Tonight. Was. Awesome.

Spent the day playing board games and watching BSG, spent the night at a kinda club kinda bar dancing with friends at a birthday party for girls I know. Good times were had by all. Including me. Genuinely enjoyed my lifes tonight. ^_^

So yar, I'm in Japan. And just got internet back. Livin' in Kobe, in my little apartment. Start teaching on monday (Technically I don't have to actually do anything till Wednesday though... <.< )

So yeah, there'd be way to much to write to recap my first three weeks, so... Yeah, not gonna bother. BUT, I'm sure I'll mention a lot of it in later entries. Going to try to post more regularly so I have some kind of record of what I did, once I finish and all.

Anywho, Japan. Awesome. Woot. ^_^

Interesting article about the state of fansubbing. Definately worth a watch, although I must admit the author comes across as just an angry old man, remembering the good old days. Professional =/= Better after all, look at Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. Sometimes naturalization rapes the original intellectual meaning. Agree with the commenters though, fansubbing is by fans, who the heck cares what they do?

In a more personal note, two months till Kobe. Woot. Joined the Kobe JET yahoo group and facebook group. Dorky? I think so. =P

Holy crap, I think I forgot my journal existed. Whoops.

Anywho! News! I got my placement for JET! As of this August, I will be a resident of Kobe, Hyogo, Japan! WoooooO!

Gygax has passed away. Today we mourn a legend and regret that he didn't manage his saving throw. Enjoy Mount Celestia, the rest of us expect you to have come up with some great ideas by the time we arrive.

R.I.P. E. Gary Gygax. (1938-2008) A legend. A genius. A nerd. /salute

Hadn't updated in a loooong time, but this felt deserving...



I got through the first round of JET Applications! WOOOO! Next step is the Interview phase! Out of over 10,000, I'm one of the 2,250 or so who get through. Now to just get through the interview!

The cake is a LIE.


It's stuck in my HEAD. I can't get it OUT.



The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

So, I just inquired of my parents about how much my hospital stay was going to cost... I knew it was expensive, I was thinking around $10,000 or so. Well more than I can afford was all I really knew though.


...Turns out, apparently my total stay ranged somewhere in the area of $100,000. Yes, One hundred THOUSAND dollars.

The truly scary part? If I had gotten sick two days later, I would have been uninsured. There is no possible way I could have paid the bill. Just the deductible is more money than I have in my savings, the total amount would have forced me into bankruptcy.

I almost rolled Snake Eyes in the game of Life. =P

I feel no update for 5 weeks warrants an explanation... So, when we last left the story I mentioned I was quitting, which was all well and true. I did so, recovered from a bad cough and went on the job hunt. Managed to land a good job at Staples too. Went in for my second day of training and all was going well and perfectly normally.


Then came the pain.

Yes, I mean horrible chest-crushing, can't-breathe, call-the-ambulance pain. Which in fact is what I did. Got a nice ride to the hospital and it turns out I managed to collapse my left lung. Not only that, I had puss surrounding it and a 3cm abcess in the middle of it from a massive infection started by pneumonia.

But, two weeks later, one operation, two chest tubes, and 10 kilos of weight loss later I'm back home and on the mend. Got a huge operation scar now too. Maybe I can use it to impress someone... Maybe. =P

So, that's why no update in so long. Hard to update in the hospital. ^_^;

Well, I'm back home and I've decided to quit my job. Due to irreconcilable differences.

But I got my new laptop and it is SEXY.

Arj and Poopy. Pure. Brilliance. Go. Enjoy.

New season of Avatar tonight! I'm not terribly fanboyish about much these days, but Avatar is one of the few things that produces that effect in me. Really, the best western animation currently on air.

( Reactions/Opinions beneath the cut (Spoilers, if anyone is worried.) )

Overall, I was delighted with the return of Avatar. Last real good show Nick has. The series is as good as it ever was, retaining it's classic style that doesn't target demographics, but appeals to everyone who enjoys a good story.

My laptop arrived today! Woohoo! Unfortunately, it's in Ohio, I'm in Arkansas. Booo... Worst of all? The well I'm on is currently at 6675' deep. We're shooting for... 9,157' according to the prognosis I was given. This means we have 2482' to go (Subtraction, woo!) We're drilling at about 11 minutes/ft right now. Which means, assuming no slowdowns/downtime/explosions, I'm stuck here for another 27,302 minutes, or 455 hours, or 19 days. Three weeks till I get to see my laptop, at the soonest. BOOOOO.

Ah well. C'est la vie, I guess. Shoulda had it sent to my hotel. =P


EDIT: Oh, just in case anyone is interested, this is the laptop I bought: Alienware Area-51 m9750

So it's four o'clock. My partner for this well was supposed to relieve me at two. My phone rings and I get to hear this...


"Hey Kyle, see I'm not going to be able to make it by two. See, I got a little drunk, so uhh... I'm probably not going to make it out till sometime tonight."


. . .




I hate my effin' job...

Hrrrm... It's probably a bad sign when I have to check what my last post was to remember where I last left off describing my zany hijinx. Luckly, it seems I have said almost nothing about nothing, so here's the September update!

I am, as the previous posts intimated, in Arkansas. The weather is actually reasonably pleasant for once. I'm working night shift right now and it's actually in the high 50s. Rather chilly really.

What have I been up to... Well, the drive to Arkansas was boring as usual and painfully long. I got here and got checked into my hotel and got the details to the well I'd be working on and then headed out the next day to help rig-up... We then discovered that 90% of the gear was broken, breaking, or missing. Do we get replacements? Nope, I'm greated with a hearty "Do what you can, make it work." Sigh...

So then the first week and a half consisted of me almost killing myself (Literally and figuritively) trying to get everything working, do the job I'm paid for despite the faulty equipment (no depth readings for around the first 1000-1500 ft.), and dealing with a rig crew that's more interested in harrassing me, making fun of me, and eating my food than helping. So yar, that sucked. Almost quit one day. I was within a hair of walking off rig.

Hotel room was okay, not great, but okay. The one big problem was I couldn't get access to the AUX channel on my TV, so no PS2. But, on the bright side, just yesterday my air conditioner burned out and they moved me to a second room and this one the TV was working correctly. So I got to play a little FFXII yesterday. Speaking of which, somehow I've managed to fend off buying a Wii and Metroid Prime 3. It will happen eventually, but not yet. As a result, I managed to order my laptop from Alienware yesterday. Should arrive in about three weeks or so.

In entertainment news, I've started watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Wow, the LJ spellcheck hated that. =P) and I'm thinking about picking up Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei next. I've also been rewatching Naruto, remembering when the series was actually GOOD. Manga is reasonably bleak, I've bought most everything that I can find that interests me. I did start Negima though, just two days ago in fact. Wish Gantz would get sent over this side of the pond so I could start splurging on that.

Well, that's that. I'll try to be better about updating in the future. Not as if anyone still reads this, but what's the point in even keeping a journal if I don't bother to try to make it a cross-section of my life? =P

Oh, and in parting, I leave with you my new user pics. Nothing special, all made in a few minutes in MSPaint. I find as I watch anime certain scenes will just demand I make an avatar out of them, even when I have no real reason to. O_o

So, I was watching some of my old Naruto episodes while I was supposed to be working (Cough, cough) and reminiscing on how it USED to be a good show. The episode with the Temari vs. Shikamaru match was almost over, when I saw something that just BLEW. MY. MIND. Srsly.

( Cut to keep from stretching friends pages. )

It's is 110° F outside (43° C.) I think I feel my skin melting. I feel like that guy from the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So, I almost cried a little just now when I realized I'll be almost 25 by the time Starcraft 2 comes out (2010 is the theorized release date.) Seriously, this getting older stuff is kinda beginning to scare me. Time is slipping through my fingers really fast, I'll be 90 before I know it. Then, POOF, no more Kyle.

Alright, I'm being a little overdramatic, but really I never imagined I'd make it to 18, much less 21, when I was a kid. Couldn't even contemplate what it'd be like. Now I try to fall asleep some nights and think "It's kinda weird to be on my own as an adult... Wait, adult? ...Crap, how old am I again? 21? Bugger... How'd that happen?"

I only take solace in the fact I still watch Japanese children's programming, play video games designed for all ages and genres, and generally do all sorts of things completely inappropriate for a teenager, such as regress to bouts of teasing my younger sister, immature behavior in both private and public when something makes me happy/dorky enough to drop my composure, still laughing at horrible, HORRIBLE things like this: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23316.html , and generally act exactly like I was at 14-15. Albeit less often than I did when I actually was 14-15, but it's still there. Hence why most of my money, beyond food and gas, still goes to manga, anime, card games, video games, and computers.


In more serious(?) news, looks like I'm headed back to Arkansas tomorrow. Which is utterly craptastic. Most boring. State. Ever. Worse than that, hard to find a place to buy manga down there. Not many bookstores.


EDIT: Almost forgot, only 6 days left till Metroid Prime 3. Hell. Yes. I just need to decide if I'm going to run out and buy it immediately or not... Considering I also need to buy a Wii. I'd be dropping $300 from my laptop fund. =P

Whoops, three weeks. Owch. Ah well, infrequent internet access will do that.

Any who, little to say that seems important after three weeks. I'm home for a couple days, decompressing, then back to work. I may be getting sent to Oklahoma again. =P

On the bright side, I have almost enough money to buy my laptop now.

So I've been in Arkansas for 12 days, done actual work on only two of those, getting paid for all of them, and they're sending me back up to New York tomorrow. (At last!) I'm ready. Tired of being so far from home, tired of nothing to eat but fastfood and nothing to do or see around, and tired of the only manga store in the area not carrying half of the good manga I collect.xxx-Holic I can understand, kinda (The christian book section is right next to the manga section. I know there's nothing even vaguely pornographic about xxx-Holic, but the name is probably enough to scare them off. Welcome to Arkansas.) but why in heaven's name do they not have BLEACH? O_o

Speaking of which, if anyone can recommend some good english translated manga I might not have read, I'd be appreciative. I currently have every printed volume of: Bleach, Zombie Powder (Even though it was never finished, still a good read), FMA, TenTen, Air Gear (Except No.5, didn't even know it was out untill recently), Love Hina, HunterxHunter, Death Note, Full Moon, Genshiken, xxx-Holic (Except No.9, been meaning to pick it up, but I'd have to drive 50 miles from here to get it.), Alita and Alita: Last Order, D.Gray-Man, and Naruto (Up to Vol. 22, all in japanese. I refuse to buy any of it in english as a result. =P) Think that's all I have... Unless I'm forgetting something.

The only series I've been meaning to pick up is Shinshi Doumei Cross, but it's remarkably hard to find.