Quotes of Character

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln.

I bumped in to this while browsing some sites. It's one of those that are clearly obvious but hit you just as hard. I admit I'm not a fan of US presidents, but a few do deserve to be at the helm at the time.

Blogging off....

Discovering the beauty of Podcast (part 2)...

Back to the topic of podcast. The best way to describe it is, 'radio with choices' but with different content. Mainstream wave signal radio stations mainly runs the recent popular songs, with a bit of news and commentary on the side. However, Podcast content are rarely songs, but usually shows that involve a group of people discussing a topic. Imagine a talk show with a much more focused listening audience. Interest range from the usual news to the eccentric 'how to make your cats do tricks' topics.

Honestly, this form of material isn't that new on the Internet but what Podcast has done was integrate all this material to one common down loadable format and making it easily accessible without browsing through pages and pages of eye hurting, ad popping, turtle ass slow loading websites.

Which brings us to iTunes. All you need to do is download iTunes from Apples website (you don't need an iPod to use iTunes) and and go through the usual boring process of installing and running it. After that head over (click it!) to the iTunes Store which icon can be distinguished as a green shopping bag (bad choice of colour in my opinion. Never seen a green shopping bag before). Conveniently situated on the top right corner, use the the search field to look for any topics you like. Some are free, some are not, either way choose to download it by clicking subscribe. It's as easy as that. (Tip: click on the price field to lump all the free Podcast together for easy browsing).
It'll download the recent podcast for that show and you can get to the previous shows by clicking on the arrow button beside the title. To browse or listen to your content, just click the Podcast icon on the left bar. Here you can listen, delete and unsubscribe to all your podcast shows. Again, use the arrow button to access all the previous download and down loadable content.
The beauty of the iPod is that I can just sync it up with my iTunes and bring all these Podcast everywhere I go. Listening to what I want to, when I want to, where I want to, as much as I want to. It's excellent. Of course you don't need an iPod to get iTunes, so you can just use your computer to listen to all the downloaded Podcasts.

Try it out. For all those who want to learn Japanese, I suggest subscribing to 'JapanesePod101.com'.

Blogging off....

Discovering the beauty of Podcast (part 1)...

Honestly, I never liked Apple. Must be the engineering bone that's grown in me. I find no logic in the disgusting conduct of purchasing an overpriced PC for the sake of user-friendly set-up times (and avoid hours of fun struggling with drivers installations?*...where's the fun in that?), seamless user interfaces and overall product design that's suppose to lift you on the altar of unparalleled 'coolness'. And for the same exact reasons, I despise the iPod infestation spreading throughout the world.

Hence pops up a saying "without ability to afford, comes hatred", which I claim as my own.... Shamelessly taking it from another saying I care not to mention (hint: has something to do with lack of knowledge and fear).

Due to some stroke of luck or a faulty internet campaign, I was graced with a free iPod Nano with the registration of my broad band internet service (being a customer in Japan is full of perks). Not that I wanted one, mind you. They just gave it to me, and I had a devious plan of selling it of to one of the second hand electronic shops for a bit of cashola.

I stopped the urge, and decided to give the iPod a try. I mean if half of the mobile music listening community is using it, it has to have some good experience bundled in. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks of music listening I was left unimpressed. The sound quality, though not ear bleeding does leave something to be desired and the iTunes/sync mechanism was a bit too clunky for my liking. Another one of those "I own coz' I'm cool" items.... or so I thought.

I was ready to call it quits, pack and sell it off to salvage what I can, when suddenly I stumbled upon something called Podcasts...... (to be continued - I promised it'll take less than a week, cross fingers >_< )

*asterisks are scattered in my blogs to identify points where I express 'sarcasm'

Blogging off....

Designed Icon

Icon done by my creative Japanese friends (hats of to Tanechan), who is also the moderator for the upcoming leveling up site (no to be confused with the leveling up blog site). Probably will be used for that site as well. And yes, both (site and blog) are terribly behind schedule and have received less attention than i would care to admit. (T_T)...

Treading the unknown...

Have a few projects rolling. Might make it work if i put my head in to it, and other distracting elements out.

In any case, this blog has received as much attention as the unwashed rotting shoes on my balcony. I'll have to get this blog up and going as usual. I'll probably start by dumping away those shoes first... hmmm.....

Blogging out....

Degradation of E-mail Convenience

A few years back, I still remember getting my first e-mail account. Rocket mail... ah the memories. For the first time in my life, I'd be able to send a message with just a touch of a button. Sure in that time we weren't graced with rich formating, hyper links, I'm-gonna-send-you-my-whole-freakin-life story sized attachment, but it did what it was set out to do... Reach.

You send it, it gets there. Nothing more simpler than that. I didn't have to worry whether or not my friend was getting the junk (let's not ask what 'junk' is shall we) I was sending, or whether the girl I had a crush on got my heartfelt words (as convenient as it would have been at that time to blame the technology for the lack of replies (T_T))... Well not anymore, those sweet days are over. Without even knowing it, the words that you took hours to pour your heart in ends up being gobbled away by some cold-hearted spam filter.

The thing is these days, almost 70% of mail that comes to your inbox is SPAM. Earth defiling scum ridden SPAM. Since seeing 300 mails urging you to 'power up' or investing in some Nigerian con fund is hardly an attractive reason to check your inbox regularly, spam filters were created. Sure these things are a miracle, and without it life would be full of deleting-while-cursing episodes, but the thing is spams are getting more elusive and as response spam filters are getting much more aggressive. Too aggressive at some points.

Spam filters function on a basis of setting up blocking algorithms. Certain words, company names, flags, hyper links, not-so-friendly terms, length of mailing list, English only? (true for some japan mail servers), the list goes on and on. So long are the days of sending a mail to a long list of buddies about your recent exploits. There's always a chance one of your mail won't be received or simply pushed over to the abyss of bulk/spam box, where is will lie shivering lost in a stream of crap, doomed not be read till the end of time.

To know it'll definitely reach. It's a convenience I can't live without.

Blogging off....

Overconfident Asimo

Goes to show that even with 8 different sensors installed, its always a good idea to look where you're going when going up stairs. Pity the poor guy, maybe they should install some handrails instead.

Just in case you can't understand Japanese, it was still saying "see like a human i can balance and walk up stairs!" even after the face first fall. Brave lad, that asimo. Brave lad.

Blogging out....

I'm back!

Boy this sucks. The reason I ditched this blogger site, was because of the ammount of freakin blog spam you get. It bugged me SO much I had to desperately settle by blogging on my friendster blog account. I know... 'lame', but hey it was convenient and deleting blog spam is definitely not on my 'favorite past time' list.

Well after a tol-taking 15 mintues of comment blog spam deleting triathlon, I'm back (increase chances of calpal tunnel perhaps, but neverless back). I just wished this blogger service provided an option to delete comments in bulk rather than painstakingly doing it one by one.

Well I'm back on working on this blog. Wish I had one of those 'protect me from spam' amulets. Spam = Pure evil.

Anyway, just a link to my friendster blog. Nothing much. No spam at least.

Anyway, if you have any tips to share on how to handle spam let me know. I currently moderate my comments for the time being (which actually means blog spam -> mail spam), but at least I can delete it easier.

Blogging off....

Web of Confusion (>_<)

Have you ever been caught in a situation where everything you touch, see and hear suddenly becomes incomprehensible. At first you calm yourself, positively thinking that if you focus hard enough, things might start to gradually become understandable. Suddenly, the collection of stapled papers feel strangely coarse between your fingers. After a few minutes you discover 2 things; one, that things are still confusing; two, that your palms can sweat. Still you collect yourself and concentrate harder, focusing every neuron to finally start working for its daily supply of nutrients. Finally, you reach a point where you suddenly feel light, a sort of feeling of relief, frustration suddenly drained from every inch of your body. You think you`ve reached the peak of enlightenment... but surprisingly only find out that you were only given a taste of false intellectual acknowledgement. Your brain collapse and your thrown in the bottomless spiral of pitch darkness, fainting and falling face first snoring (to your embarrassment later) until the end of class...

Yes.... there are only a few perils as terrible as....

Lectures in Japanese! (sigh.....)

Blogging off...

It`s lazy season!

It`s the sakura season! Yes people! The most beautiful season in Japan. Best way to explain sakura`s are their like live concerts, there`s no way any picture, film or any existing form of media that would be able to express how beautiful sakura`s are. You`d have to be there under a sakura tree; reading a book, kicking a ball around, sipping juice with friends or just plain snoring to really understand how wonderful it is. Only bad thing about it is that it drains your drive (if any in the first place :P) to do any work. You just feel like running out under the sun and lying down under the first sakura tree you set your eyes on. In a nutshell, it does hell to your work proficiency... hahaha...
I`ll post some pics as soon as a find my long lost thumbdrive... until then...

Blogging off...

Blog Bugs

Crap, I was reading through my blog and I just realized that it`s plagued with so many gaps between blogs that I`m starting to get sick of it... In numerous cases I`ve promised to fill-in on some stuff, but ended up chucking it down the "I don`t freaking care" abyss of no return... So here`s the list of stuff I missed and will definitely update albeit briefly...
1. Some info on Malaysian Student Activities and such.
2. Snowboarding Action.
3. My next drawing scan.
4. My next engineering-like article.
5. And my recent, my trip back to Sunny Malaysia.

Nobody bothered to tell me how difficult writing a blog is... sigh...
Then again, nobody bothered to tell me that they put pork in Ramens in Japan too... (that of course is a another story for another day.... ;P)

Blogging off...

LEVELED UP!

I`m a M1 student now. Greater challenges await me. Will I succumb to the perils of the Japanese Language, and end up suffocating, smoothered in a pool of unreadable kanji`s or will I end up victorious in the end?..... The hell with it! Here goes nothing!!!.... muahahahahha...... (a tint of insanity there my friends...)

Japanese Driving... Read on you Initial D wannabe`s!

Japanese drivers are among the best in the world... Believe me... they are...
The mangled streets of George Town or the seemingly complex roads of Kuala Lumpur would not even be a near challenge for these elites...

My host father here in Japan, is one of those people that always in his own nature to be kind, gentle and collected. I mean, this is a guy who I have never seen angry or even lifted the tone of voice since I`ve known him even in situations when he should. I`ve always assumed that he was one of those drivers that were overly cautious and took his time on the road.

Today I was wrong.

Today I went to Awaji Shima, with my host family. Me and their son Koji in the back, and my host parents in the front. Well in case your wondering, Awaji Shima is an Island on the south banks of Kobe which is accessable by one of the longest extended brigdes in the world (a good piece of information there. I guess My blog can have some decent stuff once in awhile.. hahaha). Mainly, the they have highways here but unfortunately most parts of the island are covered by amazingly narrow, intricate maze of roads that can`t barely even fit a car well and suprsingly, damn well 2 way street!

And here he was, my host father, zooming the streets like it was some highway. Taking the narrow, near to zero visibility corners like a pro, fast, tight and close, without beading a sweat (Initial D style). Don`t mind the deathly steep ravine on my right I constantly reminded my self. And don`t even remind me how the he handled incoming traffic. The cars were so close that I swear I could feel the incoming driver`s breathing on my face, and my host father didn`t even flinch. Man... my heart lost a few beats that day. That kinda driving lasted for like 30 minutes. I was SO glad when it was over. The only comment I could give to my host brother was `wow, your father can REALLY drive` and he`s like, `yeah, and not even ONE accident`.... wow...

I keep on reminding myself, when I feel like bragging about my driving skillz in Japan.... DON`T

A Solemn New Year...

I`ve never been the type to appreciate nature... but I do admit that there has been moments that nature can be beautiful and mesmerizing... and unfortunately... in some cases destructive and devastating... The quake and tsunami that shook half of Asia is a grim reminder of such destructive power... 124,000 people estimated dead, many times more injured, millions homeless... Just in a few hours life for so many people changed in so many ways... whole villages gone, family members and relatives dead, government stuctures temporarily powerless, the post effect epidemics threaten more deaths... its unthinkable... truly unthinkable...

What makes this disaster special is that I truly now understand the meaning of empathy... or lack of it... This is not the first time nature displayed its wrath... dozens of disasters have happened before, some even more distructive then this one... Those times I shamefully admit that I felt more awe then sympathy... more engulfed in the startling realization of how powerful nature can be rather then the understanding of the suffering that the people felt during the disasters and years after... blame it on ignorance...

But now it hits Malaysia... Sure, the deaths of 74 Malaysians is not comparable to the ones in Acheh, India and Sri Lanka. But believe me, the impact as big... long have Malaysians been in the dillusion that it was a safe heaven from earths natural disasters... the recent hits in Kedah and Penang, and the shaking of tall buildings around KL is a frightening reminder that Gods hand can indeed reach far... For me, never has life seemed so fragile, so temporary... I can`t even start to imagine how the victim`s close family and friends are feeling right now...

We start the New Year in Malaysia this year not with fireworks and screams of joy, but silence and prayers... It brings a small sense of regret, that only through a disaster of this proportion will the people of the world unite... but it warms my heart to see how many hands are stretched to provide aid... and may you be one of them... find ways to donate... find ways to help... spread the word...
May this year bring less suffering to those who had......

Bloggging off...

The Wonders of Winter

Yup, winter is coming near... And with winter comes one of my biggest challenges in japan... the cold... and don`t start giving me those wimpy looks... sure, Osaka isn`t actually Vlodivostok, but still coming from a country that`s smack in the middle of the equator does make you a bit reliant on heat from the o-so-kind sun... I admit, there has been times where the sun came short of frying me in my pants or threaten to turn me into a puddle of mucky sweat, but I`ve always prefered hotness rather then coldness... I`m warmblooded... what`d you expect...

The only good that comes outta winter is snow!... and of course pleasures that come with it, such as snowboarding, skiing, snowmans, pelting people with snowballs and the way it floats down flake by flake (hint.. girl with you at this time would give you an extra 66% successs rate ^-^). Avalanches are NOT in the list due to fact that considering that watching tons of snow slide down bulldozing anything is its path might sound fun in a sick way, death and destruction is not something I find humourous (especially if I`m somehow in the middle of it)...

Why do you wonder all this talk about the snow and cold... I`m going snowboarding!!!
Will of course fill you on that after I come back... (^-^)...

Bloging off...