Remilia Scarlet

Figured since I hadn't posted anything on it, I would. Here's my first blog from Japan. Pics (linked, all 1024x768, about 150k each) at the bottom.

Today we had the luncheon and welcome ceremony here. It was quite good, and the luncheon served some American-style food, so it was good to have meat, potatoes, and carrots, hehe. Cathrine, Stephanie, Jennifer, and a girl from Kentucky named Andi sat together and ate. Afterwards Andi, her friend, and I walked back to the dorms. As it turns out, they love anime and videogames. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find people here who like anime and videogames. Outside of them, it's just Brandon, really. Anyways, the other cool thing that Andi is going to stay in the dorms. All my other friends are leaving to goto homestay, so it's good to know at least someone here. She's in the dormatory nextdoor, Seminar House III.

Anyways, after that I came back to my dorm for just a half an hour to rest. At 2:00, we met up again front of the CIE building, where we paired up 3 to 3 with Japanese students. They were going to be our tour guides for a trip to Kyoto. So it was Brandon paired up with Naomi, a girl named Karen paired up with a guy named Uchi, and I was paired up with a very cuite girl named Hiromi. We took two trains to Kyoto, where they then took us to two seperate temples there (both Buddhist). Man was it beautiful...Anyways, they then took us out to dinner. Hiromi had to go by this time, but Naomi and Uchi stayed. Naomi even paid for part of our dinner! Anyways, we then took some trains home. I think I have the train system down. I'll take pictures of it and explain it soon.

Tomorrow is like the first day i have nothing to do. So Brandon and I are first going to hit the 99-Yen store so I can get some fingernail clippers and some better tasting tea. Then we're going to go find an arcade since there's supposed to be one fairly close to here...he's moving out of the dorms, but he's going to be VERY close to here, so we'll keep hanging out. Best way I can describe him...he's very mellow, he's a Computer Engineering major so we have stuff in common, likes anime and Japanese stuff, and he's pretty intelectual.

The entire time we were out, I tried to use Japanese, and succeeded 3/4ths of the time. I'm surprised how well I can communicate already...and love doing so in Japanese, lol.

Anyways, that's pretty much it for today. Here's pictures, though!

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0395.JPG
That was at the opening ceremony this morning.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0396.JPG
Another shot...somewhat blurred.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0397.JPG
That was one of the streets Hiromi and I were walking down to get to Hirikata Eki. "Eki" in Japanese means train station. Train is "densha".

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0398.JPG
This was right infront of Hirakata Eki. Kind of a cool street.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0399.JPG
We transfered onto the Super Express line here. I don't know what station it is exactly, but the view is awesome.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0400.JPG
Another shot while waiting for the Super Express line.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0401.JPG
Ok, group picture. From the left you have Hiromi, me looking stupid in a way I didn't know I was, Brandon, Naomi, Karen, and Uchi. I think Naomi liked me...she blew off Brandon and then said that if I see her on campus to call her. That's also the first of the two temples we went to.

And for the record...I think Naomi really liked me. She blew off Brandon, and said that if I ever saw her on campus to call her out and say hi. And also for the record...her and Hiromi were DAMNED cute and hawt.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0402.JPG
That's what we were standing next to. Before you enter, you have to clense yourself by rinsing your hands and then your mouth out. You don't drink the water, but like rinse and spit into the pit surrounding it where it's taken away.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0403.JPG
First shrine in the temple.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0404.JPG
That one was right next to it. When taking a picture in Japan, it's customary to hold up the peace sign.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0405.JPG
Another shrine.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0406.JPG
That was across from the shrines. I have no idea what it is...

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0407.JPG
That was next to the shrines. It's another shrine, but Shinto.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0408.JPG
That's a huge place in the middle of the area. Don't know what it's used for, but I believe ceremonial dancing. Next to it is a prayer area they had us goto and pray at. You toss a coin in, ring the bell, clap twice, then pray. Heh, kinda cool.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0409.JPG
Hiromi took a picture of me infront of man-powered taxis. This was at the base of the 2nd temple area we went to.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0410.JPG
That's Hiromi and I infront of the entrance to the 2nd temple. That red area you see is what you pass through. Inside the green lattice are these huge statues with O_O eyes. I would have taken a picture, but it wouldn't have turned out.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0411.JPG
Cleaner shot of the last one.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0412.JPG
Third shot of the last one minus Hiromi and I.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0413.JPG
That was a cool building that you see after climbing the first set of stairs.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0414.JPG
The building next to it.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0415.JPG
Info on the area.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0416.JPG
Inside of another shrine. Pictures got a bit blurred since I wasn't using my flash.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0417.JPG
Some statue in that area.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0418.JPG
At this area, they had an overhang that you could look over. That's the view there.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0419.JPG
Another shot if the view.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0420.JPG
Third shot.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0421.JPG
Shrine across the way.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0422.JPG
ANOTHER shot of the view.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0423.JPG
Building close-up from off in the distance.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0424.JPG
Closer close-up.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0425.JPG
Hiromi and I on that overhang. Behind us are Naomi and Uchi.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0426.JPG
Picture of...something...

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0427.JPG
A VERY cool staircase we went down.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0428.JPG
Now this is cool. A long time ago, a monk had talked with the Gods, who told him to go find a holy water site. He found a spring here with fresh water, so he decided this was the place. Now adays, it's an attraction to come and drink this holy water for good health and spirit. And in truth...best water I've ever had.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/japan/8-27-04/DSCN0429.JPG
Hiromi and I infront of a pond that had koi and turtles in it. When I saw the turtles, I was like, "Gamera!" and she thought it was hilarious. Beautiful scenary here...

So yeah, there's my pics. I'll take more soon.

As part of a delayed rebellion, I went and got my ears pierced today. My left ear lobe had actually been pierced for years -since middle school or maybe even earlier - but I wanted something a bit more for various reasons. So I got my right lobe and the top of my left ear done.

After my new apartment is ready, and I can move some cats I recently adopted out of my mom's house where they're staying temporarily, I'm going to go get my tongue pierced. I had it pierced for a short while before, but I had taken it out. Since then I've missed it.

Yesterday during a trip I made to Kyoto, I stopped my a CD shop and bought a DJ Tora cd. Now, I've never heard of DJ Tora back in the states as DJ Tora is a Japanese DJ. Well, DJ Tora is quite good and spins some good really tracks. But one question remains...is DJ Tora a guy or a girl?

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/cd_1.jpg
http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/cd_2.jpg

My friends think it's a guy, and I think so too, but...I'm still not positive.

What is a Dirac sea in layman's terms? I kinda understand it's a sea of negativly charged electrons that are packed together, and that electrons can have negative spin up and spin down energies. I also know Paul Dirac used his equation to predict the positron, the anti-particle for electrons. But, what exactly is this "sea"?

http://www.9news.com/storyfull.aspx?storyid=24502

What is "aho"? Well, perhaps some of you have heard of the Japanese term "baka", which means "idiot" roughly. "aho" is the same as "baka", except it's Osaka dialect.

And yes, my roommate is an "aho", big time. The dude is really getting on my nerves. We generally don't talk at all, as we have almost nothing in common. He's drunk nearly all the time, never in the dorm, and when he is he just sleeps, and it's whenever I have to do stuff. So I'm always needing to be quiet. On top of that, he's keeping the room a mess (I've been trying hard to keep my side rather nice and clean).

For the last week, I've had a bit of a cough/cold, which I've determined has most likely come from the fact that my roommate keeps the room at 66 degrees fahrenheit (19 degrees celcius), which is cold enough to make me shiver when I have my pajamas on. No matter how many times I turn it up, he'll just turn it back down. He won't let it stay at a higher temperature. So I'm guessing that's how I've caught this cold.

Last night, he came home around 2:30 more drunk than I had ever seen a person. I was still awake at this time, working on a Doom level for Kill. He couldn't even talk to me when I said, "Oh...hey dude." Well, he came in, changed clothes, and asked if he could turn out the light, so I said "sure". He leaves the room, and I get into bed since I'm pretty tired myself by this point. After we're both laying down, he gets up, twice in 10 minutes, to goto the bathroom. Then he got up again, walked to his desk, and plopped down in the chair, leaning over with his head on his desk. After a bit, he just barely got his laptop open, then laid his head back down on his desk, now spitting once on the floor. He got back up, pulled the curtain back, and then tried to find the door where there was no door, acting like a zombie (literally). Then he plopped back down on his chair, rubbed where he spit with his foot, and rested for a bit. Then he got back up and just plopped back down onto his futon where he finally went to bed. So I went back to bed around 3:15am. The dude was just totally wasted and pathetic.

Today I went to eat lunch at my friend's homestay house (which consists of one 50 year old Japanese woman who can't speak more than a handful of English words).

How does this tie in? Well, at his hostmom's house, we were discussing how horrible of a roommmate he's turning out to be. I mentioned how two nights ago, I actually went to bed wearing my hoodie and socks on top of covering up with my heavy futon cover. Anyways, my friend's host mom asked if I had complained to Otosan yet (the proprieter of my dorm), and I said that I haven't yet but that I'm now planning to after last night.

Well, if they don't do anything about this, or if I'd rather have her just go ahead, she's going to call the school, Kansai Gaidai, and get them to either kick him out of the school, get me a new roommate, or find a new place for me to stay. And given that this lady is literally a multi-millionare (in terms of US dollar), and is best friends with the actual president of the school, I think she can pull it off. So I may just have her call for me.

And maybe have her hook me up with her extremely hot 30 year old friend whom I met today, too, while she's at it.

#include <iostream.h>
#include "blog.h"

uses namespace std;

int main()
{
blog.set_word_wraping(true); //less \n's to type.
blog.capture_cout_streams(true);

cout << "Yeah, as you can see, I have C++ on my mind. Why, I "
<< "don't know. I'm not exactly the best C++ programmer, "
<< "lol. But oh well.\n\n";

cout << "I'm quite happy. Not only did I receive my 'Godzilla "
<< "2000' DVD in the mail yesterday, but I was able to "
<< "snag two Japanese Dialog\\English subtitled Godzilla "
<< "movies off of eBay yesterday! I seriously think my "
<< "obsessed love for Godzilla is coming back. I spent "
<< "all of last night watching him fight Ogra. And only "
<< "afterwards did I remember I had homework.\n\n";

cout << "Of course, not much of that got done. I decided to "
<< "look into both the jDoom and StepMania source codes. "
<< "I had the crazy idea of implementing the wad file "
<< "format into StepMania. I...didn't get far. At all.\n\n";

cout << "Although, I think I'm going to try and do something "
<< "in one of the two programs, just to impress my C++ "
<< "teacher...as well as this girl I really REALLY like "
<< "in my C++ class.\n\nLooks like I'll ask her out next.";

return 0;
}

Went to the mall this morning and played some DDR yet again. Good news! The 8th Mix machine that's there now costs 4 tokens for 5 songs! And from what I gather after talking with the arcade operators a bit while I was there, they're waiting on parts for their 7th mix machine. Apparently some dumbass spilled a drink on it. Idiots...

But I'm thinking I shouldn't have played DDR today. I did Friday night, practicing Max300 alot, getting to a point where I can at least survive all the way through it at full speed (can't pass it...but I can make it through without stopping). Yesterday my right foot started to feel rather sore in the afternoon, right above my arch. I figured it was just sore from the DDR, so I took an Advil. Didn't help, so before I went to bed, I rubbed Icy Hot on it, which proved to neither be Icy nor Hot. This morning I woke up and it was a bit more sore. I still went to play DDR at the mall, where I did five sets. On one of them, I slipped off the platform (between songs...not during one!). When I was done, it was extremely sore. I went home, took a shower, and this time rubbed Ben-Gay on it (which proved to work alot better than the Icy Hot in being both Icy and Hot). After my mom and I got back from lunch at Dà Lạt, I *limped* downstairs, sat down, and stayed there for a while. When I went to goto the bathroom, I felt a slight squishy squishy liquidy feeling where the pain is.

The squishy feeling now only happens as I move my toes, and almost feels like something's rubbing in there.

Tattoos are sort of a recent thing with me, even though I've wanted them for quite a while. So when I finally I finally got a pentacle on my left shoulder blade last year, I was ecstatic. Since then I've wanted a few more, and today I got this on my right forearm.

Part of the reason I got it was to cover up a really bad scar I got there last year from a bad accident. It was large, ugly, and definitely noticeable. But the other reason I got it was because ravens tend to mean a lot to me personally.

I might get another one next year on my other arm to sort of balance things out. Maybe more ravens, maybe something else. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll get the Doomguy...

When I'm mapping and I decide to provide a way out of a deep lava pit.

So, here's the specs:

Alienware
P4 3.2gHz
800mHz FSB
1gig RAM
80 Gig HD (I have a 120gig already)
Sound Blaster Audigy2 5.1
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb
10/100/1000 Intel NIC card
Like 6 or 8 USB 2.0 ports
WinXP (I loaded Linux on it last night. Dual-boot).
DVD/CD-RW
Black case w/blue lighting

Yep. That's my new baby. The new baby that works great, except it doesn't like my DSL modem. Yet.

Well, this is it. Tomorrow morning, at like 5:30am, I head to the airport. And at 8:45, I'll be on a plane over to LAX, where I'll transfer to another and be on my way to Japan.

Am I nervous? Hell yeah I am. I can barely imagine any of this. I had a dream this morning that I got on the plane, fell asleep, and woke up in Kansai Gaidai's dorms. I somehow missed transferring planes, getting off, getting my luggage, and all that other stuff. But arrived there safely. But without Luggage, so I was having to try and find it.

Anyways, with me luck everyone. I return in 3.5 months, when I'll go back to Doom3 editing.

In case anyone is interested, BBC is offering the 6th through 9th symphonies of Beethoven for free download for a short time. They were performed by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/beethoven/downloads.shtml

I know that #9 is the first one I'll get off of that.

Yeah, I turn 22 today. I've got plans to go see a movie (don't know which one yet) this afternoon with my mom, as well as go around blasting "Ride of The Valkyries" at extremely high volumes in my car with my nice sound system.

The weekend alone was awesome. I got a new laptop on Saturday (not a birthday present, I ordered it), which should make it so that I can work on Doom, programming, and my music more often. Which means that SLE should get finished soon, as well as my new album and Todo-Lister 2.0... Specs:

-P4 3.2gHz LGA775 w/HyperThreading and 800mHz FSB
-1gb DDR2 PC4200 RAM (I can put it up to 2gb, I think)
-80gb HD with a second 40gb one (I could RAID them if I wanted, or switch them out for larger ones...I may do that with the 40gb one and put a 100gb one in, which was from my old laptop anyways)
-GeForce 7800 GTX Go 256mb
-1900x1200 ClearView screen w/built-in camera
-Two soundcards: a Realtek one and a SB Audigy2
-DVD/CD-RW combo drive (didn't want a DVD burner)
-Other nifty things in it

I've already tried running Linux on it, which was on the 40gb HD from my old laptop. Stupid me, however, forgot to recompile my kernel to adjust for my hardware (I've transfered the HD from computer to computer before, I know it can be done). The result is that I can get to LILO, but can't mount my root partition. Reason? My laptop uses a Promise SATA 378 controller for its HDs, and I never compiled the driver into the kernel. The kernels on the Slackware 10.2 CD don't seem to want to recognize it, either. I guess I have to play around with this some...at least I can access the drive (ext3 FS) with full read/write capabilities from Windows for the time being...

So yeah, my birthday weekend is shaping up quite nice. I'm wondering what I got as presents...

EDIT: Got my presents. Overall, I made out well:

-Trauma Center: Under the Knife for DS (awesome game)
-Dogora on DVD (old Toho movie)
-March of The Penguins on DVD
-New shirt and a new turtlekneck
-Remmington beard and moustache trimmer
-Homemade enchiladas.
-$25 (which will go towards four new Infinity speakers for my car)

So, I got back from QuakeCon late Monday night. Spent yesterday resting up and running some important errands, and today I'm back at work. It doesn't even seem like I was on vacation.

QuakeCon was great fun, though. Got some cool rounds of Quake3 and UT2003 in, as well as some jDoom. heh, I totally pw0n3d the dudes I played on jDoom. As I told my friend besides me, "Don't f*** with someone from Doomworld" (my opponents didn't know of it). I also found out that I greatly love playing Generations Quake 3 (as the Doomguy, of course). I almost owned my friend at that, but I got a bit too cocky near the end, lol

Here's a few pics of me at QuakeCon:

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/ddr2.JPG
Me on DDR. I H.A.T.E.D. those pads, btw.

http://www.du.edu/~ahunt/jDoom.JPG
Me playing jDoom.

Dallas was a cool place to be in. Except that we couldn't stand the highways/drivers there. But, it was a cool trip. I especially liked travelling through New Mexico. Though, by the end of the trip, my friend Matt had thouroughly gotten on my nerves.

I'll be ordering my new Alienware Area 51 comp today. Can't wait to get it!

First off, whoever made my arrow scroll, it's going in the wrong direction. Arrows don't scroll down, they scroll up, lol
EDIT: Hehe, thanks.

I can't believe that I'm a little less than a month away from going to Japan. Tomorrow I go and get my visa from the Japanese consulate.

I'm not sure how I'll handle some of the things there, mainly living on my own in a dorm. For the past two years at college, I've lived at home for various reasons. If anyone as suggestions to make this easier, as well as lessen the culture shock, it'd be nice.

Ok, so it took me .5 minutes to fall in love with Annie (girl in my C++ class) and 4 days to ask her out. That has to be a record for most people in here...

Well, I am now, finally, the extremely proud owner of a Neo-Geo and Fatal Fury Special. And next week, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.

We just started our 3rd (and last) quarter for the year at my school. In this new programming class I'm in, we're supposed to have a project that we work on for the entire quarter (which is 10 weeks long), involves a fair degree of complexity to what we normally do, and should push us to learn a new thing here or there.

Well, we're allowed to work in groups. So my group consists of me and my two friends, Annie and Mercedes. Neither of them have much experience programming. I have no problem doing most of the programming as long as they attempt some of it (which I will make them do).

Anyways, we've decided to make a game. But, we have absolutely no ideas as to what to make. The only good suggestion we've had is a text-adventure similar to the old Hitchiker's Guide to The Galaxy one. None of us know how to do graphics (although I'm slowly learning SVGAlib, and we can ask the teacher to cover it in class this quarter). Also, we'd like to not use DirectX or Windows.

So, any good ideas for what game we could make or recreate? Or even ideas for something other than a game?

Dang it, I feel torn between writing creepy dark ambient music for area one of my Doom map like I did for SoTNR, something harsh and industrial like I did for Extreme Terror, or something along the lines of Lost Years or one of John Carpenter's recent songs.

Anyone have some suggestions?  Do you think synthwave-y stuff would even sound appropriate for a Doom map like mine?  I'm kinda leaning towards it only because my Doom map is me experimenting with a bunch of stuff anyway, but I'm not opposed to doing other styles.  Plus there'll be four separate tracks in the whole level, so it's not like I'm stuck with one style.

Tattoo #3, got it just today. It's the older Skinny Puppy logo for those who don't know.



I'm hoping to get another one next month, and a few others by the end of the year.

Recorded playthroughs of SoTNR maps 2-4 and 31... only to realize that I clipped the audio when I imported the files into Cinelerra :-/

Here's something interesting. Comming to Japan, I certainly expected to become better at DDR, but expected this more on a pad than on a computer keyboard. Well, somehow the opposite happened. I passed these three songs the other day (links are to stepchart pictures...people really should check these out):

Slipknot's Duality (I got a B on this one. 145bpm, 10-feet.)
Marine Snow (C on this one. 296bpm, 11-feet.)
Pistolero (The Juno Reactor song) (C on this one, too, though I've almost gotten a B. 141bpm, 10-feet.)

Maybe I should stop playing this game...

Yep, I turned 21 today (5th...it's already the evening here). Can't believe I'm this age now, as it feels rather odd to think about it. Meh.

Celebrating was pretty cool. Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Branden at a very good German restaurant in Kyoto, walked around there for a while, and then went to see the new Godzilla movie. It was opening day for it, so it was quite cool.

I spent most of today, my actual birthday, with my friend Jo. We hung out for a while, talked, worked on homework, and then went out for dinner.

When I get home, the girl whom I keep alternating between being in love with and attempting to deny it says she has a present for me. Can't wait to see what it is. OMG, MAYBE SHE'S DRESSING UP AS MY FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER FOR A NIGHT AND IS GOING TO PLAY VIDEOGAMES WITH ME FOR THE NIGHT!!!

Err....*ahem*. Yeah, that was my birthday. Quite fun overall ^_^

I leave to go back home in just about 6 days now.

たんじょうび （誕生日）- Birthday

EDIT: According to Japan, I was born in Showa 58. So my birthdate is 58-12-05.

That's what the view looked like from 14,000 feet off of Mount Bierstadt yesterday.

I finally got around to doing something I've wanted to do for a few years now, which is climb a 14er here in Colorado. The seven mile hike up Mount Bierstadt was gorgeous, and really not all that hard. It's pretty much all alpine tundra so there wasn't much vegetation except for grass and shrubs. The only part I didn't really like was the last few hundred yards since I'm a big scaredy cat when it comes to heights. Coming back down and looking back at the summit, it was actually sort of hard to comprehend that my friends and I had made it that high.

All of us agreed that this definitely would not be the last 14er we would climb. Depending on the weather, we might hit a few more of the easier ones before the end of fall. Or we might just save them for next year. Either way, it was awesome.