Happy Birthday, you old fool.

Call this the obligatory Birthday Post. I feel that on certain occasions it's important to write, and it keeps me on some semblance of a schedule. (Though I would like to point out I've posted on both my translation blog and my group anime blog!)

Another year gone by. That's the first thing which comes to mind to say on a birthday. A birthday is such a strange symbol. Is it occasion to summarize what you've learned in the past year and reflect on lessons? Is it a marker that you're still alive, still fighting? A marker towards the glass half empty?

No, I refuse that. I don't think a birthday is any sort of an occasion to be depressed over. Really, I stop and think about what a birthday means to me, and it is a collection of possibilites. I think on events that are still to happen; a birthday is another year to experience, and learn. I'm a dreamer, and that's always left me with more ideas and "what ifs" than energy to act on them, but that is what a birthday means to me. It's an exciting bunch of possibilities.

I don't want to make a list of goals for the coming year. Maybe I should. It would give me something to rally my energy and motivation around. A humble list then:

- I want to improve my Japanese. It's my main skill, the scholarly sum total of my college experience, and looking for jobs recently I've noticed it's slipped quite a bit. I really do love languages, as few of them as I can keep in my head at once, and I want to be able to speak Japanese competently.
- I want to write on a regular basis. Like exercise, writing is a creative muscle that needs to be flexed. The last time I updated my DeviantArt account? I'm guessing six months. That really shouldn't be so. Even if it's terrible crap, I should be practicing accordingly.
- I want to get out more. My recent mold situation impressed on me how much of my life is spent at home, playing with my toys. I'd like to get out, meet new people, make new hobbies, explore the city, and if possible travel. (Also, writer within me, I felt like these things need to come in at least threes...)

So, that's what I'd like to build towards in the coming year. I'm sure I'll have half-baked, colorful notions and schemes pop into my head throughout til the next August 24th, but at the very least I want to get those three done.

Here's to another year. Happy Birthday, you old fool.

Robocop has metal underwear, but that never stopped Anderson Cooper.

Through the many wonderful benefits of StumbleUpon, I found this animation, Imagining the Tenth Dimension.

It's a step by step illustration of how each dimension can be understood, building upon concepts of the previous dimensions. It's a fascinating watch, and a step beyond the familiar first three dimensions (and the fourth if you're all up in Donnie Darko) in a comfortable thorough explanation.

After viewing it, it brings up a multitude of questions, which continue to flower:

1.If the concept of a Fourth Dimension object is the entire temporal “life span” of that object, and one were a Fourth Dimension being perceiving always in the Fourth Dimension, would that not then neccessitate the ability to percieve the Sixth Dimension, which would be all possible points and trajectories in the Fourth Dimension?

2.The easiest way to think of a Fourth Dimension object is as a “temporal snake”, an object wherein all its points in time are perceivable. However, thinking of a Fourth Dimension object in this “snake” form is a Third Dimension form, because one would be perceiving all physical points at once. Would perception of a Fourth Dimension object more likely be knowledge of every single point of such an object, rather than plain, Third Dimension perception of it's physical spaces?

3.If one could travel in the Sixth Dimension and visit completely different timelines within our universe, how does the visiting of other Eight and Ninth Dimension Infinities differ on a conceptual level?

When I crane my neck to kiss your head, I know that there is something that I can rely on.

- The Job Search goes on. I had my first interview on Friday, and it went fairly well. It was with ANA (All Nippon Airlines) Trading, and it would be for a sales assistant position selling components to US manufacturers. While the interview went well, I don't want to be a salesman. I think about my current job and how quickly I get tired of having to deal with people, and I can't imagine if that were my entire job. I realise I wouldn't be dealing with John Q. Dumbass-Public, but I still don't think working with people is my forte.

- I grabbed a bunch of new music to listen to. Current favorites are Thao Nguyen off of Daytrotter, Gza, and Dappled Cities.

- The new streaming video feature over at Netflix is really neat! I come home everyday and watch an episode of The Office while I eat dinner. There's no slowdown at all and the quality is incredibly clear.

I thought I had more to talk about. Ah well, later.

He's not heavy man, he's my brother.

I just got back from a good, long weekend up in San Jose visiting my high school friend, Matt, and his girlfriend, Sophia. Caught up, talked late into the night, watched movies, had good food (especially off of Matt's crazy-expensive-high-tech backyard grill), picked up some Japanese novels (in Japanese), got a couple new shirts for a new starter wardrobe, and went to a barbecue with their friends. It's amazing I could fit all that in one paragraph, as the events themselves were immense.

We talked about a number of subjects: family, books, film, languages, childhood. I realised that everyone has a unique relationship with their parents. That I am cultured, and I can talk at length about good authors and books I've read. That I wish there were more time to watch movies in the day. That I love the different rhythms of languages, and I need to step up my Japanese study. That I think three kids are too many to have, but I wouldn't give away either one of my brothers.

I bought two nice, dressy casual shirts while I was in San Jose. I've realised recently that while I'm not into fashion for the most part, I have tended to dress somewhat frumpy the past couple of years. Jeans and t-shirts the entire way. I feel that I need a bit of a change, something that looks a bit nicer, something to wear besides t-shirts all the time.

Well, that was my weekend, description of other fantastic events aside. Hope you all had a good one too!