. I should blog that!" only to find that when you're finally in front of a computer, you forget that "good idea"? I don't know about you guys but my story never ends there. I get a little peeved after staring at the blank blog entry page for a few minutes. Then I think about the idea of writing down "good ideas to blog" at the moment I think them. This whole thing ends of course with the realization that "Hey, it's only a blog. No biggie." And I wonder how I got so wrapped up in the whole thing.

The funny thing is that I go through this process every time. Have a good idea. Forget the good idea. Get mad for forgetting the good idea. Think about immediately writing good ideas down in the future. Realize that it's not important. Yeah, as you can probably figure out, I just went through this process right now. Oh well. No biggie.

Now, thanks to Kazaa, I have the 3 best music videos of all time (Michael Jackson ones excluded). Bone Thugs 'n Harmony's Tha Crossroads for obvious reasons to those who have seen it. IMX's Stay the Night, because of the basketball cut... even though it's obvious that it's CG. And of course Presidents of the United States of America's Peaches, solely because of the completely random ninja fight scene at the end. It sooo reminds me of the "movie" my friends and I made during the summer right after graduation.

Thanks to Jerry for the link to this page. Obviously, I thought it was hilarious. Hopefully you all feel the same!

What is the role of a pastor in a church? I know that there a bunch of roles, but if you were to whittle it down to one thing (a la City Slickers), what would it be? What is the main objective of a pastor?
Yeah, the question kinda spring out of me trying to figure out what part the pastor would play in the church planting project... actually, I think he's trying to figure that out himself. I'm thinking that a lot of our miscommunication with each other is the result of different perceptions of what the main role of a pastor is in relation to the church.
So, I'm interested. What do you think? And if you have any insights as to what Japanese pastors are taught, that'd be even better!

Some time to respond back to some of the comments/responses to the blog... dooo deee dooo....
So about the Harvard question, Drew, of course is the man. Goes to show, a Berkeley grad kicks the rich Harvard kids in the butt every time! Reminds me of that scene in the movie Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon puts the Harvard grad student in his place at the bar. And that reminds me... what ever happened to Minnie Driver? Seems like she just dropped off the face of the Earth... actually, I think it might be better that way considering that I really couldn't stand her for some weird reason.
As for the Revenge of the Nerds post... I'm totally impressed by Kyle... I mean he knows the Lambda rap! Now, I don't remember any of the nerds rapping the rap, but I do remember the national Lambda Lambda Lambda members... the big black dudes rapping, I think. One thing I do vividly remember is one of the nerds playing an electric violin. Why? I'm not really sure, but man, that nerd was jammin'! As for Lamar, I don't remember him rapping either, but then, it has been a long time since I've last seen that movie. Looks like I'm gonna hafta see it again. No big loss, it's all worth it for the sake of trying to imitate the slo-mo javelin throw myself.
Oh and yes, Alinna, I did make the white chocolate cheesecake by myself, complete with a homemade graham cracker crust. Funny thing is that the crust was absolutely the hardest part to make. As for the white chocolate, I found it along with the jalepeno peppers and relish. I love that foreign foods store (Carrot's the name of the place)! Too bad I have to drive about 35-40 minutes to get there. Anyway, the white chocolate cheesecake was a huge success. People loved it. I didn't get any comments on the regular cheesecake I made though. That's right, OTHER cheesecake. The Easter luncheon was a potluck and I was assigned dessert. When I asked how many people I should make dessert for, the response was "30." 30!?! I mean when was the last time you ever had to make something for 30 people at a potluck?!

It's still election time here in Japan... yes, even after the wrestler got elected into the Japanese federal government. How's that work? Well, unlike the American election process, there isn't an Election Day. It's more like "Election Few Weeks." Prefectures have different election days and I think the local elections are held on different days from federal ones. Maybe having a single Election Day would be too practical. It's weird. But it doesn't stop there...
By watching TV, you wouldn't know that it's election season. There are absolutely no television campaigning advertisements. That's the good news. The bad news is that instead of running ad campaigns on TV, they run ad campaigns on the streets. Cars and vans go up and down the streets at a snail's pace blaring their candidate's name over and over and over again through the mounted megaphones. Three "overs" doesn't really suffice.
And you don't know which political party most candidates fall under. Apparently, most candidates feel that because the general Japanese public has a broad dislike for the political party system, it's better not to announce their party loyalties.
Oh, and it's safe to say that there will never be a "Florida" in Japan because instead of punching holes, Japanese people have to write the name of the candidates they are voting for. This probably explains why practically the only thing the slow moving cars and vans announce is the candidate's name.
I sure hope The Great Sasuke uses his superabundant powers to change the election process so that I can get some peace and quiet!

Happy Easter everyone!
Right now, I'm totally pumped. I've got a white chocolate cheesecake baking in the oven and I'm listening to the theme song to Back to the Future. The white chocolate cheesecake is for the Easter luncheon we're having at the church tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, we'll see a lotta people come out to the event. So, I'm sure you all can understand why I'm pumped about my white chocolate cheesecake.
But the Back to the Future theme song... well, I dunno. More than Eye of the Tiger or Chariots of Fire or even Who Let the Dogs Out, the theme song to Back to the Future always got me going. I hope someone out there knows what I'm talking about, or maybe I'm just a weird-o.
As for Chariots of Fire, for some reason, when I hear that song, I don't immediately think of the movie Chariots of Fire or the Olympics. You know what I first think of? Revenge of the Nerds. Can I get a witness?!
To understand why, you have to have watched the movie. So if you haven't watched Revenge of the Nerds yet... go see it and laugh along with me. The movie culminates to the frat Olympics. It comes down to the jock frat, Alpha Beta and the nerd frat, Lambda Lambda Lambda with the final event being the javelin. Go figure, Lambda Lambda Lambda has its lone black rep (was he really a nerd? Tomio and I are trying to figure this out), Lamar, representing them. That's not all. This is when the nerd frat releases their secret weapon... their custom made javelin that supposedly plays to Lamar's throwing strengths.
So, right when Lamar goes on his running start, Chariots of Fire starts playing in the background... and of course Lamar starts moving in slow-mo with the custom javelin wobbling up and down. He wins it for Lambda Lambda Lambda, and all is well in the nerd world. But this is the image that is and forever will be ingrained in my mind when I hear Chariots of Fire: Lamar and his wobbly javelin moving in slo-mo.
So far, two other people in the world know what I'm talking about without having to watch the great classic American movie again. There have to be others out there! Right?

Yesterday marked a monumental day in the life of Hideyo Satake in Japan. I ate a real beef hot dog with ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, relish, and sliced jalepeno peppers. To show just how monumental this is, lemme document my journey to this amazing day.

Months #1-7:
Hideyo doesn't eat a single hot dog. The thought never occurs to him because he's still living it up with all the Japanese food he gets... minus the pickled flower petals and candied locusts of course.

Month #8:
Hideyo sees what he thinks are hot dogs at the local grocery store. Hideyo then remembers the joys of eating hot dogs and puts the pack in his basket. In preparation for watching Planet of the Apes (the one with Marky Mark), Hideyo decides to fry up a dog. Hideyo immediately notices that the dog is turning gold on the outside. Concerned, Hideyo takes a knife and cuts it open. Hideyo notices that he forgot to take the plastic casing off the dog (even though he already removed one layer of plastic from the dog). He fries another one, this time taking the casing off. He puts it in a normal slice of bread, pours ketchup and mustard on it. But it tastes funny. Hideyo describes the situation to his English class that night. All the students laugh hysterically because they all know that what Hideyo ate wasn't a hot dog at all... but a fish sausage. Hideyo proceeds to toss the fish sausages away.

Month #11:
Hideyo finds sauerkraut. And real hot dogs! Hideyo goes nut-zo. After a long car drive back home... he consumes 3 hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and kraut in one sitting. It is at this time that he realizes the extreme importance of relish on a hot dog.

Month #13:
Hideyo not only finds relish but he also finds jalepeno peppers! But the search continues for hot dog buns...

Today, I finally learned why Easter is when it is. Unlike Christmas (December 25th) or Independence Day (July 4th) or even Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November), I never really know when Easter is until I check that year's calender. I mean Thanksgiving is difficult enough to remember... 4th Thursday of November... whew. It's like those stupid days in Berkeley when you can't park on some street parking spots because of street sweeping... 3rd Tuesday of each month, man, how was I supposed to remember that it was the 3rd Tuesday of the month when I was parking my car? I think every Berkeley student with a car has felt my pain at least once.
So, for a while I thought that there was some dude who'd choose when Easter would be that year. His only restrictions would be that it'd have to be a Sunday and that it'd be between March and April... other than that, go wild. It's kinda like how I thought communion Sundays were chosen at my church back home. Some dude would look at a calender... say something like "Mmmm... yeah I think this Sunday looks good." About communion at my home church, I'm sure there's some system or pattern or something, but I just never really took notice.
But for Easter, apparently, Easter is the Sunday following the first full moon of Spring. And Spring starting not when that groundhog pops his head up but Spring starting in the vernal (Spring) equinox for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere.
Which reminds me, I remember in one of my classes I saw a video of newly graduated Harvard students answering basic science questions... but many of them got em wrong. One of those questions was "What causes the seasons?" And they were given a globe and asked to explain the phenomenon known as the seasons. As a follow up to the semi-popular Japanese preschooler quiz... I'll ask you, are you smarter than a buncha Harvard grads?

Question: Where do plants get most of the materials to grow in size and volume?

Seeing how everybody and their mama (well the Asian ones at least) are writing about either the movie Good Luck Tomorrow or finally doing their taxes on the last day... I wanna write about something completely different. Yeah, count me in as another person who doesn't wanna hear any more about how that movie really touched some Asian dude's heart, or how completely frustrating the whole filing for taxes thing is.
So after I wrote my 4/14 entry... I got to thinking some more (what an idea). Especially after signing it off with Matthew 16:24 which says:

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"

I then remembered something I heard as being an "old Chinese proverb." The reason why I say it that way is because to me it seems like anything that sounds profound yet simple is either quoted from Jesus, or quoted as being an old Chinese proverb. Nobody really knows if it's really an old Chinese proverb, but because it's profound yet simple, it must be. Who knows, it might be an old Japanese proverb... or an old Vietnamese proverb. But then nobody's ever heard of an old Vietnamese proverb. Or maybe it's a not so old Chinese proverb. But "not so old Chinese proverb" doesn't exactly sound as cool as "old Chinese proverb." Anyway... to the proverb:

There is a man who does not know and thinks he knows... he is deceived, avoid him.
There is a man who does not know and does not know that he does not know... he is blind, enlighten him.
There is a man who does not know and knows that he does not know... he is teachable, teach him.
There is a man who knows and does not know that he knows... he is unsure, encourage him.
There is a man who knows and knows that he knows... he is a marked man, follow him.

I sure am glad that Jesus is a man who knows and knows that he knows.

Internet Odds and Ends

I'm mad at blogExtra... they're the company that put up my comment box. Yeah, well, as of now, my comment box has completely disappeared, and so has their website. When I found out that my comment box was gone, I went to see if they'd have an explanation on their website... well, I got that white browser screen that says something like "Where are you going? There's no website here! Try pushing the refresh button, and if that doesn't work... oh well."

I got a webcam! So now I can communicate "in person" via the internet. I tried it out with my brother today, he says it looks good... but for some reason, there's a weird clicking sound coming through my microphone. And apparently the clicking sound continued after my Ethernopian imitation. But maybe it's just him. Anyway, I'd love to try it out with others... right now I'm using software from ivisit. I'll see if I can get that fixed.

Two days left in the NBA regular season... which means two days left of fantasy basketball. For most of the year, my team was down in the dumps, but they pulled through and I'm in the upper bracket of the playoffs. Missed the championship game by a small margin, but it looks like I have a good chance to win 3rd in the league.

On the same fantasy sports topic... I'm in two yahoo baseball leagues right now. Polar opposites. In one league, it looks like I have a great chance to win it. Have a great lineup, deep bench, decent pitching. In the other league, I'm way down... 11th place out of 12 right now. That's about as bad as Cal football was while I was a student there... roll on you Bears.

Oh, and I checked into that online news article that Danny pointed out on the comment box before it mysterously disappeared. In the comment box Danny said something to the effect of "Explain this to me." Well, two words my friend, "Jesse Ventura." Although, I do have to admit The Great Sasuke definitely is an Emiril "Bam, kick it up a notch" above the Governor of Minnesota. Politically, it just shows the great dissatisfaction the Japanese public has with its government... as Jesse Ventura's election proved in state of many lakes. But entertainment-wise... OHHHH YEEEAH (that's supposed to sound like the Macho Man Randy Savage). The Great Sasuke's induction definitely adds entertainment value to an otherwise incredibly boring/uneventful parliament broadcast on TV. Why? Well, aside from the whole mask thing which is great for a chuckle, you have to understand what happens during parliamentary meetings. I'd liken it to junior high school and the discovery of "yo-mama" jokes. There's just a lot of personal attacks and name calling. One guy comes up to the mic, says some stuff attacking another member of the diet, or the cabinet... and then the person who was attacked comes up to the mic... and defends himself, and then starts attacking the original attacker. And back and forth, back and forth. But nothing really happens. No decisions are made. No fights break out (this isn't Taiwan). Just words are exchanged. I think The Great Sasuke would change all that.

Prime Minister Koizumi: Mr. Sasuke, that mask you're wearing is ridiculous.
The Great Sasuke: You wanna see my superabundant power at work on you?

In the Bible, there are 4 sections or books that document Jesus' life on Earth: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And there are parts of those 4 Gospel books that I've always had trouble with because either it doesn't make sense to me or it doesn't jive with my image of Jesus. Today, in my reading of the Bible, I got to one of those parts... Matthew 15:21-28.
The story: Jesus and his disciples (his followers) were walking along when this non-Jewish woman comes out and begs Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. But Jesus just ignores her. She's obviously very loud and persistent because Jesus' disciples get real annoyed. Jesus then says to his disciples, "Look, I'm here only for Jews. She's not one so I can't help her." The woman decides to kick it up a notch and starts worshipping Jesus while begging him to play exorcist. Jesus finally answers her directly but says, "Not only am I not supposed to help non-Jews, but it's not good to help non-Jews because to do so would be like 'taking the children's bread and throwing it to the little dogs.'" To which the woman responds, "But as a little dog, can I get some scraps?" And bam, Jesus heals the woman's daughter.
My problem with this story was Jesus' seemingly complete indifference to the needy woman. This just doesn't jive with my image of a compassionate, loving Jesus. I mean, he called this woman a "little dog." But because she persisted, her daughter was healed. And this is what never made sense to me... why? Why did Jesus seemingly change from ignoring her to healing her daughter?
It was obvious from reading the story that she felt a need for Jesus. She begged him. It was also obvious from reading the story that she recognized Jesus as God. She worshipped him. But this wasn't enough. And this troubled me. After going to church, joining fellowships, joining Bible studies, etc., I learned that the one thing God wants, the one thing God desires is our worship. But this wasn't enough for this woman.
She had to deny herself to put worth on her worship. The normal response to being called a "little dog" would be a slap to the face/punch to the belly and a quick "Jerk!" But she didn't.
How is God telling me to deny myself? And how am I responding? God help me to not call you a "jerk" when you're telling me how I'm supposed to deny myself.
Matthew 16:24

Top 10 Signs that a California Boy is Getting Used to A "Real" Winter:

10. Hideyo learns that "drop your pipes" doesn't mean go outside, remove the water pipes, and throw them on the ground while cursing at them for freezing over... yet again.
9. Hideyo learns the "ice shuffle," a way to walk across patches of ice with normal shoes.
8. Hideyo stops doing the "shower shuffle," a futile attempt to keep warm before the hot water comes out of the shower head.
7. "Hey, wearing a pair of ski goggles in public might be cool" is no longer in the forefront of Hideyo's thoughts.
6. Hideyo finally stops thinking, "Hey, why don't I just skate to church?"
5. Hideyo finally stops thinking, "Hey, why don't I just zamboni to church... eh?"
4. When looking at the digital thermometer down the street, Hideyo's eyes only get as big as golf balls when he sees the minus sign lit up.
3. On the 5 block walk to church, Hideyo doesn't stop midway at the local convenience store to get a hot can of coffee.
2. In high 50s weather, Hideyo is seen running around in a T-shirt.
1. Spring is here!

CNN.com - China pushes for post-war role - Apr. 10, 2003

This is a very interesting development in the whole Iraq war/crisis. Now that the war's practically over, all these people are claiming to be on the coalition side so that they can have their cut in the plunder. Most of the countries of course will say that they want to be involved in the "rebuilding of Iraq," to "help out Iraq for humanitarian reasons." But let's face it, everybody just wants a guaranteed piece of the Iraqi oil pie.
Throughout the war, the criticisms against the US and UK coalition forces were that they're not in there to discover weapons of mass destruction or to liberate the Iraqi people from the heavy ruling hand of Saddam Hussein, but to get more oil. To put it simply, a lot of countries protested against the war because they thought that the US and UK were greedy for oil.
Now it appears that those same critical countries are greedy for Iraqi oil. The difference between them and the US and UK is that the US and UK paid for that oil through the war and soliders' lives. Of course, the people who paid the most are the Iraqi people, but we'll leave that as an aside for now. Basically, France, Russia, Germany, China, etc. want the benefits of the war without fighting or participating in the war. They want a freebie.
It's like when there's a fight at school, and it ends with Guy A winning and Guy B on the ground. And then Guy A's friend (let's call him Guy C) comes in, throws a few punches on Guy B while Guy B's on the ground, and tells all his friends that he beat up Guy B. What's up with that?
Actually, maybe we should just give the oil to the war vets and their families. Free gas, plane tickets, and petroleum/plastic products for life. I think it sounds pretty fair.
While we're at it, give discounted prices on all oil products on Veterans Day and Memorial Day to the American public... that way, we'll definitely remember those holidays and give the American soldiers the respect they deserve.

The news out here is going absolutely nut-zo. No, they're not going crazy over the coalition forces taking down the Hussein statue in Baghdad (although there is considerable coverage on that). No, they're not going crazy over the SARS thing (because it hasn't reached Japan yet). They're all going crazy over Hideki Matsui's first homerun of the regular season... a grandslam homerun in New York's first home game. In terms of air time, the homerun is taking a lot more time than the Iraqi war and SARS virus epidemic combined.
How crazy is the Japanese media going? Not only do they have footage of New York's reaction to the homerun, not only do they have interviews with some of his junior high classmates, not only did they ask Ichiro and Shinjo what they thought of the homerun, but some are now saying that Matsui looks like a "samurai" out there. "It looks like he has the heart of Miyamoto Musashi (a legendary samurai in Japanese history)." What this is supposed to mean, I'm not quite sure... but to put it in perspective, it would be like seeing a quarterback march his teammates down the field on a drive for a touchdown, and then saying that the quarterback reminds me a lot of George Washington going down the Delaware River.
CRAZY!

The pastor at the church I'm at is turning 70 years old this year. And according to Japanese law, because he's turning 70, he has to go get a new drivers' license. To get this new "old-man" drivers' license, he supposedly has to go sit in for a drivers' ed class, take a written exam, and eye exam. Well, he's not too sure he can pass.
In explaining why he's not too sure about his ability to pass, he talked about his driving experience yesterday. Yesterday during the afternoon, he decided to go visit his grandson in the hospital. By the time he was done visiting his grandson, the sun went down. Not only that, but it started to rain. Basically, what little he could see while driving in the dark, he couldn't see anymore because of the rainy conditions. Today, as he was telling his story, he was laughing saying, "I couldn't see a thing while I was driving yesterday in the rain, so with sheer determination I got home. I just gritted my teeth, gripped the steering wheel, and went."

I took the bus to Sapporo yesterday. And on the way, there was one of those gasoline trucks in front of the bus. And I thought, "Hmm (yes, I really did think the word 'hmm'), I wonder if a gasoline truck has ever ran outta gas on one of their routes. And if so, did the driver get out and siphon some gas outta the tanker into the gasoline tank?" And then I began to question myself thinking, "Wait, do those gasoline trucks have a separate gasoline tank? Or does the tanker double as a gasoline tank so that whatever's left after the route is done gets sent to wherever?" And then I realized how stupid I am because the trucks probably run on diesel, and they probably ship unleaded.
And then... and then... and then!

Today, I went to Sapporo. It was fun. But the thing I wanna write about is this thing I saw next to the crosswalk lights in downtown. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures because... well, I was kinda afraid of pulling out my camera and taking a few pictures. I guess I was just a little embarassed. Anyway, I'll do my best to describe it to all of ya.
Ok, so just to the left of the crosswalk signal (you know the thing that tells you when it's safe to walk and when not to walk), hanging right next to the signal, was this additional signal. No, this is not Davis, so it wasn't a bicycle crossing light. It was a vertical bar with red gradations on it. The best way I can describe it is, it's like a vertical life bar on a fighting video game.
At first, I didn't notice it because all the red bars were off. But then, as I was waiting for the crosswalk light to turn to the green walking man, I noticed that the vertical bar was half full. And then, one of the bars turned off. After a few seconds, another turned off. One by one, the bars on this weird signal turned off until there were no bars left. Before I got the chance to think about what the weird signal was for, I noticed that the crosswalk light turned to the green walking man, and so, I starting walking with probably the stupidest look on my face.
And then, I figured it out.
So I tested my hypothesis on the next crosswalk that had the disappearing vertical bar light. The crosswalk light was green but I stayed put like an idiot because I wanted to see if I was right. Sure enough, while the crosswalk light was green, the disappearing vertical bar light was completely off. But then, when the crosswalk light turned red, the disappearing vertical bar light was completely full with red bars. And slowly, the red bars disappeared until there were no bars left... and the crosswalk light turned green.
The disappearing vertical bar light was a visible timer for all the pedestrians, telling them when the crosswalk light was going to turn green. Are there any more of these signals out there?

Regarding my last post... I think I figured it out. I think I have a firewall going. But it's not a firewall from my Windows OS cuz I turned that off. So, it's gotta be coming from my DSL modem right? Well, I have a hard time trying to figure out how to turn that off cuz well, I'm in Japan... and well, I dunno what the word "firewall" looks like in Japanese characters.
So now I'm real mad cuz it looks like I'm stuck. As the Japanese say so often, "Shoganai." (It can't be helped)

I'm pretty mad. For the past few days I've been trying to figure out how to get my digital video camera to double as a webcam. I've already got the firewire going so the camera feeds into my computer... so, that's not the problem. My problem is getting that information out into the web... preferably through AIM or MSN Messenger. I've tried a few programs from the cnet download site, but found that the one's I've tried so far require a real webcam... not a digital video camera.
Does anyone know if this is possible? If so, what software do I need? Can anybody out there help?