blueZhift Blog

I had originally intended to bitch about my wife some more, but found something much better in Eating French (or Why French Women Don’t Get Fat).

“If we want to lose weight, we need to make a choice to enjoy life more,” said Hauben.

Rather than bitching about the wife, I’m going to redouble my efforts to meet more people and have more fun. Some might label me a slacker, but working yourself into the ground isn’t fun and won’t buy you one more day of life on this planet. I enjoy my work, most of the time, but it’s so easy to get derailed into stressful situations. So I resolve once more to have fun! ^_^

I was up late working on my Yuujiro costume and needed a break from sewing on snaps. I really hate sewing on snaps because it is just so tedious. Most of the time it goes slowly because on at least one side I need to take care to hide the back side stitches. Uggh! So I began to think of something else to work on, something simple.

I ended up working on the petticoat. I had thought that I would skip this until next week, saving it for Youmacon. But it seemed straight forward enough, and I really wanted to work with the lace I’d bought. It was while I was working on this, to the sound of the second showing of Futurama, that my wife came in, tired and a bit unhappy about some work she was doing. I wasn’t sure she’d appreciate witnessing my less than serious pursuits, given that she was working on serious stuff. But much to my surprise, she seemed to really like what I was working on, and thought the lace was very nice!

I only got the lace border gathered and pinned before I had to stop for my nightly exercise routine before going to bed. But I really appreciated her comments and can’t wait to get back to work tonight, hopefully to finish it all up.

I hadn’t really planned to do a new costume for Halloween, but here I am just a few days before the Halloween Cosplay Party at Sushi Samba Rio, rushing to get a costume completed. I’m not a traditionalist, but I still feel a bit of reluctance to wearing non-scary costumes for Halloween. So most anime inspired characters are out, but in the Princess Princess Gothic Lolita Nurse outfit, I found a delicious loophole, a costume I had wanted to make which actually fits the Halloween spirit, sort of. In any case, I’m planning to take it to Youmacon too. For the fun of a wig with pig tails, and because I like him, I decided to cosplay Yuujiro. I wonder if blondes really do have more fun?

With every costume, my modest sewing skills improve a bit. This time I’ve learned how to make ruffles, and that I should really avoid having to sew through the thickness of the gathers! Duh!

With little more than a week before Halloween, it’s crunch time for my costume making. So I haven’t kept up with my email and didn’t catch this little gem until this morning. This is from the New York Times, Fearing Crime, The Japanese Wear The Hiding Place. Before I read it, I thought that with such an odd title it must be about hidden pockets in clothing or something like that. But it turns out that a literal reading is exactly the correct interpretation. This reminds me of an early Naruto episode in which Konahamaru hides himself by holding up a cloth painted like the fence he was standing in front of! Never thought anyone would try something like this for real! ^_^

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine.

And it gets better…

Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.

I get the feeling that I’ll be seeing that vending machine idea at some future anime convention. I’ve seen people dressed as Pocky and Sushi, so why not a vending machine?

While James Watson has apologized for his remarks, the pain and self loathing engendered by them doesn’t go away so easily. Watson certainly isn’t the first person of prominence to espouse the belief that black people are less intelligent than whites for genetic reasons. The jury is still out on what genetic factors play a part in native intelligence, and indeed, on what defines intelligence at all. And it is easy to simply dismiss such racist remarks right out of hand.

But I can’t do that. I was trained as a scientist. I hold a PhD in physics, a sure conversation killer in a country where ignorance of math, science, and technology is often considered a cool thing in polite company. No one wants to be a geek. Throughout my college and graduate school days, clouds of doubt would descend upon me, and I’d wonder, almost out loud, whether or not my difficulties were because black people really are inferior. I had to consider the possibility that people like James Watson were right, that I was genetically inferior and could not hope to reach the lofty heights of intellectual achievement. What if I only got as far as I did because of affirmative action and political correctness?

I don’t really have an answer for that question. I believe that I knew my professors and advisers well enough to know that I wasn’t getting a free pass any more than anyone else. I can fight these doubts and I don’t let them get in the way of my goals. But when I read all of the articles about this that and the other health problem, and the social issues that seem to especially plague black people, again I wonder, what if he’s right? Am I living in a false hope?

With a head that feels like it’s going to burst, one grabs on to what one can to survive the days. Under my heading of, “why isn’t this game in the US yet?”, I’ve found the following Idol Master clip on YouTube sufficiently buoyant in cuteness. Now how’s that for a bad sentence? In any case, if this Japanese Xbox 360 game ever makes it to the US, I’ll be picking it up on day one.

Yesterday I was treated to a wonderful sight on the streets of Chicago. Despite the impending colder fall weather, I noticed a lot of miniskirts with black tights being worn. As a big fan of that combo, not only was I pleased, I briefly forgot all about the horrible head cold I’ve been suffering. Thank you Chicago ladies for defying the season! ^_^

Here’s some pure geek gold from xkcd. Just a reminder to us pros to never trust user input! It reminds me of the story behind the naming of Slashdot.

It’s kind of sad when kids start calling you old. Yesterday’s soccer scrimmage was, by popular demand, kids vs the old people. So I teamed up with my assistant coach plus a couple of parents to take on 7 girls in a cloud of soccer fury! It was a lot of fun, and I just could not believe the trash talk my youngest daughter was giving me about beating the old people. LOL, a couple of quick (and lucky) goals from me quieted things a bit and in the end you had a 2 to 2 tie score. Take that young-uns!

Besides managing to defend the honor of “old people”, I had the chance to utter a few words that are amongst my favorites from anime series, “I’m not goin easy on you!” And I didn’t, unfortunately, I think I overdid it on myself, and this morning am feeling very zombie like. Sadly, I can’t do anything about the passage of time, but I can, to borrow some more from the world of anime, get stronger. I’m quite pleased that my program of diet and exercise has paid off. I feel a lot better, and I can still move pretty fast. Not only that, my wife says I look better too, which coming from her, is very high praise. I still have a long way to go, but I haven’t hit the limit yet. So getting stronger is still a goal I can reach, though I’ll have to do it without a hyperbolic time chamber!

Okay, Halo 3 topped the Japanese game charts this week. That’s good news for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in Japan and may be a sign of a good future for the 360 in Japan. But if anyone still needs proof that the Japanese video game market is different in a lot of ways, take a look at this week’s top ten from gamesindustry.biz.

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

2. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Toki (DS)

3. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)

4. Tamagotchi DS (DS)

5. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Yami (DS)

6. Bleach Blade Battlers 2nd (PS2)

7. English Test 2 (DS)

8. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX (PSP)

9. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3)

10. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops + (PSP)

See number 7! English Test 2 on the DS, WTF!!