Archive for July, 2008
July 31st, 2008 by cybrpunk
My replacement has been here in Hong Kong for a few days now. The training is going along swimmingly I suppose. There’s a lot to cover. I don’t think I’ve talked this much… well… ever.
Some of the things I tell him he already knows. I think some of the things come as genuine surprises. It’s not an easy job. Usually.
Met with him in Wan Chai for a few beers tonight on my way home. Now it’s late and I have a headache. More to do tomorrow.
Medicine and sleep.
July 30th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Haibane Renmei DVD box art
I just finished watching the last few episodes of Haibane Renmei. It’s not the typical anime that would normally appeal to me and I hadn’t even heard of it till I happened to see clips of it from an anime music video. It’s only 13 episodes long and it’s a sad but sweet story that I really enjoyed.
The pacing of it and the feeling I got while watching this show was similar to how I feel when watching My Neighbor Totoro for the ump-teenth time. Which is a good thing because I absolutely love Totoro. Haibane Renmei just seems similar to me for some reason. There’s no real action, no bad guy, no ‘obvious’ conflict. I wrote more but deleted it. If anyone is actually inspired to watch this short series, I’d hate to give away any clues as to what happens. All I want to say is that this is the type of story that will have the more sensitive types with at least a few tears.
And for those who see the characters in this have halos and feathered wings and immediately dismiss the show then it’s your loss. The characters may look something like angels but there’s nothing religious about the series. It has its own mythologies and beliefs that, as far as I could tell, should offend no ones sensibilities.
If this sounds like something you’d like, I would definitely recommend at least a rental. I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles. I know some people are put off by subtitles but they aren’t bad at all here. The dialog is easy to follow.
July 29th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Bachelor life is starting to get to me I think. I’ve played so much Beautiful Katamari that I think my hands have permanantly contorted into grasping claws. Which is actually rather convenient for playing XBox games to be honest. Makes typing hard though.
Add to that bizarre Japanese game the fact that I have been watching nothing but Japanese language movies and TV (with English subtitles of course) and I’m relatively sure I can here The Vapors invading my internal soundtrack. And that’s never a good thing.
As you can see from my Most Recently list over on the right, it’s been kind of crazy. I’m also watching Kagemusha but I didn’t get to finish it last night due to various phone calls and laundry, but that’s another that will be added to the list. I actually haven’t completely finished watching Haibane Renmei yet either so please do not post anything about that or any spoilers (that pretty much means Insomnic). I would hate to have to kill you in your sleep.
I’m currently downloading Neon Genesis Evangelion so I can continue this craziness. I can’t get an English version here in Hong Kong, so… well… piracy to the rescue! Don’t worry MPAA, it’s still on my Amazon Wishlist.
Perhaps I’ll get some sushi for lunch today. Hmm….
July 28th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Wow, that title sounds impressive.
To be honest, which I mostly am, I do not write the jokes that get posted on this site. Anyone who bothers to read all the crap e-mail their so-called friends and family will already know that. I cherry pick my favorites from the billions of jokes floating about the internet. Often I find myself editing them for spelling, grammar, formatting and sometimes content because refinement is not always a bad thing. I mean let’s face it - not all jokes are good. However sometimes I’ll run across an absolute crap joke that has a good idea that can be fixed. I still don’t claim the jokes as mine when I do that, but I like to think I bring the quality up a notch or so at least.
On the other hand, the jokes at A Little Scary are mostly my own. There have been two instances where I took a funny conversation from the now defunct inpassing.org site and adapted them into a format and relevance to fit the comic. And as long as that old overheard conversation website stays down, I can claim those jokes as mine still. But it also sucks because it was the original overheard conversation site on the web and it was a great source of motivation. I mean seriously… people are really stupid sometimes. I’m living proof.
One upcoming comic is actually an old e-mail joke adapted to fit the comic strip format of A Little Scary. The punch line is the same, but everything else was created new for the strip. I’d like to think that I can claim that as my own because 95.8% of the content is created by me if you count the “artwork” as well.
So if you’re still reading this post, you’re probably starting to fidget and wondering what my point is. Well, I have to be honest: I really don’t know. I guess the point is that you should always give credit where credit is due. This is true in general as well as at work and in dealing with everything and anything. If you feel you can only get ahead by taking credit for other people’s work then you really need to admit that to yourself and take a step back and decide if that’s really who you want to be. Nobody likes a fake. Not even other fakes. And no matter how good you are at faking it, there’s no substitute for making something yourself, something you can be proud of and honestly feel good about with no regrets. Nothing can top that.
In case you’re wondering, no I’m not writing this because someone has wronged me in some way. I’m just sharing a small part of what makes me tick, so to speak. I think it’s an important life lesson that most people have been on one side of or the other but it seems to get overlooked. People often miss the big picture because they are either too busy trying to keep up the illusion or too busy being depressed or mad that someone took credit for their work.
No of course the zen thing for me to tell you at this point is to be the better person when you find yourself being taken advantage of in a situation like this. That would be the proper way to handle things. But to hell with that. If someone takes credit for my work I get pissed. And I start looking for ways to let everyone know it. Of course you have to know when to pick your battles, but seriously, I don’t like that and I will let you know about it. However, the one thing I can do add a little zen back to that is to promise I will not take credit for other people’s work. My career is not that important nor anything else. You know, unless like the person who should get credit is already dead… and there’s no way for it to come back to me. I never said I was stupid or naive. Just honest. Mostly.
July 25th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Well it’s Friday and the work day is almost done. I may get to the weekend faster than my friends in the States but I also get Monday faster too. It’s a win-lose situation.
I’ve spent part of the day packing up my personal items from my office to be shipped back to the St. Louis office. My technical books and toys and decorations and paperwork and toys. I have lots of toys. It’s been kind of a sad day.
Which led to my activities at lunch time. I skipped lunch to stay in my office like I often do and I drug out some writing. I opened up a story that I had started back in February and edited/added about 500 words during my break. Oddly enough, even though I went from 1,040 words to almost 1,500 words… the story didn’t get progressed at all. I have an idea of where I think I want to go with it now. Before I had just written the setup and had no idea what was going on or where it would end. Now I think I’ve gotten that part ready. I just have to remember it long enough to get it written.
But my point was that I was kind of sad about packing and that sparked me into writing. I’m wondering if I only write when I’m sad? I don’t think so though. I blazed through the first four days of zombie stories and I don’t remember being sad then. So I’m probably just jumping to conclusions. Which, for those of you who know me, is very unlike me. Yeah.
Anyway, hopefully I will get Chapter One of that story finished up pretty soon and unleash it on everyone here. Or I may wait till I get a few chapters written so I don’t leave everyone hanging like I did with the zombie stories. I will finish those zombie stories some day. At least the ones I have outlined already. I just haven’t been inspired on those like I was before. Not sure what was different then but I wish I could duplicate it. That was awesome.
For those of you interested in my previous writings, click on the Writing category on the right side of the page.
July 24th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Yesterday, July 23rd, marks the second anniversary of the day Muse and I got married. (Yes I spelled it out like that to make it easier for me to find via search… sue me.) Two years since we threw most of our cards into the wind in the hope that they would fall favorably. It took a hell of a lot of courage for both of us to do the things we did. All in all, I’d say the cards fell pretty nicely.
Now we have our first child on the way. That is going to change us forever. So here’s to us… and to celebrating our third anniversary with our baby as a family.
Of course, there’s a special comic over at A Little Scary to commemorate the occasion. I couldn’t resist, hehe.
July 23rd, 2008 by cybrpunk
A young couple got married and went on their honeymoon. When they got back, the bride immediately called her mother. “So,” said her mother, “how was the honeymoon?”
“Mama,” she replied, “the honeymoon itself was wonderful - it was so romantic! But…”
Suddenly the young girl burst out crying. “Mama, as soon as we returned, Joe started using the most horrible language - things I’d never heard before! I mean, all these awful 4-letter words! You’ve got to come get me and take me home… PLEASE MAMA!”
“Sarah, Sarah,” her mother said, “calm down! Tell me, what could be so awful? WHAT 4-letter words?”
“Please don’t make me tell you, Mama,” wept the daughter, “I’m so embarrassed. They’re just too awful and I can’t say them! Come get me, PLEASE!!”
“Darling baby, you must tell me what has you so upset. I’m your mother - now tell me these horrible 4-letter words!”
Still sobbing, the bride said, “Oh, Mama…words like: Wash, Iron, Dust, Cook…”
July 22nd, 2008 by cybrpunk
Yeah I didn’t get a chance to post anything yesterday. I had no idea that I would be working a 14 hour day. I was asked to come by an internal event happening at a hotel here in Hong Kong at 8:00am to help with the setup. I got there at ten till eight and no one else showed up till about ten after. Oh well.
I realized I was going to late for another meeting back at my office and ran out in a hurry in the afternoon. I was ten minutes late for that. The universe does not like me to be early. I was ten minutes early in the morning so I was made to be ten minutes late in the afternoon. Considering I usually just average in at ‘late’, I can deal with that kind of balance.
I took four taxis throughout the day yesterday which is very unusual for me to take any taxis at all. Luckily they are pretty cheap here and much cheaper than back in the States. Then again Hong Kong is a really small place so it may just be relative to that.
I had dinner and drinks with the people from the even after work and then went back and helped re-arrange, re-cable, re-organize and test (and re-test) presentations and videos for today. By the time I finally made it home I called Muse and then crashed.
July 19th, 2008 by cybrpunk
I’ve spent the past three hours playing Condemned: Criminal Origins on my XBox360. I played it for a few hours just a few days ago too. I knew what I was getting myself into. Except it was daylight when I played that day. Tonight I started at 11:00pm. After the first half-hour I reluctantly turned off the overhead light because the game is so dark, the light in my room just makes it harder to see. Most of the game is spent walking through corridors and checking every corner for crazed madmen… in the dark… with only a small flashlight and a single weapon.
Now, three hours later, it’s 2:15am and I want to go to sleep. My blood pressure and adrenaline are up. I heard all sorts of creaks and other odd noises as I went to use the toilet and then brush my teeth. I kept watching the bathroom door reflected in the mirror for any movement or shift of shadows beyond the crack of an opening. More noises… more blood pressure. I had remembered to lock and bolt the door to the flat before I started playing. I knew I would be paranoid after playing.
I found myself looking around the bathroom as I brushed my teeth. Looking for makeshift weapons like you do in the game. I decided that the shower curtain rod was my only real option. I could get that down in a hurry if I needed to. I touched it… it seems sturdy.
This flat makes a lot of strange noises now that I’m alone here. My imagination loves that. I hope it’s just my imagination. I’m going to go run to the bed and hide under the covers now. I’m just glad that the wardrobes are gone so nothing can hide in them while I fall asleep. And the bed has storage underneath instead of being open space. Something might otherwise grab my ankle as I get in bed.
Maybe I’ll just sleep right here… in front of the computer. Safer that way. I hope….
July 18th, 2008 by cybrpunk
Hong Kong is a really nice place. Aside from the pollution and the jungle weather it really is a beautiful place to live. When the pollution haze lifts during a holiday and you can see all the way from one end of the country to another (it’s preety small), it’s just amazing. On a clear night, the city skyline all lit up is one of the most beautiful man-made things I’ve seen.
Here’s a link to the official government weather site for Hong Kong: Hong Kong Observatory. It’s a nice site that is quite thorough with moving pictures of clouds in the area and it’s updated quite often. However I really think they could save a lot of time and money if the just changed all that to the following static text:
Hong Kong Weather
Currently: Hot as hell and humid enough to sweat stain your shorts
Forcast for tomorrow: See above
5-Day forcast: Between 28-30 degrees Celcius and 75-100% humidity. Rain can and will happen when you least expect it. If you see dark clouds or have lost sight of land that you could see only moments ago, head for shelter or buy an umbrella. Buy two, one will break.
And really that about sums it up during these summer months.
I saw a guy I know from St. Louis complaining on Twitter about how it was a miserable 50% humidity in my hometown. I about fell out of my chair laughing. I quickly checked the link above for the current weather and saw that the humidity was at 98% at the time. After living here for two years I really hope to be able to better handle the St. Louis summers. However…
The winters are going to fucking blow.
When Muse and I were back home for the Christmas holidays this past year, we literally froze our asses off. I left mine somewhere between Fenton and High Ridge. One thing the heat here has taken away from me is my extreme tolerance to cold weather. I don’t think I’ll be out and about in my shorts when the St. Louis ice storms come rolling through. Not for a while I think. Not if I want to have any more children.
