genman’s blog

From a manga "Natural" by Teri Terio:

Natural-hentai

Last part of the included bonus color comic. Read from right to left: "What you're imagining is coming out of your mouth. Hey, can't you stop fantasizing like that...10 demerit points!" "Eh!? Oh, uh... A demerit point evaluation system, that's unfaiir..." "Shut up, you pervert." "Ah.. Sssorry!"

Interesting manga, in that many of the girls are pissed at their boyfriends or beat the crap out of them at the end of the story, mostly done for comic relief. This approach tends to lighten or make light of their sexual exploitation. Exploitation being things like getting your girlfriend to wear striped underwear or glasses.

Link to a sample story, translated. NSFW, obviously. I'm afraid the site linked to has popups and is annoying to navigate.

There's a stimulus program that has been approved to hopefully get people to replace their old gas-guzzling vehicle with a new car. The program should begin the end of July.

Two big restrictions: Must be newer than 1984 and get less than or 18mpg combined. My car gets 20mpg, so it's not eligible. As it turns out, most older cars after 1984 get pretty decent gas millage, unless it's an SUV or large body vehicle like a van or light truck. Here's a list of eligible clunkers I found.

It sure would be nice to get $4500 towards a purchase of a new car. Maybe after the program fails to generate interest they will qualify more vehicles like my own.

I've been blogging status updates on my Facebook and neglecting my Vox blog.

What have I been doing?

Yesterday

Not a whole lot of happings at work. Haven't been formally introduced to my new manager or partner.

After work I hang out downtown. It's fun to be in the city during a fine summer evening. Hitomi and I went to see The Godless Girl, a silent movie at the Paramount. The story was a bit ridiculous (though it was based on research of reform schools and events of that time) and the cast were too old to really portray high schoolers. Still, the drama and action, comedy, and aesthetic qualities (editing, photography) kept it interesting.

Sunday

Sunday was Father's Day. Went to Dim Sum at Purple Dot with Tim, Mom, and Hitomi. Seems only 3/5 stars on Yelp but it's my favorite spot for Dim Sum these days. There's something entirely useless about Yelp ratings. Dropped Hitomi off at home and went to Shilshole Marina and walked around looking at ships. I could consider joining a sailing club but Hitomi doesn't seem too interested in sailing.

Made dinner. I cooked pea vines with mushrooms and garlic and they turned out fine but a little chewy. I think cutting them into smaller pieces or removing or cutting the stems would have been a good idea. Since we had a bit of lemon, used that on salmon. Put butter on it as well, don't tell Hitomi. Lemon works well to keep the moisture in, as well as oil, it seems.

Finished The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which I had neglected for too long. It's a fun game with interesting puzzles, level design, and direction but the enemies are too easy. I also found I had no use for money ("rubles") much of the time, so I would go through many dungeons, finding chests, opening them, and leaving the rubles behind. Luckily, the bosses were interesting (if not particularly hard). Ganon was hard, mostly because it was difficult to understand the controls and how to attack.

I stayed up until 2:30AM beating the game, which wasn't a good idea.

Saturday

Thought it'd be good to bike to downtown, as driving is a pain. But then the clouds looked fairly dark and the report called for rain possible. We went to see Wallace and Gromit in "A Matter of Loaf and Death" which was being played as part of a family shorts package. The other shorts varied from mildly annoying to good.

Visited with Walli from Innocente Seraphim, which we will volunteer for in August. Probably shouldn't mention why they are scouting us. As a guy, I'm not sure why I should be going to a fashion and doll convention, but Hitomi will be there so I feel I should be as well.

I went to drink tea and spent over $100 on green leaves. Seattle's Best Tea seems to have employed a tea otaku. A women comes in and claims to have lots of health troubles which she hears tea is supposed to help cure. He's more of a taster than a Chinese doctor and feels a bit reluctant making substantial health claims. And she seems uneasy about spending a lot of money on high mountain tea, which is the most expensive kind, but considering the per-cup cost isn't more than 50 cents a cup, I would imagine, still makes tea cheaper than coffee.

Although we went shopping at Uwajimaya, we ended up eating leftovers instead.

I'm not exactly sure how robocalls became legal or were ever legal, but if there was one reason to terminate landline service it's getting repeatedly called by an IVR system.

Even the FTC couldn't seem to stop these guys for weeks (months?) from not only robocalling but robocalling in an attempt to defraud people. And though their assests have been frozen, their website's still up. Not surprisingly, the company seems to be run by a bunch of former criminals.

We still have our landline. Hitomi insists on keeping service, and though there are just a few good reasons. 1) Reliable emergency service. 2) Cheap(er) international dialing; though I suppose a calling card and cell phone would work to call Japan. 3) Authentication with credit card companies or whomever requires an actual land line. (But I don't even any company requires a landline anymore.)

But we don't answer my landline anymore. The rare occasion I use POTS, I actually find it a bit quaint to listen to a dial tone, and not have to hit any buttons.

I got a delivery in the mail consisting of a few ero comics and doujinshi from Japan. Here's a collage, visible if you're "friends and family" with me on Vox.

They all arrived in a stack of boxes taped together. Hitomi and I use a shipping service which will combine together different shipments of, well, whatever, and put the books into a single shipment. Hitomi got clothes for Ariel's wedding, freeze dried soup mix, CDs, etc.

I agree we'd be better off with a public insurance option. But the only viable solution to the "health care crisis" seemingly doesn't have enough support in Congress. See: Blue Dogs.

The argument against suggests competition between health insurance providers creates more affordable, better insurance. And providing a public option will effectively kill competition, since private insurance providers could not compete. But nobody would be arguing for a public insurance option if competition actually created better insurance.

Having changed employers twice in the past six months, I have taken a look at different insurance options. Personally, I didn't see much in the way of choice, at most about two providers. Most places, there is no choice, thus no competition at least at the individual level. And if you had a pre-existing condition, the provider could simply decide not to cover your condition, unless you had proved you had prior coverage. (Or maybe not at all for some conditions. I didn't check the fine print. Woe is the worker who has a chronic illness and changes jobs frequently.)

I'm speculating, and perhaps Intrade traders may agree, that the public option will fail. Congress will devise some weakly formulated regulations, which might result in crocodile tears and exagerrated protest from private insurance providers. And any marginal improvement should get some public support. Obama will have little choice but to go along for now. And that will be that.

Haven't gotten to writing about all the movies I've gone to over the past few weeks. I'm not much of a movie critic. And anyway, many of the movies I've seen might not get released here so what's the point suggesting them?

The thing I've come to know recently, and perhaps this is widely known, is that many filmmakers rely on personal financing to make their movies. For example, I heard at a SIFF screening, the Korean director of Breathless sold home to make his movie. And I found out on Adam Carolla's Podcast, even Francis Ford Coppola, who is the director of the #1 movie of all time, still has to personally finance his own movies. He himself financed his latest movie, Tetro.

This year we saw a lot of documentaries. Usually we pack the schedule with Asian movies and then we never see them.

List of movies seem: (I think one short film block is missing from here...)

		The Hurt Locker HURT3009A, 1 ticket May 30, 2009 4:00 PM, 130 min Uptown Cinema User Reviews |
		Miao Miao MIAO0209A, 2 tickets Jun 2, 2009 7:00 PM, 83 min Egyptian Theatre User Reviews |
		Kabei—Our Mother KABE0309A, 2 tickets Jun 3, 2009 6:45 PM, 132 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		The Red Race REDR0809A, 2 tickets Jun 8, 2009 7:00 PM, 70 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		Breathless BREA1109A, 2 tickets Jun 11, 2009 9:15 PM, 130 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |
		Kimjongilia KIMJ1209A, 2 tickets Jun 12, 2009 6:30 PM, 75 min Pacific Place Cinema User Reviews |
		No Age performs “The Bear” BEAB1209E, 2 tickets Jun 12, 2009 9:30 PM, 94 min The Triple Door User Reviews |
		Forever Enthralled ENTH1309A, 2 tickets Jun 13, 2009 3:00 PM, 147 min Cinerama User Reviews |
		Every Little Step STEP1309A, 2 tickets Jun 13, 2009 7:00 PM, 95 min Egyptian Theatre User Reviews |
		Manhole Children TBAC1409A, 2 tickets Jun 14, 2009 9:00 PM, 117 min SIFF Cinema User Reviews |

I haven't had a big birthday party in many years. But it felt good to have one yesterday.

Hitomi and I worked hard to put on the event. And everyone all helped out in their own way, which felt better in some ways than getting any number of presents. Thanks to Kevin & Stacey for setting up the grill. Carlos and others for manning it. My parents for bringing a table. And others who helped transport those with no cars, or load things, or unload things. (And to a few people who tossed in some dollars for pizza, which was appreciated--$50 for two pizzas!?)

Having it at the house would have made it easier. Cutting down the number of guests would have made it easier. Not having to transport kayaks would have been easier. And telling everyone to go home at 5PM would have been probably a good idea...

It was interesting how many people knew each other. Or had shared interests. Hiroaki, who I didn't know so well, might be coming with us on a few hikes. Or maybe Trent and Kristen would go with us on a kayaking trip?

A lot of people took to kayaking fairly well, even though it was their first time. Unfortunately, a few people got pretty wet. I should have brought some towels. Also, a lot of people got their feet wet and I should have said to bring sandals. Matthew's Beach is much better than Magnuson Park for kayak launching. But there's not a whole lot of interesting destinations nearby. Saint Edwards is just across the lake but a little far for a beginner's paddle.

Somehow, I had a chance to get out there for a long paddle. It was really the only time I had to relax during the whole day. I don't really relax so well when there's a lot of people around. Still, even out paddling, I paddled pretty hard; I'm noticeably sore today.

The after party went on until about 12PM. Many of us played Magic. Ian, who was taciturn the whole day, got a chance to show off his cards, which I think he was happy about.

Next year, who knows?

It's my 32rd today.

Today I spent some of the day shopping and preparing for tomorrow. Hitomi will hopefully figure out the remainder shopping and I'll take care of the cake etc. in the morning. There's a bit of cooking and whatnot I'll have to take part in.

One of the things I'm getting for my Birthday, although more coincidentally than because of it, are comics. Comics like this. This one is incidentally titled Birthday:

I picked a very convenient neighborhood to live in, mostly for Hitomi's sake since I work, or at least used to work out of my home office. (By office I really mean kitchen counter, though I have plenty of space throughout the house I can be working instead.)

Since acquisition by TCS, I've been going into work about every other day. There's a couple of options:

1) Drive, which Google Maps estimates at taking 15 minutes, 25 in traffic. Requires $8 more for parking and gas etc. I have not tried, but this is not bad, theoretically. In the morning, getting to work is likely okay, especially since I usually start work a little late, like 9AM. Getting on I-5 in the afternoon is likely a slog.

2) Bus, which is about 30 minutes, plus 15 for walking. The walk takes me through Pike Place Market and nice parts of downtown, which means I can integrate shopping in with my commute. Bus fare is $1.75-$2.00 each way. On the 66, there's always a free seat it seems and on the way back I'm on one of the first few stops. I can listen to music, surf on my Blackberry, etc.

3) Bicycling, which is about 25-30 minutes there--I'm fast and it's mostly downhill--and about 35 on the way back, if I take Dexter Ave and Stone Way, a more bike friendly route than Eastlake. There's a freed lane (no parking) going southbound before 9AM all the way to South Lake Union, so I have a lane to myself, which is nice. Still, some's occasionally parked or stopped illegally in this lane.

So, at least on the good weather days, bicycling is the winner. If I had to commute daily, I'd probably bike in the morning and bus in the afternoon. The trick, of course, is getting a bus outside the Ride Free Zone.