Okay, so I told myself that I have money and should just buy the Kill Bill v1 dvd. So I checked the video store - still all copies rented. Bleah. They had the dvd for sale there too for 3980yen. Hmm. Passed on that, then stopped at 7-11 on the way home, and they had the dvd on sale for 3511yen. Okay, then! If I include the 200yen off coupon for going to see volume 2, that's not such a bad deal.

On the other hand, what kinda weirdo planet am I on where you can buy a popular, new-release dvd for cheaper in 7-11 for less than at the big, chain video rental store?

Popped in the dvd to check it, and it has an English subtitle track, so I don't even have to mix it with the US release to get the subs! Perfect!

Nope. Still no Kill Bill dvd.

Kill Bill volume 1 just came out for rental here on Friday. I've been checking my local video store every day since then to try to rent a copy of it. So far, no joy. I will keep you posted.

I've seen both the American and Japanese releases of volume 1, and personally, I like the Japanese release. I mean, just gotta have that blood in color! And the one little extra scene, with Uma cutting off Sopie's other arm... well, that's just too goddamn cold. You gotta include that part. Fairly disappointing that they only referred to it in a voice-over in the US version.

Volume 2 comes out in the theatres this Saturday. I am thinking of trying to catch the first show Saturday morning, if my other plans do not work out. I have read that again the Asian release of the movie is different from the American release. My guess is that we get the good end of the deal.

Date:	2004-04-01 21:52
Subject:	A Pleasant Surprise
Security:	Public
Mood:	weird

My asshole manager (after tomorrow, my asshole ex-manager) pissed me off today... "What NOW?" you may ask. Well, I helped install a new backup server shortly before I left. Recently one of the hard drives in the server failed and they were trying to log in to reconfigure the raid and replace it... but found that it was password protected and they didn't know the password! Asshole manager writes a complaining email to the head of the division to rant about what a huge mistake it was and how it was all my fault.

Meanwhile I dig up the email I sent the group where I described all the setup work, and remailed the section where I described what the passwords I set were. If he had read the mail the first time, or at least checked it before scheduling a maintenance for the backup system...

Later an email shows up where asshole goes, "oh, he was referring to one of two passwords and we were trying the wrong one."

The lowest level of even basic civility would call for at least a "my mistake, sorry." Naturally, there was none.

In other news, on a lark I rented "Freddy vs. Jason" on the way home from my various errands today. I've seen maybe two of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies - the first one in the theatre, which scared the hell out of me, and maybe the third or fourth one on cable sometime, which was predictably so-so. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Jason movie all the way through, certainly never in the theatres, but if you have cable at any point in your life, you've probably seen enough bits and pieces to patch together a whole movie in your head.

So I started up the film and... I was shocked! It is a pretty funny movie! Not scary, not even particularly gory, but there are some good comic moments in there. I found myself halfway through going, "oh man, poor Jason... I hope he kicks Freddy's ass...." Then I realize, "good god, I'm feeling sorry for JASON?"

Anyhow, I had a very good time watching a surprisingly funny movie that wasn't even funny for being spectacularly awful. Not bad.

Was my choice of a slasher film (a dual slasher film, even!) influenced by my asshole manager earlier in the day, perhaps? I dunno, maybe on some subconscious level. I guess we'll find out if I wake up tomorrow and spot a piece on the news about a horrific knife murder of a mid-aged Japanese manager, and I realize I can't remember what I've been doing for the last several hours or where those odd stains on my clothes came from.

Date:	2004-03-24 13:04
Subject:	Garbage
Security:	Public
Mood:	working

Today I did something new - called the ward office to arrange for the large garbage pickup. Here, if you have garbage bigger than what the normal pickups can handle, you have to call the service office, describe what the stuff is and get a price estimate, go down to the local convenience store and buy service tickets to cover that amount, put the service tickets on the stuff with your name and address, and put all the stuff out on the curb on the date you arrange. It is enough of a hassle that I have never bothered to do it before, so certain items have been piling up in my apartment. I.e. old computer cases, printers, and other equipment I no longer use! Time to get rid of this crap, though.

I struggled a bit on the phone to describe all the stuff I wanted to get rid of: six PC cases (don't ask), two video decks, two printers, a tv and video stand, and an old chair. I've been hiding a bunch of this stuff out on my 3 foot wide balcony just to keep it out of the way, but it's about goddamn time to throw it out. Maybe I will even get industrious and clean up the balcony a bit, once this crap is gone.

Date:	2004-03-24 12:56
Subject:	Paycheck
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

Yesterday I went out to Chiba to visit CostCo. CostCo is always a bit of a pilgrimage - long trip out and long trip back. But it's worth it if you do it now and then and stock up on the things you need. It would be easier if I had a car and could just drive out there, but no such luck. They do have a very reasonable shipping service, though - I bought a huge cart of stuff, then just dumped it on the shipping service guys and it should get here tomorrow morning. Very nice for the "don't want to worry about getting all this crap back to my place" feeling.

CostCo in Chiba is a bit weird, though, since it's five stories high. The top three stories are the parking garage, and the bottom two stories are the shopping warehouse. You go up to the second floor to show your card and get in, then shop second floor and take these cart-escalator things to go down to the first floor to shop there and then checkout. The shopping carts have some sort of wheel arrangement so that the wheels will lock when they're on the escalator/conveyer belt between floors, so there are no runaway shopping carts running people down. I still haven't figured out how they work...

There was a movie theatre near the station when I was heading back, so I stopped in and saw that Paycheck was playing. Not having a lot of other plans, I caught the next show. I had a good time! I'm guessing there are a lot of people out there who thought the film was crap, but I enjoyed most of it. Well, it was crap, I admit. But I knew almost nothing about the film when I went into it - knew it had Affleck and Thurman, and was something about recovering lost memories, near future sci-fi. Knowing only that much, not seeing any of the trailers or commercials, really helped. I actually got a lot of the "what the hell is going on here?" feelings that they must have been trying to go for. I have a feeling that if I had a better idea of what was going to happen in the movie, I would have been pretty let down. This is why I like to see movies knowing very little about them, and avoiding the trailers and commercials. You can actually be surprised by the stuff that they wanted you to be surprised by, since you didn't see the trailer that gives it all away. This can make the difference between a crap movie that you feel wasted your time, and a so-so movie that you still enjoyed. This was a so-so movie that I still enjoyed. John Woo really needs to give the thing with the doves a rest, though.

Date:	2004-03-23 01:30
Subject:	I am easily amused.
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

For some reason, I always think of shino6 when I see this image.

Date:	2004-03-23 00:54
Subject:	Jung
Security:	Public
Mood:	mellow
Music:	Conjure One - Center Of The Sun (on auto-repeat)

Been doing some more reading lately of Carl Jung - "The Portable Jung", which is a measley 650 pages. Okay, so it's not exactly the Collected Works, but still pretty interesting stuff. I find that I am very drawn to the ideas about the collective unconscious. Hell, I haven't even got to the part about synchronicity yet.

Still, reading too much Jung at once was wearing me out, so I switched over to "Green Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson for some more entertaining stuff. It's a relatively quick read, since I already read it once, so I'll get back to the Jung when I finish up.

While visiting Judy in Gamagori (a.k.a. The Town of No Boys), I managed to get the best fortune at the shrine, the 大大吉. It just popped out immediately, as soon as I started to shake the container. The guy (priest?) working the booth even looked a bit surprised at this. Score! Considering that I have quit my job and begun job searching, I figured this was a good sign. I also made a donation and got a blessed five-yen coin charm to bring good financial luck. What the hell, worth a shot, eh?

I was carrying the five-yen coin in my breast pocket today when meeting a former boss to discuss job possibilities. He basically made me a job offer, but unfortunately it would not start up for the next couple months. Well, we'll see, I thought. I got home and had an email waiting for me from the group at Citibank I interviewed with last week. They gave me the green light, so I should be able to accept the position and start working there as quickly as I choose. Wow, nice. I am looking at starting up the week after my formal last day at GMO. (I'm just burning through my untaken vacation days at the moment.) This would feel pretty good - essentially finish one job up on a Friday, and start up the next one on Monday.

I'm not 100% decided on the Citibank position yet, but I am leaning towards it. I have one good friend working in that group already, and the rest of the group seems pretty cool. They have a good budget so we wouldn't be constantly fighting for software and equipment we would need. It would not be as "exciting" as GMO, but should still be good work, good pay, and a better work/life balance. Because frankly, I need to work on the "life" part. So tomorrow I'll probably work the rest of it out.

Okay, figured it was time to retire the "hidden" account and switch to an LJ name that more people associate with me.

Does this mean that I will update more? No guarantees.

I copied over most of my old entries, so the thing doesn't look so pathetically empty.

Date:	2004-03-07 21:49
Subject:	Shall we?
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

Went to see a ballroom dancing competition down in Yokohama today, mostly because a friend of mine was competing in it.

Competitive ballroom dancing is more interesting to watch than I was expecting. (My expectations were pretty low.) I would tense up when the couples spinning madly towards each other, sure they were going to crash. Most times they would swing right by each other, passing nearly inches apart. Once in a while they actually would bash into each other, but they would recover as best they could and keep going.

Strangest bit was the music for one of the quickstep pieces was... the "George Of The Jungle" theme! They actually had the vocals singing "George, George, George of the Jungle..." but those were the only lyrics. I was the only white dude in the audience, and I think I was the only one that recognized it. What could I say?

I've been using some of my time off to catch up with recent movies. I went to see Return Of The King on Tuesday, which was quite good. I'm still not sure it was Best Picture good, but it was still good. I had received my special extended edition of The Two Towers the previous day, so when I got home I finished watching it. I hated TTT in the theatre - I fell asleep twice because the pacing was so poor. The extended edition is MUCH better. Makes me very interested to see what the extended edition of RotK will be like.

Thursday I went to see Master and Commander, which was also quite good. Hoping to see "Love, Actually" next, which has been recommended to me and well-reviewed. Already saw Once Upon A Time In Mexico, which was... not as good as I was hoping, but I loved Desperado.

As I was making my way out of the theatre in the dark as Master and Commander was ending, I noticed a muffler at my feet. In the dark, I figured it was mine and it had slipped out from under my arm or something. I picked it up and realized it wasn't mine. Where was mine, then? I had left it back at my seat and had nearly forgotten it. It was a nice one, cashmere, and would have sucked for me to lose it. So I stood there with a lost scarf in one hand, my copy of "The Portable Jung" (as in Carl) in the other, and noted that it was lucky I stumbled over someone's lost scarf to cause me to notice I had forgotten my own.

I hung the scarf on the railing next to the aisle and went back to retrieve my own.

Date:	2004-03-06 17:06
Subject:	"Wake up, time to die."
Security:	Public
Mood:	weird

A funny thing happened to me on the way home from work last week. I was almost hit by a bus.

I was riding my bike home, and stopped at a traffic light at a major intersection near my place. I was distracted and not paying enough attention, so when the light turned green and people at the crosswalk started moving, I hopped on my bike and started across the intersection... but something felt wrong to me. I looked up and the light had turned green in the opposite direction. A full size bus was coming at me at a good clip.

I clenched the brakes and scrambled back out of the street. The bus rumbled past. I realized that if I hadn't noticed what was wrong, there was no way that much mass could have stopped or even slowed down too much, so it would have hit me and I would have been killed or seriously injured.

This is "funny" because I was heading home from the office, where I had just walked out of my job, turning in what was essentially my immediate resignation.

I have deliberately not discussed my job in my journal because it would just be me bitching about it, over and over, which is not terribly interesting to read. Also, what you put on the web comes around again when you usually don't want it to, so it's best not to slag your employer too much, particularly if your employer is full of technical people who read the web. So I have left a lot of things out.

I hear and use the phrase "what if so and so was hit by a bus?" to mean that a company should not be so dependent on one employee that if that employee is suddenly gone than certain work cannot be done. I had just put my company in a "Jim was just hit by a bus" situation... and then gone out and very nearly got hit by a bus.

Strange how things work out sometimes.

Date:	2004-02-24 18:48
Subject:	Great
Security:	Public
Mood:	hyper

So here I am, drinking a plastic bottle of "Austrian Mountain Caffeinated Water"...

I don't want any more caffeine! All I wanted was bubbly water and this is all the local convenience store has. Last thing I want is to get even more tense because of the water I drink.

Date:	2004-02-06 07:03
Subject:	Oh fer crissakes!
Security:	Public
Mood:	angry

Tenn. Woman Files Suit Over Super Bowl

Get a fucking life, you people!

Date:	2004-02-05 23:51
Subject:	And while I'm thinking about it...
Security:	Public
Mood:	irritated

Was the Bono "fucking brilliant" comment such a big deal either? I dunno, man, have you been around Irish guys much? It's a set phrase. I don't think the lads can even speak the word "brilliant" without a "fucking" in front of it. Do the Americans really need to be so uptight about this stuff? Is there any way I can get an Irish feed of the Oscar broadcast so I can actually hear the Real People version of the dialogue?

Date:	2004-02-05 23:51
Subject:	About the breast...
Security:	Public
Mood:	cynical

Right about now I feel like just about the only guy on the planet who has not seen the video of Janet Jackson's boob on the Superbowl (but would like to).

I am surprised, though, that so many of the followup articles have been coming down on Janet for this. It seems to me that Justin Timberlake was just as involved, and he seems to be getting off scott-free. If it was actually an accident, Janet is the one who just got her tit flashed against her will to darn near every male in the US. That's gotta make her at least a little uncomfortable, eh?

It all just seems like a big deal being made about something that isn't. It's just a tit, fer crissakes. It's not the end of the world or anything. I'm only going off the still photos I see on the web sites, but she looks pretty flustered and embarassed about it, so why not just give it a rest?

Anyhow, I haven't actually seen the Superbowl in years. Not so much voluntarily, though I am not a sports fan, but it's not available over here as far as I know. If I could watch it, I would watch it to see the commercials. But I just watched a selection of the commercials on the ifilm site this morning, and they were pretty... unimpressive. This is it, guys? The best you can do? Half a million bucks' worth? Come on. The rejected MoveOn.org commercials were a helluva a lot better done and more interesting to watch.

Date:	2004-02-04 08:07
Subject:	I made up a word.
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative

"Debedrification - the desire not to get out of bed in the morning."

Pretty good, I think.

I don't get it... do I look like a "Carlos Valdez"? Why do I keep getting this guy's mail? I mean, looking like a Benicio Del Toro wouldn't be too bad...

The other day I got a mail for "Vivian Valdez". There are a couple of different ways to interpret that one and I'm not sure I like the sound of either.

I sent my family an email the other day after a long, long time out of contact. Naturally my mom was overjoyed to hear from me. (Okay, okay, I'm a bad son.) Apparently one of her friends had decided that I must have turned Buddhist and renounced all worldly connections for the spiritual life. Another friend of the family decided, apparently in earnest, that I must have become involved in some hush-hush governmental project for the American authorities here in Tokyo and I was sworn to secrecy.

Sheesh, I only wish my life were that interesting. The truth is that I'm so boring I just found out I like to drink club soda. No sugar, no caffeine, just enough of a taste and some bubbles to make me feel like I'm drinking something other than water. Good god, shoot me now.

I just finished a little book called "Jung - A Very Short Introduction." Only about 150 pages, so just touching lightly on the main points about Jung, but enough to get me interested. It seems like a surprisingly upbeat way to view the world and psychology, so I am encouraged to read more. I'm going to start recording my dreams more regularly, and see about figuring out a little more of what is going on in my head.

Dreams are funny things. Most nights until recently, I would wake up with a snatch of memory from a dream that would fade within a few seconds, if I remembered having any dreams at all. More recently, I am remembering more, although I need to write them down immediately upon waking if I'm going to have any hope of remembering the whole thing. I usually keep my laptop next to the bed, though, so I can grab it and type it up immediately. If I don't forget to, or if I don't decide "ugh, I am too sleepy... I won't write this one up, I just want to go back to bed."

For some reason, I am reminded of an online conversation I had quite a while back, when the US was gearing up for the most recent war against Iraq. I made a comment about how the US was ignoring the opinions of pretty much the entire rest of the world and taking a might-makes-right view of diplomacy. Someone responded by saying critically, "I guess Jim doesn't support our troops!"

My first reaction was, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Troops are there because they are obeying orders. Should I "support" them by supporting the orders they are given? Ridiculous. If anything, I should "support" the troops by being sure they are being given reasonable orders, and risking their lives for good reasons.

It seems clear to me, now that the US is largely stuck in Iraq as guerilla attacks chip away at their numbers, that the US' attitude of "we don't need the rest of the world, we can do this war ourselves" has encouraged everyone else to go, "fine, it's your mess, you clean it up." How many American soldiers will die because of this situation? How many will die because they don't have the support and backing of the community of nations?

When you "supported the troops", you probably achieved exactly the opposite.