Nonsequittal Rumblings

It’s been a while since I’ve last updated this journal, and there’s a reason to it. You might have guessed from the subject already. I had mono. For a few days, I was bedridden, with up to 103 degrees F fever. (39.5 degrees C) For a body that’s reaching 30 years of age, that’s quite a fever to take.
The funny thing is, while it was quite hard, I never thought to myself “I’m gonna die!” Quite often, though, I thought “This sucks!” My head hurts, I’m hot, and I’m cold. I get thirsty like crazy. I get hungry, but I can’t eat really. I can’t sleep at night. And yet I’m tired. Then, the next thing I know, I’m sweating like crazy. Then I notice my facial hair is getting out of control, but I have no energy to shave. This is insane!
It all started around my 3 last entries. Back then, I mentioned that I felt gloggy. Well, things just got worse and worse from that point on. I was finally able to see my doctor on Tuesday afternoon. He thought I either have strep throat or viral cold. If it’s cold type of stuff, there’s really not a cure for it – just rest a lot. He did a test for strep throat, and it turned out negative. So he perscribed me Tylenol #3, and sent me home.
Well, what do you know, it felt as if Tylenol made things worse. Maybe it’d take my headache away, but it made my fever go wild! I quickly called my doctor’s office back, only to find my doctor and his nurse are gone until a week later. I can’t deal with this craziness for another week, so I decided to go see another doctor in the same office. And that’s when I found I had a mono… And actually, by that time, I was already starting to feel better already… Wether if it’s mononucleosis, or simple cold, or influenza, the best medicine is good nutrition and good sleep. And that’s what I got!

…some scary quotes. We, the supporter of technologies can’t say “It’s not our fault that your computer got infected. It’s your own stupidity’s fault.”
I also think of these in the context of fansubbing too. The most common questions that fansubbing team get is “I can’t play your video properly!” Well, the latter quote is telling me that we can no longer say “It plays fine on our computer. The file conforms to the MPEG-4 standard just fine.” It’s now our responsibility to come up with a final product that works on anyone’s computer, no matter how messed up the users’ systems are? But as I read in Doom9 forum, it’s not a very easy task… The battle between the creator and the end user… the battle between the techies and the commoners… they never end…

I think the lunch I ate yesterday did more damage to me than good. I’m still feeling kind of sick. This is not good when I really need to think. If I can’t think I can’t do my job, and I end up doing other stuff, and that’ll cause me to not meet the deadlines, and… the effects goes on.
One of the things I do at times like this, is, of course, surf the web. One of my latest favorite page is someone else’s blog(?). I’m not sure if he calls it blog or anything like that. Faireal. He seems to be technically knowledgeble, interested in Anime and fansubbing, and… it’s just series of interesting reads every day.
I do wonder how many people are interested in an essay about Japanese anime fansubbing, written in Japanese. Anime fansubbing is there to do service for non-Japanese speaking audience, and it really makes me wonder, how many actual Japanese really appreciate his view.
Nonetheless, the essay dated yesterday was very interesting to me, along with the other fansub related essay. I agree with what the author has to say about the fansub scene. At the same time, I notice myself falling into one of those latest comer fansubber – emphesis on speed, emphesis on latest anime, and sub-per quality translation. I mean, since I speak both Japanese and English at near native level (I was born and riased for 15 years in Japan with Japanese parents, then moved to United States 15 years ago). So I want to believe that my job usually is at least on acceptable level. But there are times that I say “Oh, what the heck, I have no idea what the character is saying exactly, so let’s just make some guess.” And, of course, being away from a culture for 15 years is pretty significant. It’s enough not to be able to catch up with latest pop-culture changes. And age of 15 was still young to really learn all there is to Japan. For example, I wouldn’t have been able to catch on to the reference to Tai fish – sea bream – used in more or less metaphorical senses in such scene.

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Well…. you know, the brain really works well when you’re thinking about something you’re not supposed to be thinking. How funny how it works…

I hate deadlines. I can’t deal with them very well. But if I work in a group, the existence of deadlines are ineviable, especially in a corporate environment.
I have one deadline in the middle of the week, and I have couple more next week. And all of these are programming deadlines. You know, how am I supposed to know that I’ll be done with my programming by certain date? Especially if I am to expect any unexpected? Hrm…

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Emily sounds sick… actually, she is sick today. Dang, not again. Why does it have to happen on same person over and over? I sincerely hope that she’ll feel better soon.
Have I mentioned lately that I love her?

Yes, I’ve been trying to put an entry to my blog too, ever since this morning. It went nowhere though. Right now, I’m in the mood to say… working sucks. I don’t hate my work. Actually, I love my work. I really never had any grudge against my current position (which it’s been 3 years since I got it) – supplier chain system analyst. (Why they can’t just say “programmer”?)
It’s just that… I wish I could spend more time on my hobby stuff (fansubbing related mainly) and on my girlfriend.
Speaking of my girlfriend, I really love her. I shall reveal my feeling in more of coming entries.
Also, speaking of fansubbing, I shall talk about it in my other future entries as well.

5 and a half weeks after the initial release date, I finally had the chance to go see the Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. Yeah, the movie was cool and all. But what I wanna talk about is not about the movie itself, but the theater I went to.
I went to this newest theater in town – Warren Theatre in Old Town, which is built very close to down town. A modest, 5-screen theater has not-so-modest feature and all. It was both good and bad. The good? They did really cool stuff to the theater. One thing you can notice is that they have a sports bar in the theater, but there’s no ordinary concession stand. Hm, interesting. Well, I get the ticket, and I enter the movie area, and the attendant gave me a pamphlet. After I found my seat, I opened the pamphlet and… it’s food menu! And on my left armrest is a little button… Yes, you press the button, then the theater attendant will come to you and take your order, and they’ll bring you snacks, food, drinks, what not. Whoa! And did you notice how I said “my left armrest”? Yes, each seats get armrests on both side of you, all of your own! You don’t armrests with your neighbors! Damn! Also, they have the “stadium style seating”, so the seat in front of you is built much much lower than your level. So even a tallest person sitting right in front of you isn’t going to bother your sight. Also, they give enough leg room, so you can’t reach the seat in front of you with your legs/feet while you’re sitting in your seat. (Probably a wise design, so you won’t kick your front-neighbor’s head while watching the movie.)
And here comes the negative side – the “at the seat order your food” system also gets in your way while watching the movie. I mean, they’re still delivering the food and taking the money after the movie started. You can even make orders after the movie has started. So there are these mice running around the theater, kinda bothering me. Hmmmm… convenience or serenity. Which would you rather pick?

I got up late this morning. I feel bad about it…

However, there seems to be more consequence than that to waking up late. The shower.

I live in an apartment complex. Usually, this place does pretty good about keeping my shower temperature pretty constant. Of course, if I flush my toilet right before I start the shower, the water temperature soars up. But, living alone, there is no need to worry about such silly thing. One more thing to note is that this whole building shares a central water heater. I don’t have to worry about my water bill, or water heating bill. But you know what that means… When my neighbors would to flush their toilet, I feel it too. And that’s exactly what might have happened. If I get up like I should, and beat the rest of the gang to the hot and cold water supply, I usually have no problem with my shower. So, I guess, that’s going to be my insentive to start waking up on time again.

Of course, I really have no right to complain big time, knowing there are some unfortunate soul on the earth. But when I’m not used to that happening on me, it is a big deal each time it happens.

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Speaking of that journal entry, the author of that journal, Shiori, is my girlfriend. I’m hoping that she will be the last one I will ever get. She is a marvel. Just like how she dedicated a whole entry on me, I shall write more about her in my future entries. I just can’t stop loving her.

Ah, yes. Another week is coming to the end. TGIF. But you know what… it has been one of my least productive week. Yup, that’s what happens after I take a vacation.

It even takes me a while to get back into the groove in the morning. After a weekend is worse. Heck, we just had a week and a half long company shutdown. What am I supposed to do? What the heck was I working on before I left?

You see, I’m not one of those people who are organized enough to have all those things straightened before I leave the office. Yes, I need to fix that. I need to get a bit more organized.

And before I could get anything really big done, the week is already folding. Well, since I have couple more hours of office hours left, let’s see what I can accomplish during that time.

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I actually have quite a bit I could be writing, but… my mind is very unorganized right now. I’ll get to what I want to write eventually. Yes, I could write about my background, my life, my new girlfriend, my daughter, my job, my hobby – fansubbing and what not. I shouldn’t run out of things to write for a while.