conan the tiger

Conan and bunch of other folks came over for a BBQ. It was raining all day and the coldest day yet this year, but that didn't stop and unending march of meat. Ivan supplied the cow, which was followed by pig, and mushrooms, and ribs...Miyuki brought sake and proceeded to drink it all herself. At some point we remembered the corn on the cob and the potatoes in the oven, and then Masa and her friend came by once everyone had gone home and with Presley finished off most of it, taking the rest home.

grease

My brother, in the spirit of Halloween.

destruction

just practice

Had a singularly unpleasant day at work. Hong Kong is going off into the Twilight Zone and I'm on damage control from their rogue bumblings. The company I helped write a short yet glowing research report on a couple of weeks ago is plunging like a skydiver without a parachute because the Tokyo Stock Exchange is staffed by monkeys who only know how to follow manuals, and populated with investors who aren't much better. A vendor in tears because she doesn't have the mental fortitude to work in Wall Street and expects perfect requirements in black & white. Lawyers with a million reasons to deny and disapprove, but all of them have different reasons, so pleasing one upsets another. And its earnings week so the market is all over the place, the team is pulling all-nighters, the schedules are packed, and the clients are antsy.
It was not a second too soon that I scampered out of work at about 7 and headed down to honbu dojo. No one was around so I let myself in and practiced for over an hour before Gosoke came followed shortly by Miyasawa, cramming in as much practice as he can before his 4dan exam next month.
Trained until about 9:30, with Gosoke giving pointers on noto and other fineries, before heading to the station to get some Chinese food. I have had an unsatiable craving for sweet & sour pork for weeks, and the more I eat it, the more I want to eat it.
Chatted with Gosoke about what it means to practice; to practice for yourself or for someone else (against someone else.) Without putting too fine a point on it, I don't care how "good" you are, if the only reason you're swinging that sword is to be better than someone else, to beat someone else, to prove something to someone else, you'll never get "good." You may become proficient at cutting and swinging, but if that's all you're interested in, try a machete. It's not some deeply spiritual concept of "the path" of martial arts or anything. It's really quite simple: it's about having heart.
Or, to put it more bluntly, are you being an asshole? Someone once told me "Brown, black, white, pink, small, large...assholes come in all shapes, sizes and colors. But an asshole is still an asshole."

one cut

Trained for about 3 hours. Stayed focused on two kata: shin and enyo. Actually was just working on the one cut they have in common: gyakukesa, rising diagonal from the draw.
The more I practice the more I notice everything I'm doing wrong. Too much arm, hips are late, feet are open, balance to the left too much, not straight, telegraphing with the elbows, chin tucked too much, grip is off, left wrist is bent, kissaki too high...it's a never-ending pursuit.
However I am also now buried in Omori Sogen's "Zazen Nyumon", in the hopes that I'll get motivated enough to start zazen (seated zen or meditation.) Of course it's like a totally 'zen' thing to do, and knowing my absolute mistrust and borderline intolerance for religion, it seems like an odd choice, but it will most likely be helpful for my iai, and my high blood pressure, and my winning personality in general. There a couple of temples in my neighborhood that offer 'basic intro' courses; 20-30 minutes with instructions for beginners and a little spiel from the head monk. Then again it's all about meditation. Omori talks about 2 types of people in his book: those who talk about zen but don't sit, and those who sit but don't do zen. Both are NG, but at least with second type, you're sitting, so all you have to do is focus on getting the zen part. I am, so far, the first type; all chatter and no sitting. The journey starts with the first step...but first there's some cool websites to look at, and some funny tv to watch...

swingin' to the earthquake

Big quake hit Niigata this past weekend, and we're still feeling aftershocks. Biggie just hit, and my building is still swaying. 20th floor, so we're moving tens of centimeters as the building creaks and goes with the flow.

desire

Not need, want.

local temple

anti-terrorist solution

From stupidsecurity.com:

Federal Aviation Agency
800 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC

Dear Sirs:

I have the solution for the prevention of hijackings, and at the same time getting our airline industry back on its feet.

Since men of the Muslim religion are not allowed to look at naked women we should replace all of our female flight attendants with strippers. Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes for fear of seeing a naked woman, and of course, every businessman in this country would start flying again in hope of seeing a naked woman. Hijackings would end and the airline industry would have record sales.

Why didn't Bush think of this? Why do I still have to do everything myself?

Sincerely,

Bill Clinton

you forgot poland

From Edwin.
Self explanatory: youforgotpoland.com

kensuke & momo

Went up to Kensuke's house to play with him and momo. Had a massive allergy attack from all the greenery, but it was fun. Kensuke is now big enough to stumble about and cause trouble, and momo's front teeth have come in finally, making her look more and more like her mom every day. Hiroko saw her old gang of elementary school buddies and we ate far too much, as usual.

shiroganedai station

tomo & mieko married!

Congrats to Tomo and Mieko for tying the knot. I like to say it was a shotgun wedding, because she's a month pregnant, but alas it was all part of the plan.
I also take some small responsibility because I encouraged her to join IT not Corp Comms back in the day, and I like to think that had something to do with her meeting Tomo in IT. Then again it could be totally unrelated, but whatever.
Saw Spike and his very pregnant wifey, bumming because she's gotta go easy on the booze. Also saw Moka, who's announced he's leaving Morgan to go give a hand at the front office. Good for him!
The old ECT team from the days of yore at Morgan Stanley is slowly dissolving; life is change. And change is good.
Here's the photos.

eat well, dream well

I'm fairly certain that I've been having vivid dreams the past few days, but as soon as I wake up, all I have is the vague recollection that I was just dreaming...but I can't remember what about. I hate that.
Hiroko says, "Every time I wake up, all the comforter is wrapped around you, and I'm cold, and you're dead asleep." So it's some kind of karmic payback for stealing the covers?
Maybe it's because I've been eating better these past few days. The fear of high blood pressure has put a motivation on me, and I've been attempting to cook dinner for the past couple days. Here are some things I have discovered:
* You can put lots of different spices in the sauce and the chicken will still taste bland.
* Too much garlic is too much.
* Don't put any food into your mouth until you've thoroughly chewed and swallowed everything. And taken a sip of tea.
* Talk alot during dinner; it's more interesting, it makes the meal last, and you feel fuller without having eaten as much.
* Eating 200 grams of pasta in 20 minutes is just as filling as eating 500 grams of pasta in five minutes. And it's less painful afterwards.
* Hiroko still eats really, really slowly. But it's arguably a better way to eat than too much, too fast.
* Japanese food has lots of salt in it. Hiroko says it's because the water in Japan doesn't have any minerals in it like in the states, so all minerals, including salt, have to be added to the food. I think it's just because Japanese people generally like salt.
* Japanese food labelling requirements pale in comparison to the states.

typhoon #23

Just a couple of weeks after #22 slammed across Japan and we got hit by #23. Strongest typhoon yet, and with the ground still wet from the last typhoon, much of Japan, especially in the southwest, was a mess of landslides and overflowing rivers. HR told folks to leave work early, so last night I left at five. Coming out of the train station I was met with horizontal rain. My umbrella was totally useless; the wind was blowing so strongly the I felt like I was laying down under a shower. I basically gave up and trudged home through overflowing gutters. Good thing I had my boots on, though. At least my feet were dry.
Golly, I'm sure glad that there's no such thing as global warming, otherwise I'd suspect all these typhoons had some kind of meaning.
This morning it was a bit gray but the typhoon's gone off into the Pacific, and most of my neighborhood is still standing, so it wasn't a total loss.

good bad attitude

Paul Graham touches on the American-ness of the hacker ethic. He is spot on, and of course no reasonable government official, and especially not anyone in this fear-mongering White House, would even get it.

(un)health check

Not really much point in getting a health check if the doctor doesn't actually tell me anything helpful from the results, eh?
Turns out that I cannot escape genetics. The high bloodpressure from my mom's side rears its ugly head. I need to lose weight and cut salt as I am a classic case of prehypertension.
I've never been a big salt fan and now I have an excuse to demand lower salt. Hard to do though in Japan; a spot of soy sauce and it's all over!
Then again cardiac arrest is not an option, so no more second bowl of rice, no more post-dinner icecream, more fruits and veggies.

doughnuts!

It's not Krispy Kreme, but Doughnut Plant, NYC makes a damn fine cinnamon roll that puts Starbucks to shame. Hiroko and I found it yesterday walking back from Meguro after having lunch in Shinagawa and loaded up for breakfast. Don't think we can freeze them so we'll have eat them all in the next couple of days!

speakers

Hiroko's birthday present has finally come together. Got a 5.1 set of speakers from Axiom Audio, a Yamaha receiver, and bunch of speaker cable from Ivan. After playing with Conan for a while and checking out his house in Yutenji, I made a couple of trips to Bic Camera to get various necessary cableage and finally get the system wired up. Still need another D video cable to connect the TV output to the receiver, but in general it works.
Now if I can just figure out how to get all the remote controls consolidated...

parking

Remember, the driver sits on the right side of the car. So, how does he get out?