It's really irritating that I often come up with not only titles, but opening lines to posts that I think would not only catch interest, but be creative as well. One involved my bike, and I was especially proud of it. I have no idea what it was.
I've been hooked on my recent download of both Tron: Legacy (movie) and its soundtrack. I'm captivated by the beautiful combination and flow of orchestrated music coupled with the hard-hitting predictability and intensity of the creative work common to Daft Punk. The digital effects are amazing, and really convincing. The story is lacking in mind-bending plot, but that's perhaps to be expected of a Disney film (can you really say Toy Story had an amazing, in-depth plot?). Regardless, I absolutely love the combinations that form dichotomous relationships, like patience and action, naivety and complacency, the obsession with perfection and the acceptance of imperfection, and ultimately the realization that both protagonist and antagonist are pursuing the same goal, but in opposite manners. Critics play it down as horribly uncreative, but I disagree. I add it to my (short) list of favorite movies, including such other notable titles as Fight Club. No, that was the entire list.
I always seem to sit down to write at 3:00 AM. Why?
Also, my trip across Hokkaido by bike has been canceled for next year. Lame. This was not of my choosing, but of Rob's. His cited reasons were multiple international trips revolving around presentations/conferences on either his master's degree work, or his around-the-world journey. Such is life, and I applaud the international travel, but I was looking forward to not only meeting him, but taking the journey. Time to look past that and realize future goals.
Speaking of future goals...
As time passes, the intensity and frequency of future talks with Hara-San increases seemingly exponentially (exponent greater than 1) (in a good way). This excites me. Tonight, we went to a Korean restaurant. I... cannot accurately describe the level of olfactory and taste engulfment that took place. Holy cow. I didn't leave full, but rather very happy. I didn't imagine that such a sensation existed outside of being full. It does. Anyway, tonight's discussions revolved more heavily around the future.
We discussed my interest in taking time to visit family and friends, and that in turn lead to a general agreement of time: I'll start working for him at the start of 2013. That means that I have from the end of my contract to the end of next year to do whatever I want. Of course, that will include much time with family and friends, as well as some touring (maybe by motorcycle this time). I doubt I'll find anyone to go with me, but I'll certainly try.
In the course of our discussions, I discovered a very deep belief with Hara-San: he believes that passion is immensely more important than either knowledge or experience. I didn't quite agree with the way he presented it, but the difference I observed was small enough that it was difficult to convey. Essentially, if you are passionate enough, you'll find a way. No excuses. Knowledge is derived from passion, as is dedication. If you're not passionate about something, you won't do it. Unfortunately, I have countless examples in my life to back this up. He believes that many skills and abilities can be learned in three months, including the knowledge required to take part in his trade. "It's easy," he says. I haven't established why he thinks three months is a particularly good amount of time, but I do realize that in order to demonstrate my own interest in his business, I need to learn a lot in a very short amount of time.
Oh, and less than 24 hours from now, I'll be in Korea. I still have no idea, save a DMZ tour, what I'll be doing for a week. I'll pack when I wake up, but I expect to pack clothes, a toothbrush, and a camera. I already did the major step: laundry.
The Suzuka video has taken a back seat after I realized how lame a video with only one camera angle is going to turn out. I have the introduction complete, but do not have enough interesting shots to fill two minutes. It might turn into a very short video, or it may resurface as a smaller note in a video about Japan later. I have plenty of material for the latter.
Last Saturday (24 December) I got the closest thing to a Christmas celebration with family I could ask for. Johnny, the owner of the bike shop I frequent, invited me to spend that evening with his family and friends. It was a trilingual festival involving wine, beer, and amazing varieties of foods from Italy, Brazil, and Japan. I couldn't understand two of the three languages being spoken, so my role was a quiet one. That's just fine by me. I left at around 12:35.
How did I leave? Of course, I used the recently-installed headlight and taillight system on my bike. What a difference! No more batteries to worry about! The headlight isn't nearly as spot-bright as my previous light, but then again, it also covers an area many times greater, and with a much more even beam pattern that sharply cuts off at the horizon. It's very similar to a car's headlight, and when on dark streets, I could swear a car is coming up from behind me. On brightly-lit streets, it does little to impress next to a car's lights, but does keep other drivers aware of me. Overall, I'm exceedingly happy with it.
To make it work, however, I needed to build my first wheel. 32 spokes, three cross with a Shimano Alfine dynamo (generates power for the lights) and a Mavic Open Pro rim (aluminum). The spokes are triple butted. In all, it took me about 45 minutes to disassemble the old wheel and about 3 hours to build the new one. I'd say that's pretty good. I could probably do it again in less than an hour. I stayed up to take the task on, and later called both my parents to try to explain how happy I was. Neither set understood entirely, but were happy to hear that I was alright (well, OK, Dad geeked out with me a bit, which was great).
And holy crap is Softbank's internet slow. It's downright refusing to load any web page, regardless of on what device. That has been going on for over 30 minutes. PATHETIC. I could do better with dial up, but according to NTT (telephone company), I can't get internet in my apartment. What's up with being in the country with the second fastest internet in the world, yet being unable to load a single page? I'm paying for this? I had to wait until the morning for the thing to decide that functioning was its purpose.
And now to turn to a much more personal note (and one which I would prefer my parents not comment on); I have noticed... nice try. And with that, here's your xkcd of the day, along with QotD
xkcd
QotD:
"Every man dies. Not every man lives." - William Wallace
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