Free Time

I enjoyed today. Got to hang out with 2 of my favorite ladies,Vaew and Jenny.
Watched some "Sympathy for Mr. Vengence". Now, after a couple of "Changers" and some green snacks from Lao I am calling it a night...

I wish there was a 7-11 nearby.
Gotta love products with busted engrishfor a good laugh. But its the Thai flavored Lays that I am addicted to the most.

I have been having a great time with FireFox-2.0 (If you are reading this there is no excuse for not using this browser) and messing around with the add-ons.

I wish this was one of them *super neat*, but I have my Nintendo DS to keep my happy for now.

My current state of mind lets me be entertained by things like thisプチプチ for over a half hour-*manic mode?

Have alot of things to take care of the next few days and some travel to do, Cambodia? Actually Im too tired/sleepy to finish this blog entry tonight. Will touch it up later...

[edit] so yeah. I get to write more. Had a few
beers at J's new apartment. Beer in the freezer gonna go get it hold on...Still not cold. I rode my board today, not gonna be in any Spike Jonze flicks anytime soon but dodging traffic is always fun.
I should add Mel
as another female that I can get along with. She listens to Kool Keith, and spends hours pimpn changes to her Myspace profile, so I sweat her.

Got a copy of "Lost" season 2 DVD set so...good night

Beer Free

Those of you that know me; know I have a thing for beer. Jeff put it to me the best-

"If people dont meet you when you are sober they would never know you are actually an O.K. guy..."

Drunk monkeys mirror people
But for the past week or so I haven't had a drink. Been watching DVDs and playing DotA and internerding mostly. I guess I just needed a break. A moment of clarity once in a while, plus my body was killing me. Its boring, so for fun I have decided to grow facial hair and scare Thai people with it.

Found a way to stop time. Neat little effect huh?

Another neat visual effect that takes alot of work for some is the free viewing of stereoscopic photos. First learn how to do it on this page, it may take a few minutes to get it, but its worth it!

Now that you can do it try it with this photo The secret is to cross your eyes really hard, like you are looking at the tip of your nose. After you combine the 2 into a 3rd image in the middle, just relax your eyes a little and change your focus slightly..when you finally see it, its kinda amazing!

Here are some really good ones I found, the leaf in particular. It took me about 10 minutes to finally see them...but when I did I was like "holy shit!".
Some people can never see them so don't worry...

Here is an interesting play on Japanese/English


the middle 2 Chinese ideograms
read "origami". Clever stuff.

Waste of life

"you are wasting your life with those things..." my mom once told me when I was playing video games in the car.
Strange how watching TV, or listening to the radio or picking at your toenails isn't a seen as a waste of life. Video games in the west (after 30+ years) are still kinda seen in a bad light.
(Video games in Asia are not seen as so nerdy, and it is not unusual to see women in arcades kicking ass in Japan, or college girls online for days on end in Thailand)

I have been playing games for as long as I can remember, at one time my hometown had the most video arcades of any city in America. I have seen games go from this--->

to this--->



I am very lucky and excited to be a part of this history; to be the first generation to watch this form of entertainment evolve right before my eyes.
It must have been similarly amazing to be born in the 1920's and see film go from silent black/white to "talkies" and then color, all the way to the CGI effect loaded movies of today.

This same rapid evolution has happened to gaming in my lifetime (...well coin-op era on. I missed out on the pre television/cathode ray tube experiments of the 60s). From simple 2-D vector graphics in the 70's to 8bit Nintendo games, to the first real 3-D games, I have been there.

Now with the PlayStation 3 (1080p high end HDTV graphics) and Nintendo Wii (sensors in the Wii Remote allow it to sense linear motion along three axes, as well as tilt) coming out in the following months, my excitement is back at an all time high again.

But I think most peoples reaction to a 33 year old man showing them his Pokemans
is still->"

Oh well. Some good has come out of it since one of the main reason I even ended up studying Japanese in college was to play import games. One thing leads to another and now somehow I can easily annoy people in 2 Asian languages...

If you dont get the subtle reference in the first pic click here

PS: I wasnt trying to be so harsh on Thai food. After I re-read my last blog post it kinda sounds that way. Maybe because I eat mostly at street vendors and small mom and pop places. You get used to it.

Thai food

Good stuff Thai food, maybe the best in the world, I love spicy food so I can usually dig into almost anything. I know I havent even tried half the dishes in this country, im not much of a "connaisseur" and tend to eat at 7-11 a little too often.

One of my most vivid memories of visiting Isaan for the first time was about the local eats. I saw this super cute boy of about 5-6 years with a huge smile holding a yellow ice-pop, but when I got close enough I noticed he was gnawing on the claw of a chickens foot on a stick.

At the fams farm I watched my brother-in-law chop up a large rat to make laarb noo issaan. I had to pass on that one. Raw buffalo, bloody clams, fermented land crab paste, and fried bamboo grubs(actually delicious, kinda like french fries!) are all par for the course in this part of the world.

I remember when I worked at "Surin" that once in a while I would overhear "this is westernized Thai food, the Thai food in Thailand is so much better, more authentic...blah blah blah". Well actually no. The food at upscale Thai restaurants in the states benefits from something very lacking in most of Thailand- quality control.

You are most likely not going to get poisoned here(bad for business), but finding a tendon, knuckles, unidentifiable shattered bone, boiled blood cube, or talon in your curry is not unusual. I will miss eating real "Thai style" like this


but I am also looking forward to eating the shit out of some Taco Bell and mac n' cheese.

obsessive repulsive

pasta flavored with codfish eggs ymmm....
Sometimes Japanese TV scares me
Been messing around with a neat little program-All Sound Recorder X
Now I can record any sound from the web (java aps/flash/wmv/etc...) Kinda neat, but now that I can basically make an MP3 of anything on the internet I lose interest.

I dont know whats wrong with me. For example, in BKK you can buy almost any video game ever made. Of course they are copies, but whenever I go there I just get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything. Same with DVD shopping in Thailand. So many choices that my brain just stops. I really just like "real" things, the boxes, instruction booklets, stickers, etc..that come with legit consumer items are always a plus.
Been looking a the new Sony HDTVs. I have one already but the newer models are full 1080p (1920 X 1080 pixel resolution, 2 Million pixels!!) and look so awesome.

I hope I can a job at a home entertainment electronics shop when I get back. I have really been nerdn' out with the audio/visual technology the past few years. Have even considered becoming ISF certified
when I get back to America.

Nattou

Stayed at home all day today and watched a few hours of "The Shield".
Good thing about living so close to Burma is that I can find TONS of DVDs of whole seasons of American TV.
These are real chinese DVD runs so the packaging and quality is perfect.I was told that actually they are printed illegaly by factory workers after the factory closes for the day, and sold as a black market item because they are un-accounted for.
Trying not to go and play DotA. Trying not to go play DotA...Besides the fact that I have been known to play this game online non stop for 25 hours straight, I just figured out that I have put almost 2,000hours of my life into Warcraft III and its mod from hell.
Im really scared what would happen if I got a hold of World of Warcraft.(How Warcraft Really Does Wreck Lives) It was never
localized for release in Thailand, so my life has been spared for now.
Oh yeah about the photo. I am a big fan of fermented soy beans, aka, Nattou.
They smell like stinky socks and have long sticky spider like threads that hold them together. I ate them by neccesity in Japan, but ending up loving them so much! I was low on cash and the cheapest breakfast at

was Nattou, a bowl of rice, and miso soup for about 1.25$US. I turned my dad on to them too, but most of my non Japanese friends cant stand the stuff. Next time you go to a Sushi bar try a Nattou-Maki (fermented soy bean hand roll sushi), you never know you might like the stuff and its super healthy for you.

Friends

I cant believe how awesome the internet is. First I thought myspace was useless, but then I started to get into contact with people I havent seen for 7, 10, 15+ years. My friend Melissa from 7th grade sent me this scan of our middle-school yearbook today.

I have been trying to contact one special person for a long time (well mostly I would think about her from time to time...), but I couldnt remember how to spell her last name. Plus I knew she was married so that didnt help either.

So today after seeing her last name in the scans, I could "google" for her family, I knew there werent gonna be many people in Florida with such a strange spelling.

Saw some dude in Gville with a name that was sorta familiar. I remembered her brother really really really liked to play Metroid, and his name was Robby! I sent him an email and it turns out it was him! Wow...

Ikarus

Will be flying out of ol' Thailand very soon it seems. Kinda scared. Kinda happy. Feels really weird trying to look/taste/smell/hear everything in a way that I can remember when I get back to the US (been over 6years since I have touched American soil).
Gonna miss riding a motorbike the wrong way on a highway, thai college students, 50cent spicy food, Beer Chang, cheap online gaming, friends, kid, wifey...

Har Har

I just put up a user profile photo. Its "after". Dave chappelle said "dont fall asleep around high white dudes because they will do some borderline gay shit..." or whatever. youtube it for the exact quote. shaving cream on my head, better than a banana in the ass I guess, thanks Brandon.

I think Vaew is hot in Lanna style.


Oh yeah. 8.43am still drunk, a "dek serve" gave me a ride home because I was too drunk to drive home (Im not trying to kill anyone and I know when to say when, when to not drive...)
most of the time.

Im happy. Still have a (half full*my choice/half empty Beer Chang)

its getting warm...

"Jack talk Thai very well"

Yesterday I woke at 7pm cause of a hangover. Today wasnt very special at all. I realize Im a jerk when drunk, but interesting sorta, and not a good spelling dude.

Something about the F.B.I. and Thai language. I heard once from my friend that he got "interviewed" from those guys, if you are american and know an asian language you are on watch.

That was being done at www.thai-language.com Unfortunately, the FBI has still not released the web site's contents.

Interesting. Nah, most of my friends can speak/read Thai much much better than me. Im lazy...

Pops

My dad retired this year and took a boat from Florida to Hawaii to buy a house and grow papayas and mushrooms. Lucky guy...
Bruce

Otaku

Its like almost 8am and I am still drunk. I Knew it was gonna be a bad/super day when my room-mate(shit I cant even spell english anymore) said " I wanna get really drunk today!"

Ended up drinking with her and Justin at "HotShots", feels weird because I can undestand the jokes in Thai.


Here is my Biohazard 4 japanese translation from like 3 years ago (took me 2 days or so):

Mikami's *BIOHAZARD-4* long interview translated from "Weekly Famitsu"by Che/Fusako


-Serious consideration of the horror game genre-

Hamamura-Tsushin (Famitsu employee):
I just finished playing Bio-4.

Mikami-Shinji:
How was it?

Famitsu:
I was honestly suprised that the enemies were not zombies! It was very interesting. Very scary actually.

Mikami-Shinji:
Oh thats good...

Famitsu:
While I was playing I was thinking, the terror has changed, the tempo of the game has also changed. This time, the quaility of fear has changed has it not?

Mikami-Shinji:
That was what I naturally intented but, as for the degree of fear has been lowered somewhat.
From now on, the "type of horror" [flavor of horror] has been taken into serious consideration and...

Famitsu:
Yes, it seems...

Mikami-Shinji:
Concepts like survival horror games usually begin first with the type of horror, and after that the game style. I havent completly seperated the two, but the priority this time is reversed.

Famitsu:
The fun of playing has been placed ahead of the horror this time, right?

Mikami-Shinji:
Yes. This time I put the interesting aspects of "gameplay" ahead of everything else. The feeling of horror is gradually brought out by playing this way. So...um...Which is more important the noodles or soup? [japanese idiom?]

Famitsu:
"Hahahaha". Soup and noodles. Ah, I understand the sense of what you are saying.

Mikami-Shinji:
If we throw them both together, we cant really understand. Which is the flavour of the soup, which is the flavour of the noodles. After all is said and done, the you cant seperate them and have it taste good. The gameplay is the soup, while the horror is the noodles.

Famitsu:
true. true.

Mikami-Shinji:
After saying that, the noodles/(horror) in Bio-4 is "al dente"!!

Famitsu:
Hahahahaha!

Mikami-Shinji:
Funny how my conversation changed from gaming to Ramen, this is not a normal dialouge.

*Bio-4 producer Kobayashi*:
Mikami, please keep the topic in mind.

Mikami-Shinji:
Yes. Right, the boss is here!

Kobayashi:
Talk about whatever, its ok. I will edit/correct you later, so...

*Public Relations checks the manuscript!*

Mikami-Shinji:
You guys are the supervisors right? Cut out whatever im saying because you run the camp.
hahahaha

Famitsu:
Hahahaha

-The reason for the contents of the change-

Famitsu:
Gamesystems also are changing too, right? Lets compare it to the former games in the series. You have changed the whole model, huh?

Mikami-Shinji:
Yes

Famitsu:
Also, the fundamentals where changed from the beggining right?

Mikami-Shinji:
With Bio-4 we have recovered some freshness, because we changed so much. But, the important element of Biohazard (the series) has been carried along I think, dont you agree?

Famitsu:
What would you say is the word(s) that describes the core component?

Mikami-Shinji:
The core component is fear and destruction. This is a component of games from very long ago, tension and release/nervousness and calmness. Striking this balance... right?
This time, we took the essense of the Biohazard serious and broke it completely apart. Then reconstructed it.

Famitsu:
I see... Biohazard-4 plays like a completely different game, but the feeling Biohazard`s origins are still done. From playing the very first Biohazard I felt something near a new type of excitement [heart beating]

Mikami-Shinji:
Yes, because you felt that I am very happy. Now from the change of the base state of the game, I want you to enjoy playing the series again

?

Warrior Panda

Blog

My dad calls me "Chep" so thats a good name for this blog I guess. Its 4am and Im thinking going out to buy a beer (only my 2nd one today!). Didnt play any Warcraft or crash on Jennys floor so I feel like my life is moving up a little (well I am at some random person house using the internet all night).

I got a call this morning from a teacher at the elementary school I was teaching at until a week or so ago, she said everyone misses me and the new teacher is having a hard time. I should write up a book on teaching english in Thailand called-

"Setting the bar low: The Mr.Bean method of teaching english to people who dont give a shit about it"

Oh well not my prob now, I am only teaching privates = easy money

Just got through reading Daf's blog so I guess I might give this thing a try. Lets see if talking about 30cent beer and online gaming can be witty.